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All children and young people should receive the support they need to reach their full potential. Independent schools have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for pupils with disabilities. The Scottish Government encourages parents to discuss any reasonable adjustments that may be required for their child with their school in the first instance. Where there are concerns that a disabled pupil is being discriminated against in school, families have recourse to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.

Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, education authorities have a duty to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of pupils for whose education they are responsible. These duties apply when an education authority has placed a child or young person at an independent school.

Where a child or young person has been placed in an independent school by their family, education authorities have a discretionary power, rather than a duty, under the 2004 Act to provide support. In these circumstances, it is a matter for individual education authorities to decide whether support should be provided. Education authorities are supported in implementing the 2004 Act through the statutory Code of Practice, Supporting Children's Learning, 3rd edition.

The SQA are currently located in the Lowden Building in Dalkeith and Optima Building in Glasgow. These locations will transfer to Qualifications Scotland and so there will be no relocation cost.

The transition from the Scottish Qualifications Authority to Qualifications Scotland through our Education Reform Programme in 2025-26 is forecast to cost approximately £0.3m for rebranding and £0.436m for restructuring, to meet the Bill requirements, as voted for by Parliament in June 2025.

All children and young people in Scotland are entitled to receive the same level of access to NHS-delivered services, regardless of which school they attend.

Decisions around fees for hospital education services are a matter for local authorities and NHS Boards to consider in conjunction with independent schools. Where fees are applied, we would expect the independent schools to offer families the financial support needed in instances where there is a charge for the education services on offer.

Schedule 3 (Transfer of staff, property etc to Qualifications Scotland) Section 2 (Transfer of staff) of the Education (Scotland) Bill as passed sets out that all employees assigned to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) at the point of Qualifications Scotland being established, will transfer to Qualifications Scotland in line with the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39128 on 29 July 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.

The Scottish Government’s guidance on Welfare at the time of Killing in Salmon Farming, published on 17 July 2025, is based on the recommendations made by the UK Government's Animal Welfare Committee and developed in conjunction with the Scottish farmed salmon industry, Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA) and animal welfare organisations.

The Scottish Government takes the welfare of farmed fish very seriously and the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing is assured by the requirement at Article 3.1 of retained Council Regulation (EC) 1099/2009 that ‘animals shall be spared any avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations’. We have no current plans to introduce further legislation.

The Scottish Government has allocated a budget of around £1.7m per year to support delivery of the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan 2023-26. This funding includes a range of projects focused on HIV testing and prevention including Terrence Higgins Trust HIV Self-Test service, three Emergency Department opt-out testing pilots and a workforce education project led by Waverley Care to reduce stigma in health and social care settings.

In addition to this, we are also proving funding for the roll out of blood borne virus opt-out testing in Emergency Departments starting with those NHS Boards with the highest prevalence.

While Producer Organisations (POs) that currently receive aid through the Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme funded by the Scottish Government do have a number of members that are not based in Scotland, the scheme does not fund individual growers. Aid is provided to recognised POs, based on an approved operational programme, which must have the support of all PO members. Funding offers a range of opportunities which are of collective value to the PO and its members. Currently there are also a number of Scottish growers which are members of POs in other UK nations.

Information related to funding allocated to POs in other UK nations is not held by the Scottish Government. This is a matter for the Rural Payments Agency.

We have requested sheep movement data from APHA, but it has not as yet been received.

The Projecting Future Demand for Health and Care Services in Scotland (2024-2034) report forecasts a continued rise in unplanned acute inpatient hospital admissions. Public Health Scotland (PHS) emphasises that this trend is not fixed and can be influenced through strategic investment, service redesign, and addressing the wider determinants of health.

The Scottish Government acknowledges the projected increase, particularly in admissions related to respiratory conditions, and is taking action. We recently published the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, the Scotland's Population Health Framework and the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework in which we outline our shared, long-term vision for reforming and renewing health and social care services to ensure they are more sustainable, preventative, and equitable. A new Long Term Conditions (LTC) Framework is under development. This framework aims to ensure equitable and sustainable access to the services that all people with long term conditions need while allowing for targeted action on condition-specific care and support where appropriate.