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The Potential Vulnerable Areas (PVAs) review identifies areas where the highest flood risk exists now or is likely to occur in the future, so is crucial in helping Scotland understand and prioritise where flood risk management work could be of most benefit to protect our communities.

However, this represents only a single stage within the broader six year flood risk management planning cycle, which commences with the National Flood Risk Assessment and culminates in the implementation of actions by councils in line with their local flood risk management plans. This cycle is set out in the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 and there are no plans to amend this.

The current PVAs were designated in December 2024 for use in the next Flood Risk Management cycle (2028-2033). They were developed and discussed with relevant responsible authorities and consulted on publicly. They will now be used by SEPA to set out objectives and actions in Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) for those communities. These plans must be approved by Ministers, publicly consulted on and published.

Actions that support PVAs are therefore prioritised through FRMPs; however, this does not prevent local authorities and stakeholders from progressing other measures to address flooding in communities that are not designated as PVAs.

NatureScot has taken forward a range of actions following the 2025 Gull Summit in Inverness. This has included hosting four regional roundtable events to gather information to support local management approaches and inform further guidance.

In addition to this we have made £100,000 available to support area-based gull management by local authorities, including funding provided to Highland Council and additional funding for the Inverness Gull Management Pilot.

NatureScot is also developing gull survey methods at national and regional levels, the member will also be aware of the provisions in the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 for NatureScot to report on gull species populations every five years.

A national awareness campaign was launched on 5 March 2026 to discourage the feeding of gulls, to secure waste and take measures to gull-proof properties and buildings.

NatureScot also continues to develop policy and procedures for area-based licensing, which ensures that licences are available where public health and safety is at risk as a result of gulls.

The Production Growth Fund aims to draw large-scale film and TV productions into Scotland; it does not directly target post-production or VFX work. Recent projects which were attracted to locate some or all of their production in the Highlands and Islands via the Production Growth Fund include the Netflix drama Department Q (which filmed partly in Caithness) and the feature film Jack of Spades (Argyll & Bute).

Post-production and VFX work is supported through Screen Scotland’s recently launched Project Post. This initiative was designed to help Scotland-based post-production facilities secure work that might otherwise go elsewhere. Screen Scotland is actively promoting the fund internationally to attract more business to Scotland. Any Scotland-based post-production or VFX facilities, including those in the Highlands and Islands, are encouraged to contact Screen Scotland to discuss how the Project Post fund could support their growth.

Local authorities, as the employers of teachers, are responsible for their own recruitment and hiring processes. Local authorities have a duty to ensure they advertise teaching vacancies through open and fair recruitment processes, in line with all public sector employers.

The Scottish Government does not monitor or interfere with the recruitment practices of local authorities, however we are working with COSLA on medium and long-term joint workforce planning, which will take into account the importance of responding to issues such as the consistency of teacher recruitment and advertising of posts.

Teaching posts are advertised throughout the year and details of current vacancies can be found at: myjobscotland.gov.uk.

Any changes to existing funded early learning and childcare arrangements will be a matter for an incoming government to address.

There has been no specific modelling carried out on how this proposal would support the retention of multiple-birth parents in the workforce.

Flooding is our biggest climate adaptation challenge, and we know it will become more frequent and severe in the decades ahead so we need to do all we can to be prepared. The Scottish Government set out a long term vision for a flood-resilient Scotland through to 2045 in our National Flood Resilience Strategy. With a focus on people, places and processes it sets out a number of priority areas and actions to support homeowners, communities and businesses in Scotland. In relation to helping homeowners keep their properties safe further actions being undertaken are:

