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Our programme of reform of post-school education will see us develop a streamlined funding system more focussed on the needs of employers and the economy through improved national skills planning and reformed apprenticeships.

As we take this work forward, we will learn from the experience of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund to develop a skills system that is simple, straightforward, agile, and responsive to the needs of Scotland’s learners and employers.

Employers have a key role to play in workforce development. We will continue to encourage employers to build strong partnerships and work with their local colleges and universities to ensure training offers align to labour market needs.

Information on the number of violent incidents involving pupils is not held centrally.

Some information is available on physical assaults have either resulted in, or contributed to, the exclusion of a pupil. The latest data available is for school year 2022-23.

Table 1 shows those exclusions from school in 2022-23 which included the reasons of physical assault. It should be noted that each exclusion can include more than one reason.

Table 1: Reasons for exclusion from school, 2022-23

Aviation and airspace are reserved matters.

The Scottish Government is currently engaging with the Ministry for Justice on no fly-zone regulations across prisons. Considerations about extending regulations in place in England and Wales to Scotland are ongoing.

SPS, Police Scotland, HMPPS, and police forces from England and Wales are part of a cross-border tasking group. Recently, SPS met with HMPPS, NIPS, and the Irish Prison Service to discuss drone threats, share best practices, and develop mitigation strategies.

Any attempt to bring illicit substances into prisons threatens the health of those in custody and staff safety, which is why SPS collaborates with Police Scotland and deploys technology to prevent it, where possible.

The aim of the seasonal flu programme continues to be protecting those most at risk of severe illness from flu. Eligibility for the seasonal flu vaccination is based on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI currently advises flu vaccination for those aged 65 and over, as well as clinical at-risk groups. All those aged 64 and under who are at greater risk remain eligible.

Further detail regarding eligibility for winter 2024-25 can be found in the seasonal flu programme 2024-25 CMO letter and in the CMO letter for 2025-26.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold the information set out in the question.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) is currently undertaking a range of analyses, in regards to the recent flu season, that includes analyses of flu-related deaths and hospitalisations for the 2024-25 season. PHS will share these results with the Scottish Government to support our efforts to maximise vaccination uptake in eligible people.

Recent and ongoing global events show the fragility of food security, and we are taking action to improve Scotland’s food resilience and strengthen our supply chains. The Scottish Government has created a Food Security Unit, to monitor risks or threats to the supply chain and help mitigate future shocks and impacts on food security.

For further details, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36866 on 6 May 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.

Ministers met with stakeholders from the agricultural, food and drink, research and eNGO sectors on 27 March to discuss their views on the use of gene edited crops and products in Scotland. Stakeholders were invited to give their views on the potential impact of gene editing on crop yields, food security and future sustainability of production in response to changing climate and pest and pathogen pressure. Stakeholders also shared their views on how regulatory regimes for gene editing in other jurisdictions might affect, or are already affecting, their sectors, including potential operational and reputational impacts arising from differences in approach. Ministers are taking into account this evidence from stakeholders, alongside developments in the EU, as they consider the Scottish Government’s position.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all young people have access to education and the opportunity to fulfil their potential. Schools and Local Authorities are responsible for admissions to school and therefore can allow pupils to rejoin school if there are sufficient places available on a case-by-case basis.

We continue to work closely with education authorities to ensure that young people have the opportunity to undertake the learner pathway that best matches their abilities and aspirations. We keep all aspects of education policy under review to better support young people’s engagement with education.

It is a matter for the Scottish Funding Council to allocate funding to individual institutions, including whether there is a need to apply any conditions as part of this process.

The member may be interested to know that the Scottish Funding Council wrote to the Convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 20 March outlining the conditions applied to the liquidity support for the University of Dundee. A link to the letter is as follows:

Letter from the Scottish Funding Council to the Convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 20 March 2025

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Aviation and airspace remains a reserved matter for the UK government, however I am aware that Officials in Scottish Government are engaging with the Ministry for Justice on no fly-zone regulations across prisons and considerations are ongoing about extending them to Scotland.

SPS are continuing to implement both physical and targeted reactive measures that will negate the threat presented by drones as well as collaborating with Police Scotland, His Majesty’s Prison Service, Northern Ireland Prison Service and Irish Prison Service, to adopt a multi-nation approach to share best practice and response tactics in response to the threat presented by drone activity in and around our prisons.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36866 on 6 May 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.