Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-40644 and S6W-40645 on 1 October 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40705 on 3 October 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Community benefits and social value are part of the ground-breaking Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 which the Scottish Parliament passed over a decade ago. That Act requires public bodies to consider how procurement exercises can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their areas, facilitate the involvement of SMEs, the third sector and supported businesses, and promote innovation. It also required them to specifically consider whether to include community benefits in contracts worth £4 million or more.

The £16.6 billion of Scottish public procurement spend in 22-23 is estimated to have generated around £13.7 billion of economic activity for Scotland, contributing £7.5 billion to Scottish GDP, and supporting around 120,000 full time equivalent jobs. £3.3 billion of public sector procurement spend was with suppliers based within the local authority area of the purchasing body. During 23-24 alone, Transport Scotland contracts achieved 613 new entrant positions, 72 graduate positions and 36 apprenticeships.

CMAL as procuring authority look to secure benefits for local communities including local training and employment opportunities.

In 2024, the Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation (JCVI) made an assessment of the need to continue to vaccinate the frontline health and social care worker group for COVID-19. The outcome of that assessment at: JCVI statement on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for autumn 2024, 8 April 2024 - GOV.UK was that they no longer advised vaccination for that group.

In early 2025, in response to the 2024 advice from the JCVI, the Scottish Vaccination & Immunisation Programme (SVIP) convened a sub strategy and planning group of experts to review all available data related to COVID-19 vaccine uptake and literature on the benefits of staff vaccination, to assess if an occupational health offer of COVID-19 vaccination was required for the frontline HSCW group. Its recommendation was in line with the advice of the JCVI that an offer is not advised.

All four nations have conducted similar processes and come to the same conclusion and removed the frontline HSCW group from their COVID-19 programmes in winter 2025.

Over the last four years, population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since the virus first emerged.

The protection that the current COVID vaccines give against mild symptomatic infection is limited both in terms of peak protection and duration of protection. While there is an absence of robust scientific data on the added protection against transmission of infection from one person to another in the era of highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants, it is expected that any such protection would be extremely limited. COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent NHS staff from contracting COVID-19 and they have limited ability to stop them from passing it on to colleagues or patients, so therefore have limited impact on protecting the NHS and providing service resilience. All NHS staff remain eligible for flu vaccination.

The vaccines provide good protection against severe COVID-19 for a number of months and that is why the programme is now targeting those individuals where there is good evidence of a high risk of hospitalisation and/or mortality: residents in care homes for older adults, those aged 75 and over and those who are immunosuppressed.

As I set out in my statement to Parliament on 30 September, early performance of the programme is impressive: 1,300 member companies, 35% of members are women and, collectively, members have raised £195m of investment.

I have also commissioned an independent review of the Techscaler programme. To ensure full transparency and accountability, the findings will be published in full by early 2026.

Ferries, although vital to the islands communities and businesses, do not meet the definitions required to apply Section 45 of the Subsidy Control Act. I would also refer the member to the answer to S6W-40705 on 3 October 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government uses governance processes in accordance with best practice as set out in the HM Treasury Green Book. Officials meet with Codebase regularly to oversee progress and delivery through weekly oral updates and the submission of detailed formal reports on a monthly and quarterly basis. Codebase are responsible for the content and accuracy of reports of information contained within. Senior officials also meet with the Codebase Chair, Gillian Docherty, on a monthly basis.

These arrangements ensure that appropriate processes and reporting channels are in place and that challenges and opportunities can be addressed appropriately.

The Scottish Government is subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). No information about the scheme can be withheld from release in response to any request, unless a relevant exemption under FOISA applies to that information.

The Scottish Government recognises the devastating harm that can be caused by the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images. As noted in response to S6W-40699 on 3 October 2025, the offence of non-consensual sharing of intimate images introduced under the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 criminalises the sharing of images, including deepfake images, that either show or appear to show a person in an intimate situation without their consent. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

We continue to keep the law under continual review and will carefully consider through consultation whether further changes are required to tackle the creation of deepfake sexual images.

The Scottish Government acknowledges the vital role that organisations across the third sector play in improving outcomes for children, young people and families. Through the Children, Young People, Families, Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) third sector fund we are providing around £14.4 million of annual core funding across 114 organisations supporting children, young people and families.

The Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution. However, we remain deeply committed to our third sector and we continue to focus on building a more inclusive Scotland for all. The continuation of funding for the CYPFEI & ALEC third sector fund will be subject to the process of approval for the Scottish Budget for 2026-27 and the agreement to the 2026-27 Budget by the Parliament.

The offence of non-consensual sharing of intimate images introduced under the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 criminalises the sharing of images that either show, or appear to show, a person in an intimate situation without their consent. Those convicted of the offence of disclosing, or threatening to disclose, an intimate photograph or film face up to five years imprisonment under this legislation.

The recent Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill will, when implemented, require a court to always consider whether to impose a non-harassment order after a conviction under the intimate images offence.