• The Scottish Government allocating £570 million to local authorities since 2016 to support flood protection schemes and wider flood resilience, protecting individuals and communities at risk of flooding. £42 million will continue to be provided through the general capital grant in FY 2026-27.
• Research is underway to consider actions to mitigate the negative mental health and broader wellbeing impacts of flooding.
• Households can develop their own flood plans and research is underway which is examining whether these plans can help strengthen community awareness and promote actions, including the installation of Property Flood Resilience measures.
• As part of the implementation of the National Flood Resilience Strategy a dedicated group, the Property Flood Resilience Delivery Group, is developing actions on Property Flood Resilience to further support delivery across Scotland.
• The Scottish Government provides funding to the Scottish Flood Forum, which enables them to provide support and advice to individuals and communities before, during and after flood events. The Scottish Flood Forum also has a flood bus which showcases Property Flood Resilience measures to communities.
• Building Standards have been updated to provide more advice and information to designers on property flood resilience. The updated Technical Handbooks that include section 3.3 ‘Flooding and groundwater’ will be applicable from 6 April 2026.
• The Scottish Government continues to work in co-operation with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations to ensure flood insurance remains widely available and affordable. Flood Re is a flood re-insurance scheme, which was launched in 2016 to help households at high risk of flooding. This now benefits more than 9,000 properties in Scotland.
• SEPA’s Scottish Flood Forecasting and Warning Services ensures flood forecasting and warning information is made available to the public and emergency responders throughout Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on early learning and childcare places, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities.

Within the formula for the overall block grant, just over £1 billion is distributed based on ELC-related indicators. The formula takes into account both the locations where children take up places and population data on where they live, generally with equal weighting. The formula was structured that way in order to adequately account for children who take up a funded early learning and childcare place in a local authority other than the one in which they live. The formula also accounts for deprivation and rurality. All elements of the funding formula, the data used, weightings, and allocations, are published online at the following link:

Scottish Local Government Finance - Green Book: 2026-2027 - gov.scot

In 2025-26. the Scottish Government allocated £3m to deliver a Test of Change for those in receipt of Scottish Child Payment in secondary 1 to 3. The Test of Change has been providing nutritious meals for up to 6100 newly eligible pupils across 60 schools in 8 local authorities since August 2025 and will run until the end of June 2026.

Following an open tender Ipsos have been appointed to carry out an independent evaluation of the Test of Change. This work involves researchers seeking the views on a variety of subjects linked to the creation and delivery of the Test of Change from stakeholders, including pupils, parents and staff across all 8 partner local authorities.

The research also considers the uptake of free school meals during the Test of Change, including any factors that may have encouraged or been a barrier to eligible pupils taking a meal.

A full report is expected to be published during autumn 2026. The research findings will help inform future phases of the Free School Meals Programme.

The Scottish Government is investing around £198 million this year to support 25,000 new Modern Apprenticeships (MAs), alongside 5,000 new Foundation Apprenticeships and over 1,200 Graduate Apprenticeships. Our investment enables continued support for over 39,000 apprentices already in training.

SDS provide a range of useful information and resources on their website for employers on how to take on apprentices and work with training providers. There is also some business support available through Find business support in Scotland | Find Business Support and local employability services Local Employability Services | Employability in Scotland. A continued key priority as we reform the skills system will be to encourage greater participation from small and micro businesses.

We remain committed to working with employers and industry leaders to make sure that employers across Scotland, particularly in areas of skills shortage, can continue to access the talent they need to succeed.

Individual Local Authorities, as employers, are responsible for managing teaching vacancies and providing job opportunities across Scotland. Teaching vacancies are advertised across Scotland, throughout the year, through a process of fair and open recruitment. Local authorities must balance the teaching jobs they advertise with their local needs and contexts, including the type of contracts and posts they make available.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes annual data on the number of teachers employed across Scotland’s 32 Local Authorities through the Annual Teacher Census. This data can be accessed at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/school-education-statistics/

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of teacher permanence, and the stability and assurance this brings to teachers. That is why we continue to invest £186.5 million to help restore teacher numbers. We continue to work closely with COSLA on medium and long-term joint workforce planning, which will take into account the importance of responding to issues such as teacher permanence.