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The Mackintosh Building is owned by The Glasgow School of Art, with responsibility for its own strategic and operational decision making. It has been a long standing principle that employers, building owners and managers are responsible for their own premises.

The Scottish Government and other public bodies will continue to engage closely with the Glasgow School of Art as it progresses its plans for a faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh building.

Protecting our marine environment is vital for both the viability of our marine industries and to halt the loss of biodiversity. Marine protected areas remain a high priority for the Scottish Government and we are putting in place the remaining fisheries management measures required to protect those and other key biodviersity areas. The area where herring spawning recently occurred near Gairloch is mostly within the proposed Port Erradale Priority Marine Feature management area and where bottom contacting mobile fishing gear would be prohibited. Therefore, in light of advice which we have actively sought on the matter from NatureScot, we are prioritising bringing in protection for these priority marine features, as part of the wider package of fisheries management measures for inshore MPAs.

As outlined in my response to S6W-27647 on 31 May 2024, and in my recent letter to Ms Gosal, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss further alongside your policy paper which outlines this particular ask. 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 .

As outlined in my response to S6W-27647 on 31 May 2024, and in my recent letter to Ms Gosal, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss further alongside your policy paper which outlines this particular ask. 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 .

There are 20 local authority areas that currently deliver the Caledonian System, with the most recent area, West Dunbartonshire, starting delivery in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government announced additional investment of £11.4 million for justice social work services for 2024-25 to help build capacity, strengthen and improve services, existing and new, and to support local prioritisation aimed at reducing reoffending.

The Scottish Government wrote to the 12 Local Authorities who currently do not deliver the Caledonian System seeking views on whether in light of the additional sums provided they want to consider roll out of the Caledonian System in their area and wished to access central training and support.

All 12 areas have now responded. The majority of Local Authorities advised that their additional funding was being used for other areas that they considered to be of priority and they would not wish to consider roll out of the Caledonian system at this time. Several areas did note potential interest and will shortly meet the Caledonian National Team in Community Justice Scotland (CJS) to discuss the potential for any further roll out.

We were also made aware that some local authority areas have committed themselves to delivering alternative domestic abuse programmes and therefore have advised that they would not wish to change delivery to the Caledonian System at this time.

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 stipulates that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland is responsible for the policing of Scotland and is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this, rather than to Scottish Ministers directly.

Decisions about when to issue Recorded Police Warning’s (RPWs) are an independent operational matter for Police Scotland and the offence types covered by Recorded Police Warnings (RPWs) are a matter for the Lord Advocate as part of her independent role as head of Scotland’s system of prosecution. Police Scotland's Direct Measures Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) sets out a standard and instruction where an officer dealing with an incident may issue a RPW, where he or she has reason to believe that the person has committed one of the relevant offences and meets the necessary criteria.

As such, the Scottish Government has not sought a full list of criminal offences that can be disposed of by way of a RPW from (a) the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service or (b) Police Scotland.

Caledonian Service funding to local authorities is paid through the Section 27 funding for Justice Services (the Men’s Programme) with additional monies for the Women and Children’s Service paid out under separate funding powers.

The following table shows Section 27 funding in previous years:

We welcomed Poppyscotland’s Credit Their Service campaign last summer and acknowledge the two primary areas of concern highlighted in it. The first of these, Pension Credits, is reserved to the UK Government and the Scottish Government is therefore unable to intervene on this issue. However, we are in regular discussions with the UK Government on a range of related topics and have made them aware of the issues raised by Poppyscotland. We understand that officials from The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) met with Royal British Legion, Poppyscotland's sister organisation to discuss this.

The benefits administered by Local Authorities that are referenced by the campaign are Council Tax Support, Discretionary Housing Payment and the Scottish Welfare Fund. The Scottish Government recently published an Action Plan outlining improvements to the Scottish Welfare Fund which will be delivered in partnership with Local Authorities. Officials are working to update the statutory guidance and improve the Fund’s administration, accessibility and experience.

Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) as a Local Authority benefit is administered by Local Authorities, who consider the circumstances of each individual case when dealing with applications. However, to receive DHP, an individual must be in receipt of either the housing element of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit. As both of these remain reserved to the UK Government, neither the Scottish Government nor Local Authorities have any powers over how they are administered.

With regards to Council Tax support, the Council Tax Reduction Regulations already instruct that Armed Forces independence payments should be fully disregarded as income in the calculation of council tax reduction in both the pension age and working age schemes. Therefore, all Local Authorities should disregard these payments as income in relation to applications for Council Tax reduction. The Scottish Government continues to keep the Council Tax Reduction regulations under review.

None of the benefits delivered by Social Security Scotland are directly means tested although some rely on a reserved UK benefit, such as Universal Credit as a qualifying benefit. In practice this means that armed forces compensation generally does not directly affect Scottish Government social security benefits. It may affect Funeral Support Payment. If the compensation payment has been issued to the deceased person it may be treated as funds that can cover or help towards funeral costs. This is to ensure that support goes to those who need it most.

Scottish Government officials do engage with The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on a range of subjects and in October 2023 raised the issue of war pensions being treated as income for pension credit. This engagement was prompted by Poppyscotland’s Credit their Service campaign. DWP made clear they had no plans to change their current policy, and as this is an area reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is unable to intervene on this issue any further.

As outlined in my response to S6W-27647 on 31 May 2024, and in my recent letter to Ms Gosal, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss further alongside your policy paper which outlines this particular ask. 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 .