Seòmar agus comataidhean

Supply teachers play an important role in ensuring continuity and quality in education by guaranteeing that any teacher's absence from the classroom can be covered, while also providing flexibility for teachers who choose to work part-time.

Like all teachers in Scotland, supply teachers are required to be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and are therefore required to undertake professional learning and development in order to maintain their registration and uphold the high professional standards expected within the teaching profession.

Local Authorities carry the statutory responsibility for the delivery of Education in Scotland. It is therefore their responsibility to ensure they have planned for the adequate number of staff required during the academic year. To support them in this endeavour, the Scottish Government has provided them with £186.5m during this financial year to increase teacher numbers back to 2023 levels.

The Scottish Government has held, and continues to hold, regular meetings with Public Health Scotland regarding the changes to Waiting Times Statistics. These meetings take place on a monthly basis, complemented by fortnightly updates to monitor and review progress on the implementation of the Waiting Times Guidance.

The Scottish Government supports and works closely with Food Standards Scotland, who have previously and will again repeat a winter campaign encouraging people to take a daily vitamin D supplement to maintain bone and muscle health.

The campaign primarily focuses on online advertising and social media posts. A campaign toolkit has also been developed and shared with a wide range of stakeholders to help support efforts to raise awareness of vitamin D, with graphics, web text, and social media posts available in nine languages (https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/publications-and-research/publications/vitamin-d-campaign-toolkit).

Information on vitamin D is also available and promoted through a range of resources. Dedicated public advice on vitamin D is available on NHS Inform, including a general information leaflet highlighting the importance of vitamin D, which is available in a range of formats and languages (https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition/eating-well/vitamin-d).

Additional information can be accessed through our Parent Club (https://www.parentclub.scot/articles/eating-well-at-home) and Ready, Steady Baby! (https://www.nhsinform.scot/ready-steady-baby) resources, Food Standards Scotland (https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/consumers/healthy-eating/nutrition/vitamins-minerals/vitamin-d) website and Eat Well, Your Way (https://www.eatwellyourway.scot/what-is-a-healthy-balanced-diet/vitamin-d/).

Where individuals have left a coercive and abusive relationship, it is important that protections for their safety are available where needed. As such, there are a range of protective orders available to help ensure the safety of individuals.

Where a partner or ex-partner has been convicted of a domestic abuse criminal offence against their partner or ex-partner, when dealing with the offender the court is required to consider whether to impose a non-harassment order (NHO). If a NHO is not imposed, the court must explain the reasons why. The NHO can have a range of conditions included within it such as refraining from contacting the person against whom the offence has been committed. NHOs are also available for a wider range of offences upon application by the prosecutor. Changes made in the recently passed Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 will, when brought into force, require the court to consider NHOs upon conviction in sexual offence, stalking and intimate images cases.

In addition, a person can take action through the courts to protect themselves against abuse and harassment, and there are a number of civil court orders available. These include an interdict, which is a court order prohibiting someone from doing something. It can cover things such as contacting a particular person or coming within a certain distance of their home. In some cases, breach of an interdict is an offence. A civil NHO can prohibit conduct which causes alarm or distress and again breach is a criminal offence. An exclusion order can provide protection to a spouse or a civil partner (and, in certain circumstances, a cohabitant) where they or a child of the family is at risk of physical or mental injury because of the conduct of the other spouse, civil partner (or cohabitant). The order suspends an individual's rights to occupy the family home, and will come to an end if the court divorce or their civil partnership is dissolved.

Some data on the use of these various orders is available. Under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 and the requirement for the court to always consider imposition of an NHO following conviction for a domestic abuse offence came into force in April 2019, there has been a near quadrupling of the proportion of cases in which NHOs are made (from 10.8% of cases in 2018-19 to 41.8% of cases in 2024-25).

