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I am pleased to inform Parliament that the revised RSHP statutory teaching guidance has been published today and can be found at www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806435715

This concludes a significant piece of work by the Scottish Government and our key stakeholders in updating the previous guidance that was published in 2014 and delivers on the actions from the Personal and Social Education Review and LGBT Inclusive Education Working Group. The updated guidance will ensure that children and young people are educated in online safety and the potential harms posed by the online world. The guidance will help children and young people to stay safe and make informed choices about their online and offline relationships.

The revised guidance takes into account emerging thinking from the Curriculum Improvement Cycle and we will keep the guidance under review as we move towards the publication of an updated curriculum.

The Scottish Government recognises the valuable contribution the Men’s Shed movement makes to men’s health and wellbeing, particularly in reducing social isolation and loneliness and supporting positive mental health. Once seen as projects supporting older men, many Sheds are multi-generational which not only tackles isolation and loneliness across age groups but also breaks down stigma related to age and ageing, tackling unhelpful stereotypes.

The Scottish Government engages with the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) at a cross-portfolio level and ensures the organisation’s activity is connected with relevant policy areas including suicide prevention, alcohol and drugs policy, social isolation and loneliness and population mental health.

Since 2016-17, the Scottish Government has invested over £1 million in the SMSA to support the growth and sustainability of Men’s Sheds across Scotland. Individual Sheds are responsible for securing their own funding, and, collectively, they have received £452,819 through the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund.

Further information on the Scottish Government’s position on a dedicated men’s health strategy is set out in the response to Parliamentary Question S6W-42517 on 29 December 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 safety and wellbeing of staff is a priority for both Scottish Government and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Adherence to equalities and health and safety legislation is a matter for SFRS as the employer.

There are no plans to set benchmarks for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to measure response times for the first responding appliance. SFRS’s targeted approach to risk and allocation of resources overtook the focus given to response times some years ago. It is important to focus on outcomes, rather than a simplistic look at response times. There can be a variety of reasons why response times vary, such as traffic conditions, street furniture or distance, particularly in remote and rural areas.

In its report (March 2019) on its scrutiny of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, the Justice Committee noted it was not convinced that setting response time targets is necessarily the correct approach, given the geographic area covered by the Service.

SFRS attends all emergencies and mobilises the nearest available appliance using established mobilisation arrangements. SFRS uses pre-determined attendance arrangements based on incident type and risk and an Officer in Charge is identified for incidents in line with operational guidance. The Service mobilises the necessary weight of resources appropriate to the information available at the time and adjusts this (up or down) as incidents progress. The resources required at an incident can change as more information becomes available, which can make fixed benchmarks difficult to apply consistently. Incident outcomes are therefore influenced by professional judgement, skills, and equipment, as well as the timely mobilisation of resources. Setting benchmarks to record the time when all of the required response assets reach the scene of all incidents would not therefore be a meaningful measurement.

SFRS continues to respond to every emergency incident with the appropriate level of resources.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43410 on 4 February 2026. 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 expected cost of works associated with the first scheduled drydocking of MV Glen Sannox is £1,867,808.

The Scottish Ministers have no employment functions under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978, those being a function of the relevant Health Board. Executives and senior managers within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are employees of the health board in which they work and all matters relating to their employment are for the Board and for the Chair.

On 22 November 2019, Scottish Government escalated NHSGGC to level 4 of the framework in light of the ongoing issues. In a letter from Malcolm Wright, then Director General for Health and Social Care explained “In light of the on-going issues around the systems, processes and governance in relation to infection prevention, management and control at the QEUH and RHC and the associated communication and public engagement issues, I have concluded that further action is necessary to support the Board to ensure appropriate governance is in place to increase public confidence in these matters and therefore that for this specific issue the Board will be escalated to Stage 4 of our performance framework.

The Member will be aware that this matter relates to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, established by the Scottish Government so that families and patients impacted by issues at the QEUH can get answers to their questions. It is right that the inquiry’s independent chair Lord Brodie be given the time and space to consider all of the evidence and get to the truth for families.

It is a matter of public record that Health Protection Scotland (HPS) informed the Scottish Government of a water contamination incident at the Royal Hospital for Children, based at the then Elizabeth University Hospital campus (later renamed the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital) on 1 March 2018.

The Member will be aware that this matter relates to evidence already submitted to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry. The Inquiry was established by the Scottish Government and it is right that the inquiry’s independent chair Lord Brodie be given the time and space to consider all of the evidence and get to the truth for families.

The First Minister’s Start-up Challenge is focussed on young people from disadvantaged or under-represented backgrounds because the evidence suggests that they are less likely to engage in entrepreneurship due to a lack of financial support, networks and role models. Ministers believe that unlocking this talent will have a significant economic impact.

An Equality Impact Assessment is currently being undertaken and will be published on the Scottish Government website prior to applications opening later in the year. Entrepreneurs aged 18 to 30 are able to seek support for a variety of programmes and partners within the ecosystem, including via the Scottish EDGE Young EDGE awards, funded by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has spent over £1.3 billion in the past 15 years mitigating the impacts of UK Government welfare reforms such as the bedroom tax and benefit cap, introduced since 2010. Of that, over £148 million is being invested in the current financial year (2025-26), and over £681 million has been spent in the last five financial years (2020-21 - 2024-25), funding Discretionary Housing Payments, the Scottish Welfare Fund, money advice services, and Universal Credit Scottish choices.

In addition to the above support, in 2025-26, we forecast that we will spend £458 million on the Scottish Child payment, giving support to the families of over 323,000 children who currently receive it.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government mitigates pressures from UK immigration processes by investing in Scotland’s prevention-based homelessness framework, including rapid rehousing approaches and integration support through New Scots.

Despite limited economic levers, the Scottish Government has a strong record on helping people with the costs of living. We call on the UK Government to follow the Scottish Government’s lead to protect and enhance the social security safety net.

Table 1 below provides a breakdown of spending to mitigate UK Government policy decisions in the last five years, plus the forecast spend for the current financial year (six years in total).

Table 1: breakdown of spending on UK Government welfare mitigation (2020-21 - 2025-26)