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As responsibility for Police Officer training and professional development is a matter for the Chief Constable, the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Oversight of this is provided by the Scottish Police Authority and is monitored by its People Committee.

Our Tobacco and Vaping Framework launched in November 2023 recognises the need for action to prevent young people using vapes and becoming addicted to nicotine. Up-to-date information on vapes is available from NHS Inform, Young Scot and third sector partners. It also forms one strand of the Curriculum for Excellence Health and Wellbeing Guidance in our schools.

The Framework also recognised price as a tool to reduce appeal of tobacco products and inappropriate use of vaping products by children and young people. Single use vapes (SUV) have been linked to a rapid increase in the number of young people vaping, particularly due to their low price. The SUV ban came into force from 1 June 2025 in line with the rest of the UK.

Taking forward actions from our Framework, we have worked closely with the UK and Devolved Governments on the development of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The UK-wide Tobacco and Vapes Bill will introduce new restrictions on the advertising, sponsorship, free distribution and nominal pricing of vaping products across the 4 nations.

New powers in the Bill will include regulation of displays of vaping products, product features, packaging, ingredients and flavourings in relation to vaping products across the UK.

Alongside this activity, we continue to work closely with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) to support enforcement of existing legislation, including checks on sales of tobacco and vapes to under 18s, and advice to business.

The Scottish Government is committed to protecting, managing and restoring Scotland’s degraded peatlands, as a vital part of mitigating and adapting to the climate and nature emergencies. That is why today we are publishing the first in a series of rolling Peatland ACTION Five-Year Partnership Plans, setting out how we will deliver Scotland’s long-term vision for peatlands by 2040.

Peatlands cover around 2 million hectares of Scotland, roughly a quarter of the country, and are of national and global significance. Two-thirds of all UK peatlands are in Scotland, and our blanket bogs represent around 10% of the global total. However, around two thirds of Scotland’s peatlands are degraded, and releasing rather than storing carbon. Restoring degraded peatlands returns the many benefits they can provide for climate, for nature and for people – including the ability to sequester carbon, support biodiversity and nature, reduce flooding and wildfire risk and improve drinking water quality. It also offers a growing source of skilled jobs for rural communities, and seasonal opportunities for existing rural workers.

Our draft Climate Change Plan sets out the Scottish Government’s ambition to increase peatland restoration by 10% each year to 2030 and maintain levels after that leading to the restoration of more than 400,000 hectares by 2040. Within this, we will look to increase the proportion of the most highly degraded and emitting peat that is restored. These policies reflect an increase in our ambition and acknowledge the work underway to grow this relatively young industry.

The Partnership Plan published today sets out realistic and achievable activity to show what the peatland sector in Scotland has the capacity, skills and capabilities to deliver. It identifies three themes as the partnership’s key priorities over the next 5 years:

• Further – Expand peatland restoration in Scotland
• Fairer – Support a Just Transition through restoration
• Better – Improve how we work and solve technical challenges

The actions set out in the plan aim to address barriers to further upscaling, build delivery capacity and stability in the sector, simplify processes, increase funding certainty, build a long-term pipeline of investible restoration projects, create economic opportunities for rural communities and demonstrate that peatland restoration can, in the right circumstances, integrate with established land-uses.

Engagement with the sector has and will continue to inform peatland restoration planning and delivery. Lessons learned and achievements from this phase of delivery will inform our future approach, ensuring the partnership remains focused on the right priorities, at the right time, as we progress toward the Scottish Government’s proposed 2040 restoration target.

Transport Scotland has published the findings from the National Speed Management Review (NSMR) public consultation, which ran from November 2024 to March 2025 and received over 19,500 responses.

Following close consideration of consultation responses Ministers have decided not to take forward changes in relation to national speed limits on single carriageway. Further work will be undertaken to continue to analyse the impact on road casualties and journey times of a speed limit change on different standards of single carriageways.

In relation to Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) speed limits, work will be undertaken to progress steps to increase speed limits on single and dual carriageways for this vehicle type. This change aims to reduce the speed differential between HGVs and other vehicles, helping to reduce driver frustration and improve journey time reliability.

The consultation findings and additional information are available at: Road Safety | National Speed Management Review | Transport Scotland

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland; however, the statutory responsibility for delivering or commissioning services sits with local authorities, NHS boards and integrated health and social care partnerships. Operational decisions, including whether there is a need to increase the IBD specialist nursing workforce, are therefore matters for those public bodies.

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 places duties on Health Boards to ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent individuals are working in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, the provision of high-quality care and the wellbeing of staff.

If any IBD patient has concerns about their care, these should be taken forward with their local NHS board.

The Scottish Government is investing £1.03bn to support Scottish Water's £6bn investment programme for the period 2021-27. The Strategic Review of Charges process is underway to establish the maximum level of charges for the period 2027-33. As part of that process, the Scottish Government will confirm the amount it will lend to Scottish Water during that period.

The Scottish Government welcomes Crohn’s & Colitis UK’s new strategy Transforming Understanding of Crohn’s & Colitis, and their strategic ambitions for 2026-2036. We recognise that timely diagnosis is essential to improving outcomes and reducing emergency admissions.

We expect all Boards to follow best practice and adhere to current guidelines and standards for people with suspected IBD. A national IBD pathway for NHS Scotland was published in January 2025: inflammatory-bowel-disease-ibd-pathway.pdf. This pathway is intended to be used by primary and secondary care health care professionals who are concerned that a patient may have undiagnosed IBD.

We will continue to engage with third sector organisations including Crohn’s & Colitis UK as we remain committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with IBD are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

"The cost of providing an overflow monitor varies between £7,000 and £11,000 for the majority of locations. However, some sites with complex access arrangements or traffic management etc can result in significantly higher costs, up to some £20,000."