Separately from the availability of protective orders, the Caledonian System is an integrated approach to address the safety of women and children and to improve the lives of women, children and men. The system comprises of a programme for men who have been convicted of domestic abuse related offences with integrated support services for women and children. The men's programme is two years in duration, with a focus on helping men be accountable for their abusive behaviour and reduce the risk of continuing to be abusive. For 2025-26, the total ring-fenced budget allocation to 23 local authorities who operate the Caledonian System was £4,467,666.

These measures are intended to help protect victims of domestic abuse from further offending behaviour.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) implemented the changes to the national data mart to ensure consistency in reporting of Accredited Official Statistics across all health board data for Stage of Treatment waiting times, aligned with the Waiting Times Guidance 2023.

For local reporting of Stage of Treatment waiting times, the implementation of the new reporting methodology requires a software update, which Boards are gradually implementing. All NHS Boards are working closely with their software suppliers to agree a suitable switchover date. To date, one Board has successfully enabled the updated functionality, and further Boards are expected to apply the guidance through software updates over the coming months.

PHS has undertaken a comprehensive assessment of the impact of moving from the previous reporting methodology to the new approach, ensuring that any differences are fully understood and managed. Original PHS estimates are in line with the impact on official statistics, however PHS is unable to verify how system upgrades have impacted the calculations on local systems.

The Scottish Government has increased police funding to £1.64 billion in 2025-26, an increase of £90 million on 2024-25.

As Public Inquiries are independent of Ministers, it is for the Chair to direct how an Inquiry carries out its duties whilst being mindful of their responsibilities under section 17(3) of the Inquiries Act 2005 to avoid unnecessary costs.

While this particular issue has previously been raised by Police Scotland, it is for public bodies to determine whether to apply to be core participants in a public inquiry and the extent of legal representation required.

Police Scotland is operationally independent of the Scottish Government, and decisions on the allocation of resources are for the Chief Constable, under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority. This includes the allocation of budget and staff to support the work of Public Inquiries.

Public inquiries are set up when no other avenue is deemed sufficient given the issues of public concern. In many cases, such as the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry and the Emma Caldwell Inquiry, they are set up with the support of, or in response to calls from, the Scottish Parliament.

The information you requested is already in the public domain, and can be found using the following two links:

A letter I sent to the Public Audit Committee dated 6 October 2025 contains a section on MV Glen Rosa funding and governance: The 202324 audit of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow Scottish Government response October 2025 | Scottish Parliament Website

The Ferguson Marine quarterly update, which was sent to the Net Zero Energy and Transport Committee on 15 September 2025 which refers to the Glen Rosa programme schedule: https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/net-zero-energy-and-transport-committee/correspondence/2025/september-2025/mv-glen-rosa-quarterly-progress-update-150925.pdf

The Scottish Government, along with all other UK nations, relies on advice about screening programmes from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group. The UK NSC does not currently recommend prostate screening, and therefore there are no plans at present to introduce a national prostate cancer screening programme.

In its November 2020 review, the committee concluded that the available evidence did not support the introduction of prostate cancer screening, primarily due to the absence of a sufficiently accurate test and single effective treatment for early-stage cases. The UK NSC is currently reviewing the evidence. Should screening be recommended as a result, the organisations that oversee screening will advise Scottish Ministers on how to take that recommendation forward.

In the meantime, following a roundtable discussion with Sir Chris Hoy in August this year, the First Minister has commissioned the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland to chair a clinician-led short life working group to explore how we can support those with prostate cancer in Scotland.

It remains important that men and those with a prostate should speak to their GP if they are concerned they have possible symptoms. There is a list of symptoms available on the NHS website: Prostate cancer - About Prostate Cancer | NHS inform

Due to the nature of flooding, for which the scale of impacts can vary significantly, the number of flooding incidents are not systematically recorded. The responsibility for development, delivery, operation and maintenance of flood protection schemes rests with individual local authorities, who are best placed to respond to local resilience needs. Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

The Scottish Public Pensions Agency may incur costs for rectifying errors through interest payable on delayed pensions or lump sums, or through the payment of compensation for upheld complaints or appeals.

The following table records the information held for the full financial years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 and is a total costs for the four public service pension schemes administered by the Agency.