Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Pain Management Panel consisted of 16 people with lived experience of chronic pain. A sampling framework was developed by The Lines Between to ensure diversity within the panel across participants’ experiences, circumstances, and characteristics. The sampling framework was designed to recruit 15 participants to the pain management panel with the intention to interview a group of 22-25 people to mitigate potential attrition during the project.

Audit Scotland published a report on the Scottish National Investment Bank’s performance on Thursday 15 May (Scottish National Investment Bank | Audit Scotland). Page 16 details the Capital and Resource allocations by year since the Bank was launched in November 2020:

It was not possible to support all of the submitted projects within the available budget. There is currently no scope to support the reserved projects however should additional budget become available this will be considered. As part of the pipeline approach reserved projects can be considered for support in future years, subject to annual budget availability.

The Scottish Government has set up a short life working group to consider existing policies, guidance and legislation which may be impacted by the judgment. This work will position us towards a state of readiness to take all necessary steps when the EHRC’s revised Statutory Code of Practice on services, public functions and associations and updated guidance are published.

The Scottish Government has no duty to conduct an assessment of the impact of the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill with regard to offshore energy workers or seafarers or any other sector, but we welcome the Bill and continue to work with the UK Government to ensure it has a positive impact across Scotland. The Scottish Government supports the strengthening of fair work and workers’ rights and will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market, whilst advocating for devolution of employment law to best protect Scotland’s workers.

As stated in the answer to S6W-35303, employment legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament and there have been no discussions to date specifically on enforcement of the national minimum wage for Inch Cape or other offshore wind farms. As long as employment legislation remains reserved, the Scottish Government will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market, including in the offshore wind sector. We welcome the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill and continue to work closely with them to ensure its positive application, whilst being clear that the best way to protect Scotland’s workers is to devolve employment law.

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 Council Tax Reduction Scheme exists to ensure that nobody in Scotland should have to meet a Council Tax liability they cannot be expected to afford.

Over 460,000 households receive some level of CTR, and on average recipients save over £850 a year. Over 380,000 households were in receipt of full CTR and therefore did not have to pay any council tax (as at March 20204).

The Council Tax working age scheme was revised from April 2022, to ensure that, as far as practicable, a household in the same circumstances receives the same level of Council Tax Reduction whether it is on Universal Credit or not.

In 2025-26 the Scottish Government has allocated over £15 million for the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice. In 2025-26, Citizens Advice Scotland and the network of Bureaux have been allocated over £7.7 million. This funding supports the Money Talk Team service, providing free and confidential income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services across Scotland as well as the new national roll-out of the Council Tax Debt project.

I made it clear when responding to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment (IRQA) in September last year that it is vitally important that all young people have a clear and coherent senior phase offer, which aligns with pathways that are available in both higher and further education, and on into employment.

As indicated in the Scottish Government response to the IRQA, the work to rationalise the qualifications offer in the senior phase will be undertaken by the current qualifications body and subsequently Qualifications Scotland. The work should ensure high-quality qualifications in senior phase that:

• suit all pupils regardless of their age, stage, and ambition;
• is clear and easy for pupils to understand and navigate;
• delivers greater parity of esteem between different qualification types;
• delivers the skills and knowledge to grow our economy and
• will be maintained, reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

During 2024-25 SQA worked with stakeholders to identify and remove underutilised qualifications from their portfolio and, after extensive engagement, will remove 143 qualifications mostly on the grounds of no or low uptake.

An essential part of rationalisation of the senior phase offer will be guided by the evidence gathered from reviewing the types of qualifications available, patterns of delivery, their intended purposes, and how effectively they are fulfilling those purposes.

The UK Government is responsible for monitoring Inch Cape’s Supply Chain Plan as part of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.

The Scottish Government is investing up to £500 million over five years to anchor our offshore wind supply chain, support market certainty, and help create a highly productive, competitive offshore wind economy which supports thousands of jobs.

Projects such as Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm have the potential to boost local and national supply chain growth and support high-quality, sustainable jobs.

The UK Government is responsible for monitoring Supply Chain Plans as part of the CfD scheme.

The expansion of offshore wind represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create thousands of jobs that drive growth, foster innovation, and generate wealth. The Scottish Government is doing everything within its power to ensure that the offshore wind opportunity for Scotland is realised so that projects and the associated economic benefits we all want to see are delivered.