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Whole Family Wellbeing Funding continues to be provided by the Scottish Government to deliver transformational change to improve holistic family support so that families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. By the end of this financial year the Scottish Government expects to have invested over £110m across financial years 2022-23 - 2024-25. This includes £96m provided directly to Children's Service Planning Partnerships (through the General Revenue Grant) to build local service capacity and transform family support services at the local level. CSPPs have responsibility for deciding how to spend their allocation and do so in a variety of ways in line with set criteria. We do not hold figures of how many families have received support via WFWF funded activity, but examples of how CSPPs are spending their allocations can be found in our Evaluation of year 1 activity which was published on 31 January 2024 (https://www.gov.scot/publications/whole-family-wellbeing-funding-wfwf-year-1-process-evaluation-final-report/) and CSPP annual reports published at a local level.

Despite the tight fiscal position, we have once again protected our £50m investment for 2025-26. This investment will ensure that CSPP allocations will remain the same as 2024-25 protecting the good work already being delivered. The following table provides a breakdown of the distribution to date of funding per Local Authority. The allocations for 2025-26 will be published in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6O-03953 on 13 November 2024. All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at Official Report: search what was said in Parliament | Scottish Parliament Website

I can also confirm that in autumn 2024, Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner set up a short life working group to draft and propose a live facial recognition policy within twelve months, either having found sufficient evidence of how this can support policing in a legal and ethical way, or a recommendation to the contrary. When the SPA policing performance committee met on 10 December 2024, it was confirmed that the first session of the short life working group had been held on 25 October 2024. The publicly available paper submitted to the 10 December meeting confirms the remit of the short life working group; its sub-groups; its Terms of Reference; and a high level timeline of its intended activities.

The Scottish Government recognises that healthcare services should be planned and developed to meet the needs of patient populations and communities, including those in our rural areas.

In order to tackle the decline in Scotland’s population health and widening of health inequalities, the Scottish Government (SG) is developing a Population Health Framework (PHF), to take a cross-government and cross-sector approach to improve the key building blocks of health including: good early years and education; good work and income; healthy places; and equitable health care.

Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships are responsible for the diverse needs of their populations and plan their service provision according to that need. Officials engage with Health Boards and HSCPs on a regular basis to review health outcomes.

The Scottish Government uses robust contract management procedures in relation to the procurement and compliance of licensing agreements for software subscriptions, procuring through national public procurement frameworks to ensure transparency, quality and value for money. Criteria will vary depending on business needs, costs and value.

The recommendations set out in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), published in December 2022, guide long term investment in Scotland’s strategic transport network.

The evidenced led appraisal that supported STPR2 did not recommend any major road upgrades for the A1. It did, however, make provision for investment to ensure that Scotland’s trunk road network remains safe (Recommendation 30), adapted to deal with the impacts of climate change (Recommendation 31) and resilient (Recommendation 32).

The UK Government’s cancellation of the A1 Morpeth to Ellingham scheme following their autumn budget in October 2024 is anticipated to have no impact on Scottish Government plans for the A1. Last financial year (2023/24), the Scottish Government invested £10,613,185 to ensure the continued safe and efficient operation of the A1 north of the border.

Yes. FONE has provided considerable and ongoing governance support to each of these Scottish Government funded programmes. FONE group members discuss the SLMS’ progress against its objectives and highlight opportunities for succession that are relevant to the service. It scrutinises progress made against the Scottish Government’s initiative to relaunch the Next Generation Practical Training Fund and takes a similar approach regarding the Land-Based Pre-Apprenticeship Programme. The FONE group is actively considering what further new entrant and next generation support the Scottish Government could consider in the future.

Yes. The FONE group meets on a quarterly basis and members are routinely provided the opportunity to share what promotional material, including guidance, support, case studies and signposting for new entrants and the next generation is being offered. Additionally, agricultural opportunities are regularly signposted on the individual stakeholders’ websites, such as:

New Entrants resources for farmers from Farm Advisory Service

Inspirational Stories | Helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service

Farmers sign up | Scottish Land Matching Service

The FONE is a collaborative group dedicated to supporting agricultural new entrants and the next generation of Scottish farmers and crofters. Each of the members looks to ensure that their organisation is giving due consideration to new entrant opportunities and further support they can provide.

The group’s success can be evidenced by the 8,272 hectares of land that have been made available to new entrants since 2016. This represents a combined effort from public bodies to maximise new entrant opportunities on public land.

Yes. The FONE group’s membership comprises of crofting stakeholders who regularly discuss and consider what further efforts can be made to make the best use of crofts and attract new entrants to crofting.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-32827 on 16 January 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