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The Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning contains representation from gender competent leaders, who were instrumental in developing ambitions for the Taskforce, which will result in girls and young women having a gender equal experience of education.

As outlined in its Theory of Change Model, the Taskforce has committed to working with leaders in the education sector to facilitate the development of leadership programmes to upskill and resource educational leaders to take a whole school setting approach to tackling gender inequality. The Taskforce’s work on this ambition is at an early stage and it will meet again in June to continue to develop ways to do so.

a) There is no specific workforce data collected for neuropsychiatrists in Scotland or the rest of the UK. This is not a specialty or sub-specialty of psychiatry and would usually be a special interest of doctors trained in Old Age or General Adult Psychiatry. As part of higher psychiatry training programmes resident doctors can undertake additional training in this area such as a masters degree and placements in liaison psychiatry.

b) WTE Applied Psychologists working in Neuropsychology in NHS Scotland as of 31st December 2024*:

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

My officials met with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), an agency of the UK Government, on 5 February 2025. Topics discussed included actions being taken to alleviate driving test waiting times and issues surrounding the use of bots to book and upsell driving tests to learners.

These issues are unacceptable and I welcome the actions announced on 23 April 2025 by the Department for Transport’s Secretary of State, Heidi Alexander MP to rectify the situation.

My officials met with officials from DVSA again on 6 May 2025 to discuss further the actions announced, and will be meeting with them quarterly going forward.

a) There is no specific workforce data collected for neuropsychiatrists in Scotland or the rest of the UK. This is not a specialty or sub-specialty of psychiatry and would usually be a special interest of doctors trained in Old Age or General Adult Psychiatry. As part of higher psychiatry training programmes resident doctors are able to undertake additional training in this area such as a masters degree and placements in liaison psychiatry.

b) Neuropsychologist is not a recognised job role within NHS Scotland. Postgraduate Applied Psychologists (mainly Clinical Psychologists) may undertake further training to various levels in neuropsychology. NHS employing Boards make decisions about what additional training may be required to meet the needs of their population. Every year NHS Education for Scotland (NES) undertakes an annual commissioning process with Boards to discuss their psychological workforce development and training needs. NES supports the provision of Neuropsychology training at the University of Glasgow which is highly valued by Boards.

The Scottish Government actively promotes and supports the natural regeneration of woodland through the work of Scottish Forestry and the funding provided through the Forestry Grant Scheme.

Scottish Forestry actively encourages land managers to consider natural regeneration when developing woodland management plans and woodland creation proposals.

The Forestry Grant Scheme provides financial support for land managers to create the conditions necessary for natural regeneration and contributes to the costs of protecting natural regeneration. This includes reducing deer numbers and encouraging co-operative deer management without fences.

Support is also available for the management of existing native woodlands and reducing deer populations in the surrounding landscape.

The Forestry Grant Scheme has already supported over 9,000 hectares of new native woodland through natural regeneration with significant further projects in development.

The Forestry Grant Scheme is continually evolving to meet the needs of land managers in Scotland and as part of recent enhancements the grant rate offered for natural regeneration was doubled in 2023 to address increasing costs and encourage land managers to consider creating woodland through natural regeneration.

Addressing violence against women and girls remains a key focus of the Scottish Government through the Equally Safe strategy, which is co-owned with COSLA. The Equally Safe strategy focuses on violence and abusive behaviour carried out predominately by men and directed at women and girls precisely because they are women and girls. It explicitly lays out that to tackle this violence and abuse, we need to prioritise addressing the root causes of gender inequality, challenging outdated stereotypes and societal attitudes that allow violence against women and girls to persist. That is why Equally Safe places emphasis on challenging gender inequality and norms, and the underpinning attitudes that perpetuate and condone such violence. Under the auspices of Equally Safe, we have strengthened the law in relation to violence against women and girls; and we have taken forward a great deal of work to ensure those working in the public sector are equipped with the resource and knowledge to confidently and sensitively work with those affected.

