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Information is not held in the form requested. However, 53% of FSS staff are involved in compliance and enforcement activity.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) plays a role in supporting food safety education in schools, providing accessible, science-based resources to help young people develop essential food hygiene and nutrition skills. FSS continues to engage with educators, public health partners, and digital platforms to promote food safety awareness among young people albeit on a more reactive basis currently.

FSS also provides free teaching materials and support materials for lesson planning aligned with the Curriculum for Excellence, helping schools integrate food safety into learning. The FSS website hosts interactive educational content and games, offering guidance on foodborne illnesses, allergens, and safe food handling. A supply of physical teaching resources including food flashcards and large printed versions of the Eatwell Guide are available upon request to support classroom learning. FSS has a dedicated Facebook group for teachers, providing direct support, lesson ideas, and food safety resources tailored for school use.

The Parliament seeks to engage with other legislatures, inter-parliamentary bodies and international organisations in line with the SPCB’s International Strategy. This engagement is kept under regular review, with the Parliament’s International Relations Office providing six-monthly updates to the SPCB. Invitations to any event are a matter for the organisers. The International Relations Office constantly reviews opportunities for the Parliament to develop its engagement and maintains contact with event organisers, including of the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth, and will seek involvement for the Parliament where appropriate.

Since 2016, all media training for Ministers or civil servants has been provided by Scottish Government Communications Division staff at no additional cost.

In Scotland, the government does not have the authority to unilaterally implement a salary cap for agency locum doctors working in the NHS. The remuneration of agency locum doctors is determined by the terms and conditions outlined in their individual contracts, which are negotiated between NHS employers and the doctors themselves. Internal NHS Locum Doctors however are employers on NHS Terms and Conditions, at NHS rates of pay.

We recognise that we must seek to secure best value whenever we are delivering services within NHS Scotland, allowing us to maximise the impact that our investment has on the quality and availability of patient care.

Accordingly, we are working with colleagues across NHS Scotland to explore how we can reduce our reliance on agency and have developed best practice guidance to ensure that all locum engagements have the appropriate senior sign-off by an individual working under the delegated authority of the Chief Executive.

The Scottish Government is committed to managing the risks and capturing the opportunities of the transition for the transport sector. That is why today we are launching a consultation on a draft Transport Just Transition Plan, which sets out a vision for a just transition for the sector.

Transport remains Scotland’s largest source of emissions, so it is critical that we make progress on reducing its emissions in a way that is fair and just. The draft Plan sets out how we will do that and draws out key messages addressed to different groups: people and communities; workers; and businesses and organisations.

It recognises the inequalities that affect people’s use of transport, including the fact that many of our rural communities are especially reliant on car use. It also sets out evidence suggesting that there will be no major sector-wide job losses - though the job mix will change - and it highlights the opportunity that the transition presents to address challenges such as upskilling and improving diversity. For businesses and organisations, the most pressing need for action will be to support the transition of road transport, focused on the transition of Heavy-Duty Vehicles and the financing this will require.

The draft Plan outlines the key actions that the Scottish Government is taking to address the challenges and opportunities of the transition. This includes delivering car use reduction interventions, supporting growth by encouraging demand for zero emission HGVs, and a focus on green transport skills. The Plan highlights our ambition to develop a transport sector that is more sustainable, safe and inclusive, and to create a healthier and fairer Scotland for communities, businesses and workers.

The consultation on the draft Plan is an opportunity to seek views on how we can continue to develop our overall approach – ensuring that communities, workers and businesses have an opportunity to shape our future policy. The responses to this consultation will inform our future approach – including the analysis and policies that will be set out in Scotland’s next Climate Change Plan.

While Scottish Government core corporately managed systems have had no cyber security breaches, on two occasions since 2021 locally managed services suffered (minor) attacks which were successfully remediated with no data loss or further service disruption.

We recognise that financial certainty into the medium term would help the Scottish Police Authority, Police Scotland and other public bodies to develop plans and make better-informed decisions across a longer time-frame, rather than being limited by the single-year budget settlements we have delivered in recent years. However, the majority of our funding is controlled by UK Government decisions, and this continues to impact on the certainty we can provide to public bodies in relation to future year funding.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has initiated planning for the next Scottish Spending Review, which will consider a multi-year funding position for public bodies. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government will update the Finance and Public Administration Committee on this work in due course.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The management of the Police Scotland Estate is an operational matter, and is the responsibility of the Chief Constable under the scrutiny of the Scottish Police Authority.

In line with its Estates Masterplan which will continue to have a community focus, Police Scotland will undertake public consultation on its plans for public facing properties, including for disposal, in advance of any decisions being made.

Scottish Government officials wrote to all CLLD delivery stakeholders on 18 December 2024 to extend the deadline to submit final claims to 14th April 2025.

The deadline is aligned with Scottish Government end of year financial procedures. This allows for payment of claims to be attributed to the financial year in which they were budgeted, which is a financial standard required by audit.