Seòmar agus comataidhean

The provision of Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts is reserved to the UK Government and managed by the Home Office.

The Scottish Government has no control over asylum accommodation and support and we would not expect the Home Office to discuss contractual matters with us.

The comment about difficulties in establishing communication referred directly to inter-ministerial discussion on the contents of the UK Budget. The meeting between the UK Minister for Energy Consumers and I was reconvened and I was pleased to meet with Minister McCluskey on 3 December to discuss the Warm Home Discount and the UK Government’s proposed Warm Homes Plan.

The meeting referred to was reconvened and I was pleased to meet with Minister McCluskey on 3 December to discuss the Warm Home Discount and the UK Government’s proposed Warm Homes Plan.

The Scottish Government continues to consider clean heat deployment, and costs thereof, as part of the development of our updated Heat in Buildings Strategy and Delivery Plan to be published by the end of 2026.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes can access clinically appropriate, safe, effective and person-centred care. We know that waiting times for access to diabetes technologies, such as Closed Loop Systems (CLS), remain a challenge, and we are taking action to improve this.

Since 2016, the Scottish Government has invested over £50 million to support technology access, including:

• £29.6 million between 2016-2022 for diabetes technologies
• £8.8 million in 2024-25 to expand CLS access
• £14.6 million in 2025-26 to onboard 2,500 additional individuals and cover recurring consumables

These measures increase capacity and reduce delays by enabling virtual onboarding and freeing up local clinic resources. In addition, the National Onboarding Team, hosted by NHS Golden Jubilee, provides virtual education and training, enabling people anywhere in Scotland to start using diabetes technologies without delay. This innovative model supported almost 1,000 people last year with a 100% satisfaction rate.

The National CLS Onboarding Programme has enabled more than 4,200 people to receive CLS since May 2024. As of September 2025, 77% of under-18s with Type 1 diabetes have access to CLS, and every child or young person should have received at least a referral. This paediatric focus helps prevent complications early and reduce future backlogs.

This builds on Scotland’s strong progress in diabetes technology adoption. According to the 2024 Diabetes Survey, insulin pump use has risen to 23.2% of all people with Type 1 diabetes, up from just 6.3% in 2013. Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) adoption has increased to 85.7% in 2024, compared to 82.5% in 2023, reflecting Scotland’s commitment in digital diabetes care.

We will continue to work with boards to reduce variation and waiting times through targeted funding and performance-based delivery models that prioritise equitable access for all.

We note the publication of Baroness Amos’ Reflections and Initial Impressions report with interest. The report records issues Baroness Amos has identified from her engagement with families in England and provides updates on her investigation and next steps. The report also describes the five areas of work defined in the Terms of Reference: the local investigation phase, a system wide review, inequalities, a review of the legal framework regarding the role of Coroners in relation to stillbirths and compensation following harm caused by clinical negligence and the development of one set of national standards.

While we recognise some similarities between Baroness Amos’ findings and what Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s independent, ongoing inspection programme is reporting, it is important to recognise that Baroness Amos is conducting a rapid investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England. The Scottish Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will play a key role in ensuring lessons are learned and improvements are made following investigations and reviews in Scotland. It will also define the scope of a national review in Scotland.

We will continue to review outputs from the English rapid investigation as they are published.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42484 on 17 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.

Specific data on breakfast provision expenditure from Pupil Equity Funding in schools is not held centrally.

Since Pupil Equity Funding’s introduction in 2017-18, over £1 billion has been allocated to Scotland’s schools, empowering headteachers to take the best approaches that suit the needs of their pupils, including using it to support breakfast clubs, to improve readiness to learn and help close the poverty-related attainment gap.

Across the country we continue to trust and empower Scotland's headteachers to use this extra funding to support their pupils - whether through extra support staff, family link workers or through breakfast provision, for example. The PEF Report, published in May, highlights some of the ways Headteachers are investing Pupil Equity Funding to improve outcomes for children impacted by poverty. Within this report there are various examples of schools using PEF to support a breakfast club, such as Easter Carmuirs Primary School’s “Breakfast for All” programme, as well as Castlemilk High School’s work on studying during breakfast clubs.

We are also investing £3 million to expand and enhance breakfast club provision across Scotland through our Bright Start Breakfasts fund – which supports 20,000 children across 490 breakfast clubs to get a healthy start to their day and put more money in family’s pockets by delivering real savings.

The Scottish Government recognises there is a gap in protection for seasonal workers and it is something we are very keen to address as urgently as we can.

We are working to gain a better understanding of what is required from the Scottish Government.

All points raised and all routes will be considered to ensure we utilise what will be the best path to take to introduce new standards.

Data on the number of coordinated support plans by sector and local authority between 2007-2024 are published in the Pupil Census supplementary statistics: Pupil census supplementary statistics - gov.scot

Statistics prior to 2007 are not available.