Seòmar agus comataidhean

An agreement in principle to support the Nexo Championship was discussed between VisitScotland and DP World Tour at this year’s Genesis Scottish Open, which took place 10-13 July. The final decision to support the event was taken following contract review and negotiations that same month.

The tournament was a late addition to the DP World Tour schedule, announced midway through the season on 6 May 2025. It followed the cancellation in December of a DP World Tour event which had been originally scheduled for the week of 7-10 August 2025.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40528 on 23 September 2025. 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.

I can confirm there are currently no plans to implement protest exclusion zones around asylum accommodation.

People have the right of peaceful protest in a democracy, but that must be balanced with safety. The Scottish Government is deeply concerned about some activity targeting asylum accommodation and individuals which creates a sense of real fear and alarm. The Scottish Government strongly believes that everyone has the right to be and feel safe and secure in the place they are living and in the community. No one should have to fear they will be targeted for who they are.

It may be helpful to note that the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee considered a petition calling for buffer zones to be introduced in September 2023. Petition PE2049 was closed on 9 October 2024. Consideration and evidence submitted to the Committee is available on the Scottish Parliament website: PE2049 Introduce buffer zones outside migrant accommodation | Scottish Parliament Website.

VisitScotland provided funding of £180,000 (£150k + VAT) to the DP World Tour for branding and advertising, which in turn provided Scotland with a global platform to showcase its credentials as one of the world’s premier golf tourism and events destinations.

This funding included the delivery of on-course branding and advertising promotion across live broadcast to a global audience. VisitScotland’s investment enabled a channel to market, and a platform to promote Scotland and the North-East as a year-round golf tourism and events destination, with the intention to inspire future visits.

Golf and golf events are important to Scotland and play a key part of our national identity, supporting communities, driving economic growth, contributing to environmental sustainability across the country and promoting Scotland through global profile.

Preparatory works are progressing well with the design stage completed. The tender package was issued for pricing at the end of August 2025 and the works are currently programmed to commence on site at the start of January 2026.

Within the Scottish Government, funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

CSO funds research projects via its Translational Clinical Studies (TCS) Committee and the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research (HIPS) Committee CSO also funds capacity building research via its Fellowship Funding programmes.

Research funding is not allocated to any particular condition and CSO funds research across the clinical spectrum. All applications go through a process of independent expert review to allow funding decisions to be made. Applications on all cancer types are welcomed and CSO's role is well known across the Health and Care research community in Scotland

In addition, CSO provides infrastructure funding to support the delivery of clinical studies in the NHS in Scotland. This includes funding for the NHS Research Scotland Cancer Research Network and the CSO component of funding for the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow (co-funded 50:50 with Cancer Research UK). The purpose of this funding is to support the delivery of early and later phase cancer clinical studies, including those which are less survivable cancers.

Through UK-wide funding arrangements, the majority of funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) are open to applications led by researchers based in Scotland

Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Office

The Supreme Court judgment in the References on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill and the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill on section 28(7) of the Scotland Act 1998 resulted in adjustments to the compatibility duty in the UNCRC Act so that it does not apply to statutory provisions in an Act of the Westminster Parliament, even in devolved areas.

Scottish Government teams working on legislation have guidelines which ensure that, when they are developing new legislation, consideration is given to whether to draft new provisions in a way that means they fall within the scope of the compatibility duty in the UNCRC Act. Ensuring provisions are in scope for the compatibility duty would mean avoiding making amendments to UK Acts and instead making provisions in standalone Acts of the Scottish Parliament.

However, it is important to point out that application of the compatibility duty is only one of a number of factors to be considered in developing legislation which is effective, workable and clear. Given that existing statutory frameworks in some key policy areas are contained within pre-devolution UK Acts, in some instances avoiding amendment to existing UK Acts would prove complex, as it would be challenging to provide for a coherent change to the law in light of the existing provision. Each new legislative proposal therefore needs to be considered on its own merits.

Section 49 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 provides for a custodial sentence of up to 5 years for the offence of having an article with a blade or point in a public place. In any given case, sentencing is a matter for the independent court. They take into account all the facts and circumstances of a case before imposing a sentence within the legal framework. It is not possible to disaggregate these figures by the specific type of weapon involved (e.g. knife).

Over the last four financial years, for which data is available, there was only one custodial sentence of 5 years or more under this section of the Act, in 2019-20.

This sentence exceeds the statutory maximum and may reflect either additional charges being dealt with concurrently or an aggravation, rather than a sentence based solely on the possession offence alone. This represented approximately 0.09% of all (1,141) convictions under this section of the Act in that financial year. Please note that the latest criminal proceedings data is for 2022-23.

The Scottish Government’s position on the introduction of a potential traffic congestion charge by the City of Edinburgh Council remains the same as the one referenced in my response to S6W-38195. Local authorities have existing discretionary powers to introduce local road user charging schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001, which was brought into statute by a previous Parliament. Once the necessary regulations and guidance are in place, it will be a decision for local authorities, including City of Edinburgh council whether and how to implement schemes.

Sections 13 and 19 of the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 set out requirements for local authorities to consult prior to introducing a visitor levy scheme, and to use the net proceeds of any scheme to support facilities and services substantially for or used by visitors. Local authorities are required to publish details of their schemes and report annually on their operation, including how funds have been used.