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This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked their Chief Executive, Adrian Gillespie, to contact you directly with a response.

The Teacher Induction Scheme guarantees every eligible student a one-year probationary placement, however it does not provide a guarantee of future employment with a particular local authority.

While local authorities are the direct employers of teachers, the Scottish Government continues to make available £145.5m to local authorities to protect teaching jobs.

In addition, I have also asked the Strategic Board for Teacher Education, which is made up of a range of key education stakeholders, to consider issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland. This includes geographical issues as well as how we can increase diversity within the profession, and improve support for early career teachers.

Despite substantial investment, and the progress we have made in recruiting thousands of additional teachers since 2018, we recognise that more work is needed to ensure that our teachers have access to long term, sustainable, employment opportunities, regardless of which stage of their career they are at, and we will continue to work with COSLA to ensure this can happen.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked their Chief Executive, Adrian Gillespie, to contact you directly with a response.

The full-time equivalent staffed posts within the Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team to ensure compliance with the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Order, over the last five years, is:

Religious observance (RO), plays an important role in pupil’s education. However, there is also a longstanding parental right to withdraw a pupil from both RO and religious instruction or religious and moral education (RME).

As with any decision which affects children and young people, it is only right that their views should also be taken into account when this right to withdraw is being exercised. Doing so is in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and is especially relevant as pupils mature and take more responsibility for their own learning. However, while consideration of pupils’ views has long been a feature of our guidance on RO, this is not reflected in legislation.

The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 builds upon a strong record on children’s rights in Scotland, but the commencement of the Act is merely a step on our journey to uphold and promote children’s rights. It is with this in mind that I am announcing that the Scottish Government will shortly be bringing forward a narrowly focussed Bill, with the purpose of amending the current legislation to require that pupils’ views are considered when parents or carers are exercising their right to withdraw their child from RO and RME. This will bring legislation into line with existing guidance as well as strengthening our commitment to upholding children’s rights in all aspects of their lives, including education.

These changes in no way diminish the significance of RO and RME in the work of schools, helping pupils to grow and develop their own sense of themselves, to be confident in expressing their own beliefs and values, and to develop an understanding of and empathy towards others. This approach will strengthen the rights of Scottish children and young people, which are a key priority of this government, but I am also conscious of the wide range of views on this issue and will discuss these issues with members across the chamber and with other interested parties.

As part of this, although the proposed changes on RO and RME merely bring legislation into line with existing guidance, a public consultation will launch tomorrow to seek views on any implications of these changes, as well as insights into how the right to withdraw currently works in practice to help inform implementation. The consultation can be found here: https://consult.gov.scot/education-reform/religious-observance-education-legislation-schools.

The Lord Advocate has not provided the statement of prosecution policy regarding the safer drug consumption in Glasgow as of yet. It is anticipated that this will be provided in the coming weeks, ahead of the planned opening of the facility. The decision as to whether or not the statement of prosecution policy is published is one for the Lord Advocate.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked their Chief Executive, Adrian Gillespie, to contact you directly with a response.

The Scottish Government has contracted provision for interpretation services (face-to-face, remote video and telephone). This provision can be used by the Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team under the interpreting, translation and transcription services framework should it be required.

Driven by our Good Practice Principles, community benefits are a well-established and integral part of renewable energy projects in Scotland, with over £26 million of community benefits offered to Scottish communities in the last 12 months. The Scottish Government continues to work with industry and communities to build on this success, including through our Onshore Wind Sector Deal that commits industry to meet or exceed the Good Practice Principles.

The Good Practice Principles for Onshore Developments, published in 2019 were developed in close collaboration with the sector and local communities to set national standards for community benefits. We are currently considering feedback from stakeholders on the potential for a review of these Good Practice Principles.

As part of the business case setup phase, each Green Freeport is required to submit detailed analysis to Government setting out the benefits they will deliver. By driving new investment, creating high-quality employment and promoting decarbonisation, both Green Freeports seek to have transformational impacts not only in their respective regional economies but also in wider supply chains across Scotland and beyond. Forth Green Freeport aims to support up to 34,500 jobs, including creation of up to 16,000 direct jobs. Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport aims to create over 18,000 jobs in the UK – over 11,000 of those in the Highlands. Both Governments have carefully scrutinised the business cases of each Green Freeport to ensure the benefits articulated are deliverable, supported by evidence, and represent value for money. The Scottish and UK Government have also established a Green Freeports monitoring and evaluation framework which will gather regular performance data, track the Green Freeports’ against their aims, and report on progress.