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The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long term conditions including Chronic Kidney Disease are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

We are running our public consultation on the Long Term Conditions Framework from 23 April to 20 July 2025. This is available at Health: Long Term Conditions Framework - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space.

We will take the results of the consultation into account when developing the framework which will include identifying areas where targeted condition-specific action will still be needed. In the development of the framework we will identify what funding is available for implementation.

Now in its third year (2025-2026), the SEEP Test and Learn project has been expanded to include Scottish Community Learning and Development (CLD) providers.

In year three, the SEEP Test and Learn Project budget for Scottish college and universities projects is £400,000. It is £100,000 for Scottish Community Learning and Development led projects. The total budget is £500,000.

Additional details are available here Scottish Education Exchange Programme: Test and Learn project - gov.scot

Institutions are able to top up their project fund using additional funding provided by the project’s international partner. Twenty-two of the fifty-six projects funded to date planned to top up their project.

An external evaluation due to be published later in the summer will provide an analysis of the SEEP projects which will include further detail on how institutions used additional funding.

The Scottish Government does not receive any funding from external organisations or international partners for the SEEP test and learn project.

In the 2 years of SEEP Test and learn Scottish colleges and universities planned to collaborate with over 100 international partners across 38 countries. Please see a list below of countries partnered with in year one and year two.

1.Argentina

2.Australia

3.Belgium

4.Brazil

5.Canada

6.China

7.Czech Republic

8.Denmark

9.Egypt

10.Estonia

11.Finland

12.Flanders

13.France

14.Germany

15.Ghana

16.Greece

17.Hong Kong

18.India

19.Indonesia

20.Ireland

21.Japan

22.Italy

23.Lithuania

24.Malaysia

25.Nepal

26.Netherlands

27.Pakistan

28.Singapore

29.Spain

30.South Africa

31.South Korea

32.Sweden

33.Taiwan

34.UAE

35.Uruguay

36.USA

37.Valencia

38.Vietnam

The Scottish Education Exchange Programme (SEEP) Test and Learn Project was launched in 2023.

In year 1 the project did not directly fund any student exchanges. Institutions prioritised staff mobility projects supporting the development of sustainable partnerships.

Projects in year 2 of the test and learn provided opportunities for students from Scottish institutions who would not meet the criteria for Turing Scheme funding to participate in a mobility project.

Year 2 projects concluded on 31 March 2025. Institutions are currently submitting end of project reports which will feed into the external evaluation of the project, the report from which is due to be published late summer.

Additional information on the year 2 projects can be found on the Scottish Government website: Scottish Education Exchange Programme: - Test and Learn: funded projects - gov.scot.

Over the last ten years the Consultant Radiologist workforce has increased by 27.7% (from 304.5 WTE as at March 2015 to 388.9 WTE as at March 2025). Consultant Radiologist vacancies have decreased by 3.4% over the last year to 22.4 WTE as at March 2025, which is a vacancy rate of 5.5%.

The Scottish Government continues to invest heavily in radiology training. We are currently funding around 190 specialty training places in clinical radiology, including 78 extra places which have been added since 2014, based on modelling and future workforce need. This enables doctors to train and enter the workforce following completion of training - which takes a minimum of 5 years. Clinical radiology specialty training programmes have been filled at 100% in Scotland from 2014 to 2024, with 230 resident doctors successfully completing this training in this period.

The Scottish Government notes the emergency composite motion from the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

The motion calls for updates to be made to the Equality Act 2010 with respect to the protected characteristic groups as defined in the 2010 Act. As the Equality Act 2010 is a mainly reserved piece of legislation any updates to protected characteristics under the Act would have to be brought forward by the UK Government.

The Scottish Government believes in equality and fairness for all. Our 2025-26 Programme for Government includes a commitment to create safe spaces for the LGBTQI+ community - funding work that tackles discrimination and upholds the human rights of this group, including through the Equality and Human Rights Fund, and progressing actions within the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.

A study by the Competition and Markets Authority on the housebuilding industry noted that small and medium housebuilders face higher costs, in per-plot terms, than larger competitors, due to the small-scale nature of their developments. The Scottish Government recognises that this could lead to smaller developers being disproportionately impacted by the introduction of the Scottish Building Safety Levy.

The Scottish Government is working hard to crack down on scammers and deliver better support for those targeted by scams.

We provided funding of £500,000 in 2021-22 to various members of Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy Group to carry out targeted scams prevention and awareness work.

Our supported work includes the roll out by Trading Standards Scotland (TSS) of nearly 1,000 free call blocking devices to vulnerable individuals who were most at risk from scammers and rogue traders. The Scottish Government has also supported a project carried out by Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) to enhance the referral pathways available for connecting victims of scams to appropriate sources of support, and has provided separate funding to ADS to raise awareness of romance and companionship scams.

Since 2023, Consumer Scotland, which is funded by the Scottish Government, has been working with consumer organisations such as TSS to fund scams awareness campaigns, including the yearly Shut Out Scammers campaign. In April 2025, Consumer Scotland formally assumed responsibility for scams prevention and awareness work, supported by £175,000 of funding for this financial year.

The Scottish Government also funds the national consumer helpline, delivered by ADS and contactable at consumer advice or on 0808 164 6000. Suspicious activity can be reported to ADS or, where appropriate, to Police Scotland by calling 101.

Scotland’s Innovation Strategy sets out actions to make Scotland one of the most innovative small nations in the world. We will use innovation as a productivity driver to grow the economy and create jobs in areas of strength.

Scotland’s Enterprise agencies; Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, support Scotland’s businesses to innovate and develop new products and services through several programmes including SMART:SCOTLAND grants.

Additionally, the Scottish Government has recently launched a competitive £2.9 million proof of concept fund to support researchers from Scotland’s universities develop innovative ideas into new products and services.