Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39506 on 8 August 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.

Heating oil and liquified petroleum gas supply chains and energy price regulation are reserved matters. The Scottish Government continues to engage constructively with the UK Government on a regular basis, including on the need to ensure that all energy consumers are suitably considered and protected in matters of regulation and use of reserved policy powers.

High energy prices remain the single greatest driver of fuel poverty. The Social Tariff Working Group recommended that all fuel types should be covered by a social tariff mechanism. This should include support for those using alternative fuels with off-grid consumers treated equitably to those on-grid. This support may be more appropriately delivered via a separate scheme.

We have consistently offered to work with the UK Government to ensure that adequate support is provided to those that need it the most.

The number of Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine (ScotGEM) students that graduated in the denoted years are as follows:

(a) 2023 – 46 students

(b) 2024 – 59 students

(c) 2025 – 49 students

A working group, convened by the Permanent Secretary, has been working at pace since April to review relevant policies, guidance and legislation impacted by the Supreme Court judgment. This Working Group is an internal group, comprising senior civil servants from across the Scottish Government. We have engaged at both Ministerial and official level with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as they have consulted on updates to their Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations and submitted a response to their public consultation. The EHRC code of practice will provide important guidance to organisations considering the implications of the judgment. However, work is already underway across the Scottish Government to actively consider the implications of the judgment, considering the legal framework in each area.

An interim update on the practical implications of the judgment was published by the EHRC on April 25, 2025. The EHRC is expected to submit it revised code of practice to the UK Government in the Autumn and we will engage further with the UK Government at that stage.

There are currently 80 Scottish registered fishing vessels and a further 21 vessels from other UK and Isle of Man administrations targeting scallops and fitted with Remote Electronic Monitoring equipment. Between 14 June 2024 and 13 August 2025 analysis has been carried out on approximately 1240 fishing voyages targeting Scallops and as a result of this analysis, two infringements are currently under investigation.

Scotland’s approach to supporting the integration of refugees and people seeking asylum within our communities is set out in the New Scots refugee integration strategy. The strategy is led jointly by the Scottish Government, COSLA (representing Scottish local authorities) and Scottish Refugee Council.

In 2025-2026 the Scottish Government is providing £3.4m funding to local authorities from the Refugees, Resettlement and Asylum Division budget. This funding is intended to support the integration of people displaced from Ukraine and the full closure of welcome accommodation except to new arrivals in 2025-26.

In addition to this direct funding, wider support is provided to local authorities across Scotland through various routes, including:

• Funding to support COSLA as a joint partner in delivering the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy, and progressing New Scots Delivery Plan actions.
• Funding for the Refugee Support Service (RSS), delivered by Scottish Refugee Council. The RSS supports refugees and people seeking asylum to settle into communities across Scotland through providing advice, information and resources, improving access to support services and facilitating social connections.
• Funding for British Red Cross to deliver a project aimed at increasing the support available to people who arrive in Scotland under Family Reunion visas. This project includes capacity building work to support local authorities to understand family reunion processes and empower them to support people who have recently arrived under family reunion routes.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The member should refer to each operator, CalMac Ferries Limited and NorthLink Ferries.

Today the Scottish Ministers have laid a draft of a Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) in Parliament which adds the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 ("the 2021 Act") and published a consultation paper seeking views on the draft instrument. The consultation can be viewed at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781806430857.

The effect of the SSI is to add the characteristic of sex to the list of characteristics covered by the offence of stirring up hatred and the statutory aggravation concerning offences aggravated by prejudice. This will ensure that women and girls have the same protections as victims of hate crime targeted because of their religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, age, disability or variations in sex characteristics. The provision will also provide protection to men and boys.

There is a requirement in the 2021 Act for the draft SSI to be laid in Parliament for at least 40 days, excluding any period where the Parliament is in recess for more than 2 days. The consultation will run until 10 October 2025. The responses to the consultation will help inform consideration of the SSI to be laid in Parliament after the end of the consultation.

The Scottish Government meets with the Scottish Ambulance Service regularly in the form of Operational Meetings, Mid Year and Annual Reviews where performance is discussed. The Scottish Government also receives weekly performance reports which are analysed and if performance is a concern, it is escalated to the Scottish Ambulance Service executive team.

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 and ensuring that Scottish Ministers are complying with their duties under the Act. The Act covers a wide range of areas, many of which involve complex implementation activity. On that basis, the Scottish Government has approached the commencement of provisions in the Act - and the duties on Scottish Ministers in those provisions - in stages.

A number of provisions are already in force: The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 1 and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2020.

• Section 13: promotion of contact between looked after children and siblings
• Section 14: duty to consider contact when making etc. compulsory supervision order
• Section 15: clarification of order-making power
• Section 23: funding for alternative dispute resolution (commenced to allow Scottish Ministers to make reports on progress with implementation)
• Section 24: pilot of mandatory information meetings on alternatives to court (commenced to allow Scottish Ministers to make reports on progress with implementation)
• Section 25: opportunity to participate in hearing
• Section 26: appeal against relevant person decision
• Sections 32, 33, 34, 35: final provisions

Sections 23 and 24 are not yet implemented for remaining purposes, but six progress reports on have been laid in the Scottish Parliament to date.

A number of provisions have been commenced for certain purposes in The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2021:

• Section 7(3) and (4): register of solicitors where person prohibited from conducting their own case [superseded by Part 3 of the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill]
• Section 9: register of child welfare reporters – for purposes of making regulations
• Section 10(1) and (3): regulation of child contact services
• Section 17(1) and (3): register of curators ad litem – for purposes of making regulations

In terms of the duties contained in those provisions:

• Section 7 will be repealed and replaced by provisions in Part 3 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Bill and will be implemented following enactment of the Bill.
• An update on timings in relation to section 9 of the 2020 Act was provided to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee on 24 June 2025 [see below]. Implementation of the register of curators ad litem under section 17 will be carried out at the same time.
• Scottish Ministers plan to lay secondary legislation to regulate child contact services in the coming weeks, but intend to use powers in the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, rather than section 10 of the 2020 Act.

We made a further set of commencement Regulations on 22 May 2025: The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (Commencement No. 3 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2025 covering:

• Section 1(2): on the views of the child being considered when parents are making major decisions.
• Section 30(1), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (7): on delay in children’s hearings and adoption and permanence proceedings.

We plan to make a further set of commencement Regulations in October 2025 as committed to at a meeting of the Committee on unimplemented legislation on 24 June 2025: Official Report (see columns 10 to 14).