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The Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Oversight Committee was established in May 2024.

Information about the group, including the minutes and membership are published here Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Oversight Committee - gov.scot.

Scottish Government consultation with the trade unions is ongoing and at this stage of the process there are no outcomes to report.

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.

Bullying, harassment and unacceptable behaviour of any form cannot be tolerated within society or within policing. Police officers do an incredibly difficult job and the vast majority conduct themselves with integrity and professionalism. However, when things do go wrong, it is essential there are robust, clear and transparent mechanisms in place to investigate complaints or other issues of concern.

The new Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Act, which became law in March, introduces several measures to improve the police complaints and misconduct systems and enhance the accountability of officers. It will allow for gross misconduct proceedings to continue or commence following an officer’s resignation or retirement and ongoing vetting throughout officers’ careers. The Scottish Government is also consulting with policing partners on proposals for further changes to police conduct regulations.

Ensuring public trust in police officers is vital and this legislation is building on the range of changes already delivered since Dame Elish Angiolini’s independent review of policing in November 2020.

The SQA are currently located in the Lowden Building in Dalkeith and Optima Building in Glasgow. These locations will transfer to Qualifications Scotland and so there will be no relocation cost.

The transition from the Scottish Qualifications Authority to Qualifications Scotland through our Education Reform Programme in 2025-26 is forecast to cost approximately £0.3m for rebranding and £0.436m for restructuring, to meet the Bill requirements, as voted for by Parliament in June 2025.

I visited the site of a wildfire in Carrbridge on 17 July and I appreciate the concerns about muirburn licensing scheme with regard to fuel loads. I would like to repeat my thanks to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the gamekeepers, land managers, volunteers, partners, landowners, extended local community, wider land management sector and indeed to everyone who played a part in getting the recent wildfires under control.

Muirburn continues to be permitted and under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 a licensing scheme will come into force on 01 January. The introduction of the licensing scheme has been delayed slightly, which will allow time for us to better understand the circumstances and effect of the wildfires that have occurred this summer.

The purpose of the muirburn licensing scheme is to minimise risk of damaging effects and address potential benefits such as the reduction of fuel loads. It will ensure that muirburn is being undertaken in an environmentally sustainable manner, with due consideration of all the possible consequences. If muirburn is undertaken without due consideration of all the possible consequences, it undoubtedly has the potential to have a serious negative impact on wildlife and the wider environment. However, the Scottish Government is aware that muirburn can also have a positive impact, creating beneficial habitats for certain species or helping reduce fuel loads and lower the risk of wildfires.

I recognise that there are still some concerns over licensing and fuel load management, and we continue to discuss how best to implement the licensing scheme effectively with practitioners and the agencies involved. Everyone understands there are real benefits to the licensing scheme, from creating beneficial habitat to ensuring safe and responsible practices and where muirburn is taking place which is helpful in ensuring it is being done with due consideration.

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.

The Scottish Government does not hold the data requested as exits from the Scottish Landlord Register and changes in portfolio size are not tracked.

The following table shows active registrations on the Register in March 2024 and March 2025.

The Scottish Government commissioned a report into the security of supply of Scotland’s electricity system. This report, Electricity system security of supply in Scotland, was published on the ClimateXChange website in December 2023.

The Scottish Government has prioritised action on marine litter through the Marine Litter Strategy for Scotland. We published our refreshed Strategy in September 2022, which sets out a co-ordinated approach to address the amount of litter entering the marine environment and supports the removal of debris that is already there. The Strategy contains multiple actions on the most problematic types of marine litter, including sewage-related debris and wet wipes. We are working across the four nations to put an end to pollution caused by wet wipes containing plastic, with legislation forthcoming. Scottish Water are a valued member of our Marine Litter Strategy Steering Group, which oversees the work of the Strategy.