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I can confirm that guidance on responding to racism and racist incidents in schools was published today: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836916987

This guidance forms part of a wider whole school approach to addressing and responding to racism and racist incidents, being developed by the Anti-racism in Education Programme’s racist and racist incidents workstream. The whole school approach will be published in early 2026.

Today, we are publishing the findings from the Scottish Government’s Horizon Scanning project. The Future Trends for Scotland report and the accompanying Trend pack describe the 60 trends likely to be important to Scotland over the next 10 to 20 years. This publication does not cover potential policy or strategy implications and is not a statement of government policy or intention, rather it is about providing open analysis to spark reflection and guide decisions in a complex interconnected world.

Publishing the findings from the project fulfils the commitment made to the Finance and Public Administration Committee, will contribute to a wider debate about trends affecting Scotland in the future and will support other organisations and our partners in their own work in planning for the opportunities and plausible future risks.

I can confirm that guidance on fostering positive, inclusive and safe school environments was published today: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836917014

The guidance supports schools’ approaches to use of consequences as part of approaches to improving positive relationships and behaviour.

New guidance on risk assessments for violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviour was also published today: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836917953

Decisions on whether to install defibrillators in schools are a matter for Local Authorities.

The Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy: 2021-2026 does not include a specific commitment to placing defibrillators in Scottish schools. Our policy is to work with Save a Life for Scotland partners, taking a data driven approach, to optimise defibrillator placement and ensure they are publicly accessible and registered with the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The Scottish Government provided the Resuscitation Research Group funding for PADmap. PADmap is a free to use, data-driven service to help defibrillator guardians make informed decisions about where to place their devices in order to have the most impact.

There is no proposal to transfer neonatal care services to Aberdeen. In July 2023 I announced that three hospitals in Scotland, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital would provide neonatal intensive care for the very smallest and sickest babies, based on evidence provided to The Best Start review by expert academics and professionals, that survival and outcomes for these babies is better when they are cared for in a smaller number of specialist units. All Neonatal Units in Scotland will continue to provide care for the vast majority of families locally and only a very small number of families will be affected by the change to the model of care.

The process of determining which units should provide Neonatal Intensive Care was undertaken by the Perinatal Sub Group of the Best Start, comprising NHS clinical leads, senior management and service user representatives.

The Scottish Government has consulted with families on implementation of the proposals so that their concerns and priorities are included when the pathways and processes for the new model of care are designed. A survey was launched on Citizen Space on 21 June 2024. The results of the survey and focus groups will now be shared with the Regional Planners to support implementation.

Our expectation with the new model is that care is delivered as close to home as possible. It would be highly unusual for babies to have to transfer to Aberdeen from the central belt and would only happen in exceptional circumstances when the central belt units reach capacity in intensive care. Currently NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Lothian and NHS Grampian have plans in place to build additional capacity in their Neonatal Intensive Care units as part of the change process.

There is no available data on the number of prosecutions for online child sexual abuse that have taken place in each of the past five years.

COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. The database is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis, and the information within it is structured accordingly.

The Scottish Government is working hard to crack down on scammers and deliver better support for those targeted by scams.

We provided funding of £500,000 in 2021-22 to various members of Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy Group to carry out targeted scams prevention and awareness work.

Our supported work includes the roll out by Trading Standards Scotland (TSS) of nearly 1,000 free call blocking devices to vulnerable individuals who were most at risk from scammers and rogue traders. The Scottish Government has also supported a project carried out by Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) to enhance the referral pathways available for connecting victims of scams to appropriate sources of support, and has provided separate funding to ADS to raise awareness of romance and companionship scams.

Since 2023, Consumer Scotland, which is funded by the Scottish Government, has been working with consumer organisations such as TSS to fund scams awareness campaigns, including the yearly Shut Out Scammers campaign. In April 2025, Consumer Scotland formally assumed responsibility for scams prevention and awareness work, supported by £175,000 of funding for this financial year.

The Scottish Government also funds the national consumer helpline, delivered by ADS and contactable at consumer advice or on 0808 164 6000. Suspicious activity can be reported to ADS or, where appropriate, to Police Scotland by calling 101.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. More detailed information on cancelled appointments will be held locally by NHS boards.

Public Health Scotland have advised that the findings of their investigation into the decline in alcohol treatment numbers over the last decade is due to be published in late Summer 2025.

The Scottish Government has not received any formal proposals for additional sites for additional SDCF beyond the Glasgow pilot therefore no budget is currently allocated for this.

Any future consideration on funding will be contingent on the submission of robust, locally led proposals that demonstrate strong community engagement, comply with legal and operational requirements set out by the Lord Advocate and align with national public health priorities.