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There is no need to calculate additional costs as Serco Northlink Ferries will transport passengers’ cars on a corresponding freight sailing at no extra cost.

The Scottish Government has no jurisdiction over the flying of flags in Scotland. It is for Local Authorities to ensure that schools meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 in relation to these matters.

At this time there is no agreed pay award for Scottish Government.

Following a period of negotiation the Scottish Government made a formal pay offer to the recognised trade unions (PCS, Prospect, and FDA) on 14 July 2025. The offer was rejected by PCS and Prospect. FDA indicated they could not recommend acceptance to their members. We will continue to explore next steps with the trade unions to find a solution.

In June 2023 the Scottish Government introduced new Building Guidance on the installation of charge points in new buildings and developments to help further increase the provision of electric vehicle charging. These regulations mandate the provision of electric vehicle charging in new domestic dwellings to support the transition to electric vehicles.

For households that require on-street solutions Section 59 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 prohibits placing anything on the public road that could cause an obstruction without the written consent of the local authority. Under Section 109 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, a local authority has the power to regulate the installation and use of equipment in or under public roads, including electric vehicle charging infrastructure. It is under this Act that permission may be granted by local authorities for the installation of on-street charging solutions.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the transition to electric vehicles and is supporting the Scottish Collaboration of Transport Specialists (SCOTS), a network representing transport officers from Scotland’s local authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships, to develop guidance on cross-pavement charging which addresses legal and safety issues and supports all local authorities to enable cross-pavement charging.

The Scottish Government’s Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics reports data on people convicted in Scottish courts. This data is drawn from a subset of Police Scotland’s Criminal History System, with only the minimum information required for statistical reporting and publication received. Alongside any crime(s) committed and the main sentence given, this includes data on a convicted person’s date of birth (used to calculate age at sentencing) and sex. In some cases their Local Authority of residence is also known. Although breakdowns by crime (main charge), sentence (main penalty), age (at sentencing) and sex are included in the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin, there is currently no published disaggregation of those convicted of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Whilst this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, I welcome Police Scotland’s commitment to supporting officers after critical incidents.

Scotland’s police officers and staff do a challenging job and I also welcome the Chief Constable’s commitment to workforce wellbeing. I am pleased that in addition to the provision of Trauma Risk Incident Management assessments and Occupational Health counselling, Police Scotland has invested £17 million to enhance welfare provision. This included a new 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and direct access to occupational health services, where officers suffering psychological or physical trauma can be supported.

Information is not held centrally on the full range of individual characteristics that Police Scotland collect in their crime recording system. Further advice may be available from contacting them directly through the office of the Chief Constable. It is an operational matter for Police Scotland to determine the specific categories of information gathered and recorded, in the pursuit of their duties.

The Scottish Government is taking robust action to tackle sexual offending through the Equally Safe Strategy – focusing on prevention, improving our laws, and encouraging more victims to come forward. The Scottish Government has provided funding of over £6 million to Rape Crisis Scotland’s National Advocacy Service over the last three years, and over £2 million in 2025-26. This funding provides a key support worker in every centre in Scotland, recognising the important role of advocacy services in supporting victims and giving them confidence to come forward to engage with the justice process. In addition, support for victims is available from the Victim Centred Approach Fund. We will provide £32 million to 23 organisations between 2025-2027 from this Fund, including £12 million to Victim Support Scotland.

The new Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Act introduces several measures to improve police complaints and misconduct systems, including enhancing integrity and accountability of police officers and providing for ongoing vetting throughout all officers' careers. We are consulting on proposals for further changes to police conduct regulations, including accelerated misconduct proceedings.

Universities are autonomous bodies and operate within a legal framework which places duties on them to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom, most notably under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Higher Education Governance (Scotland) Act 2016. These duties apply alongside legal obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality (Scotland) Act 2010. This includes the Public Sector Equality Duty reporting and the statutory requirement that Universities undertake Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments of their policies.

Universities must also comply with the Scottish Code of Good Higher Education Governance. Institutions are required to report on their compliance with the Code in their annual accounts.

Compliance with the Code of Good Governance is a condition of grant from the Scottish Funding Council. Regulatory bodies including the Scottish Charity Regulator, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman also have an interest in how institutions exercise their legal responsibilities.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have asked for. This is because payment data available for reporting from the Scottish Government financial management system does not provide the level of detail needed to breakdown the individual items included within the total amount invoiced, therefore we are not able to split out the costs for advertising and consultancy fees.

Scottish Government marketing spend is published annually on gov.scot and includes cost breakdown per consultancy.