Specifically, we are implementing the Equally Safe Delivery Plan. The delivery plan consists of 14 deliverables and associated actions which represent a commitment to act from partners across the public and third sector at a local and national level. The plan covers the period from Summer 2024 to Spring 2026. This collaborative approach is vital as it is essential that all spheres of society are involved in the work to tackle violence against violence against women and girls. Development of the delivery plan was informed by extensive engagement with our stakeholders, both internally and externally - including with Public Health Scotland, the Improvement Service, those working within the specialist violence against women sector, COSLA and its allied organisations, and the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board.

Additionally, we have confirmed that the Delivering Equally Safe Fund will be extended into 2025-26, benefiting from a £2.4m uplift, taking the total Scottish Government investment in the Delivering Equally Safe Fund up to £21.6m for the year ahead. The Delivering Equally Safe fund supports the work of the Equally Safe strategy, which underpins Scotland’s approach to preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. It supports 115 projects from 107 organisations across every local authority in Scotland.

The Scottish Government published the national relationships and behaviour joint action plan last year, which sets out 20 overarching actions that will be taken before the end of 2027. It addresses issues including violence, attendance, young people’s mental health, exclusion, recording and monitoring, and empowering staff. During its development, I asked the Scottish Government’s Gender Equality Taskforce on Education and Learning (GETEL) to consider the action plan through a gendered lens. The Taskforce worked with officials to shape both the high level ambitions and the detailed actions within the plan, which includes a commitment to continue to work closely together to ensure the Taskforce’s gender equality ambitions and behaviour in schools ambitions align throughout all phases of the plan.

Additionally, the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First Guidance explicitly highlights to employers that violence against women and girls is a workplace issue and how women’s experiences of violence and abuse can have a detrimental impact on employment. The guidance also points to good practice examples for employers, including the Equally Safe at Work accreditation programme and enhanced provision to support workers.

The Young Person’s Guarantee last and final update report was published in March 2023 and outlines the outcomes and opportunities provided by the funding from the Young Person’s Guarantee.

The Scottish Government provides a range of advice and support for people experiencing bereavement.

Our emotional and wellbeing support for adults includes:

Providing funding to Cruse Scotland for the National Bereavement Helpline, which provides free listening and counselling support to people right across Scotland.

Since 2021, we have invested £66 million in our Adults Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund which supports a wide range of grassroots projects to provide compassionate wellbeing support. This fund prioritises supporting people experiencing bereavement and loss; and during 2023-24 we supported 196 such projects.

Working in partnership with Public Health Scotland and SeeMe to deliver a package of support for employers to enable them to support their employee's mental health more confidently; and we have already included a focus on grief and bereavement.

Our Mind to Mind website (hosted on NHS Inform) provides advice and information to the public about improving their wellbeing. The website includes advice and signposting information to support organisations for people (of all ages) who are experiencing grief and bereavement.

Our Suicide Prevention strategy and soon to be published new Palliative Care Strategy will set out the specific support available for people bereaved in these ways.

For children and young people, the loss of a parent can have a profound effect, so it is vital that support is provided at the right time, and in appropriate settings. Our emotional and wellbeing support for this group includes:

• Working with Education Scotland to review learning and teaching resources, as well as support for school staff, so that schools can play their role in supporting the needs of bereaved children and young people.
• Continuing to provide £16 million annually to local authorities to ensure that every secondary school has access to school counselling services.
• Schools being able to refer children and young people to the Seasons for Growth programme, which offers peer and small group bereavement support.
• Since 2016, our Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Funds have provided funding of £14.5 million annually to 115 organisations – including to Child Bereavement UK, Richmond's Hope, and Cruse Scotland who provide vital support to children and young people who are bereaved.

We recognise that the death of a loved one can cause financial and practical challenges for families. Our Funeral Support Payment provides a contribution towards funeral costs for those who receive a low-income qualifying benefit. Since launching the payment in 2019, we have provided £56.9 million of support to over 29,000 people. We are also committed to extending Carer Support Payments from 8 weeks to 12 weeks after the death of a cared for person, and this payment also connects carers to wider forms of support at this difficult time.