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The information requested is not held or collected centrally by Scottish Government. However, Police Scotland may be able to provide some data obtained from their National Missing Persons Application which was introduced in April 2019.

Scotland has some of the strongest legal protections from eviction in the UK. Pre-action requirements/protocols for tenants facing eviction for rent arrears are in place in both the social and private rented sectors. This ensures that social landlords have exhausted all attempts to resolve rent arrears with the tenant before taking action to evict and that tenants in rent arrears in the private rented sector are provided with information and sign-posted to support to sustain their tenancy, wherever possible.

In 2025-26 we are making over £97m available to local authorities to spend on Discretionary Housing Payments, an increase of nearly £7m over 2024-25. This includes £79.7m to fully mitigate the bedroom tax, helping over 94,000 households in Scotland sustain their tenancies, 14,000 of which are families with over 20,500 children and over £9.4m to mitigate the UK Government’s benefit cap as fully as possible within devolved powers, supporting around 3,000 families, with almost 10,000 children.

We have also committed to further rented sector reform and the Housing (Scotland) Bill 2024 includes provisions to further strengthen eviction protections in both the private and social rented sectors by placing a duty on the Court and Tribunal to always consider whether there should be a delay to the enforcement of an eviction order granted on rent arrears grounds based on the circumstances of the individual case.

In addition, to help improve housing outcomes for domestic abuse victims and their children, the Bill also introduces a duty on social landlords to fully consider domestic abuse and to support individuals, where domestic abuse is causing financial arrears, in a specialised manner before any legal action to recover possession of a property on rent arrears grounds can begin.

Since the answer given to question S6W-32194 on 3 January:

1.The position on funding for new flood protection schemes has not changed since 3 January 2025.

2.The total available funding to date for flood resilience including flood resilience schemes has not changed since 3 January 2025.

3.Potential new Flood Protection Schemes outlined in Local Authority Flood Risk Management Plans in 2021 will be considered as part of any new funding agreement – this will require updated estimated costs from Local Authorities for cycle 2 schemes.

Expected costs for cycle 1 schemes are given below. This updates the information given in response to question S6W-30798 on 7 November. 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.

Table for local authorities for cycle 1

In 2023-24 spending on additional support for learning reached a record high of over £1 billion. This includes a continued investment in pupil support assistants, by providing authorities with £15m each year, specifically to support schools and authorities to respond to the individual needs of children and young people.

In 2025-26, an additional £28m will be invested in additional support for learning, to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce at a local level. A further £1 million will be provided to support national initiatives to help recruit and train more ASN teachers.

Funding to local authorities has also been increased this year to £186.5 million, as part of our agreement with COSLA to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels.

The Scottish Government became responsible for funding discretionary housing payments in 2017 and only holds data on costs from April 2017 onwards. Data prior to this has been obtained from the UK Government website: Discretionary Housing Payments statistics - GOV.UK.

Since 2013, a total of £17.16 million has been invested in Dumfries and Galloway and £10.81 million in Scottish Borders to support these local authorities to mitigate the UK Government’s bedroom tax policy.

Tables 1 and 2 provide a breakdown of spending (or funding) in the past 13 years, including the current financial year.

Table 1 – bedroom tax mitigation spending (or funding) from 2013 onwards, broken down by financial year in Dumfries and Galloway

The Scottish Government recognises the disruption a homeless household can experience when placed in temporary accommodation and is aware of the issues that can arise if accommodation is located too far from the household’s employment, education and support services.

The Unsuitable Accommodation Order states that accommodation is unsuitable if it is not in the locality of facilities and services for the purposes of education which are being used, or might reasonably be expected to be used, by members of the household. The exception to this is if those facilities are reasonably accessible from the accommodation, taking into account the distance of travel by public transport or transport provided by a local authority.

It can be challenging for local authorities to place homeless households close to existing family and social networks due to the location of available properties and the high demand in particular areas. The risk assessment conducted as part of the housing support service and allocation process informs the offers of accommodation made. While it is preferable for households to continue to access the same facilities as they have previously, this is not always possible. The Scottish Government’s code of guidance on homelessness makes clear that it is acceptable for local authorities to offer households access to similar facilities.

A new temporary accommodation standards framework, which built on the 2019 advisory standards, was published by the Scottish Government in 2023. Local authorities and social landlords are expected to work towards meeting the framework before it becomes legally enforceable. The framework requires accommodation to be in a location that allows access to school either by foot, by public transport or by transport provided.

The Scottish Government is actively considering the role of AI in schools. Discussions have been ongoing with key partners including the SQA, Education Scotland, local authorities, the Scottish AI Alliance and academics, to ensure that AI can be used effectively and safely in learning and teaching.

In addition, we are undertaking an education-based project via the Scottish Government’s technology accelerator programme, CivTech. The project seeks to use AI and technology to streamline administrative tasks for teachers and contribute to a reduction in workload. The project is currently in early development.

Following the recent International Summit on the Teaching Profession, we have committed to consider carefully the guidance produced by the OECD and Education International, and to create an equivalent set of guidelines and guardrails for the Scottish context. We will do this through a partnership approach, liaising with local government and teachers’ representatives.

In addition, it is anticipated that the Curriculum Improvement Cycle will examine the skills, knowledge and understanding that children and young people will be required to develop in respect of AI.

The Scottish Government’s "National Strategy for Economic Transformation" sets out our aim to make Scotland’s regions, businesses, industries, communities and public services more productive and innovative.

It is important to note that in Scotland, not everyone who is receiving Social Security benefits are out of work. Our data shows that 33% of people on Universal Credit are in employment.

However, the Scottish Government aims to improve employment opportunities for those who face barriers in the labour market. Our No One Left Behind approach delivers an all-age, place-based, person-centred model of employability support in Scotland. Services are designed local to ensure the needs of that particular demographic are met. Services are voluntary, aiming to support individuals towards the right job at the right time.

Scotland also has 2 Investment Zones designed to deliver economic growth, more high skilled jobs, investment, and future opportunities for local people, as well as 2 Green Freeports which will boost innovation and inclusive growth within communities and both will support economic transformation and stimulate employment opportunities.

In 2025-26 we will provide an additional £55.6 million in funding for NRAC parity, ensuring that all Boards remain within 0.6% of parity.

Since 2012-13, over £4 billion of additional funding has been committed to those NHS Boards below their NRAC parity levels.

Additional funding for NRAC parity, broken down by NHS Board, is provided below. Where no amount is stated, the NHS Board is within 0.6% of parity.

Between the introduction of the Baby Box in August 2017 and 31 March 2025, 7,916 Baby Boxes have been delivered to families in NHS Dumfries and Galloway, and 5,948 in the Scottish Borders. Over the past six years, the uptake rate has been over 91%. The Baby Box is offered to all parents in Scotland and provides essential items for the first 6 months of a baby’s life worth around £400.

In 2021, Scottish Government commissioned an evaluation of the Baby Box by Ipsos MORI and a link to the report can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/baby-box-evaluation/

The evaluation highlighted the positive impact of the scheme on families, particularly for first-time, younger and low-income parents.