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The Scottish Government continues to engage with all our partners to call for a long-term return to tariff free trading that has been mutually beneficial for the Scottish and US spirits sectors, as part of a wider UK-US negotiated solution. I met with the UK Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security on 2 April to discuss this. The Deputy First Minister met with the US Chamber of Commerce on 3 April and the First Minister met with senior figures in the whisky sector in New York on 7 April to hear directly from the business leaders involved and hosted a business round table which included the Scotch Whisky Association and the Food and Drink Federation on 16 April. The First Minister also met with the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, on the 11 April to discuss tariffs amongst other topics.

We expect Health Boards to write to patients when the patient is added to a waiting list for treatment to provide an estimation of their treatment date. In circumstances in which this cannot be provided, Boards are expected to signpost patients to an online platform where the patient can access further information about the waiting time for their agreed treatment in the responsible Health Board.

The revised Waiting Times Guidance, published in December 2023, includes a standard package of communications that all Health Boards should be providing. This ensures that patients are provided with clear communications throughout their care journey setting out what they should expect and their responsibilities while they are waiting for their appointment, test or treatment.

The guidance also makes clear that communications can be in any form that the patient has consented to, including via telephone, electronically or by post. It is important that patients are asked to confirm their needs at the beginning of their journey and their preferred format when receiving communication from the Health Board.

The standard of fitness required for firefighters is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

As set out in my answer to S6W-35250 on 5 March 2025, the Scottish Government does not intend to provide feral goats with protected status. Feral goats are a non-native species and it is an offence to release any non-native species without a licence from NatureScot.

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

NHS Grampian were escalated to Level 3 of the NHS Support and Intervention Escalation Framework in January 2025 for financial management and position. The Scottish Government are providing specific tailored support to NHS Grampian in order to help stabilise the financial position. Alongside additional cost improvement programmes, the support package includes a dedicated financial support lead within Scottish Government who frequently meets NHS Grampian Executives challenge their financial position and trajectories and ensure the Board is on track to meet financial improvement milestones.

In general, the Scottish Government has no role in day to day operations at airports in Scotland as these are regulated by the UK Government and its associated agencies. For power loss specifically, this would be a matter for the electricity distribution networks, who in turn are governed and regulated by the UK Government and OFGEM respectively.

However, the Scottish Government works closely with Highland and Islands Airport Limited (HIAL) and we remain assured that robust measures are in place to ensure all 11 airports operated by HIAL have sufficient power. Contingency plans are also in place for these airports should the primary powers sources be affected.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-36449 on 24 April 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

Information is not held centrally on the total number of violent incidents within schools that involve the use of a weapon. Some information is available where any such use of a weapon resulted in either the exclusion of a pupil or the recording of a weapon possession (used) crime by the police.

Table One shows those exclusions from school in 2020-21 and 2022-23 which included the reasons of Physical assault using improvised weapon, physical assault using weapon and threat of physical violence using weapon or improvised weapon. This data is published biennially, with the next update covering the 2024-25 academic year. It should be noted that each exclusion can include more than one reason and figures for 2020-21 will have been impacted by the closure of the school estate as part of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Table Two shows the number of weapon possession crimes in school recorded by the police, where the weapon has been used against another person (for example to threaten or assault). This only covers cases that have been reported to the police, and again the relatively lower figures for the year ending December 2020 will likely reflect the pandemic related school closures.

Table One: Reasons for exclusion from school, 2020-21 and 2022-23

The Scottish Government routinely works with partners to support the manufacturing sector in Scotland. In addition, our investment strategies are designed with the goal of maximising the impact of our interventions, allowing us to maintain our position as the top performing region or nation of the UK for inward investment projects outside of London for the ninth year running as per the 2024 EY Attractiveness Survey.

Under section 2 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, the Lord President as head of the Scottish judiciary is responsible for "making and maintaining appropriate arrangements for the welfare, training and guidance of judicial office holders". Training is delivered through the Judicial Institute, under the direction of the Lord President.

It is for a court to reach a view about the appropriate terms of an order in a particular case based on the existing law and the facts and evidence before them.

There are protection measures available to a person at risk of future abuse by application to a civil court. These include an exclusion order to suspend the legal right of a spouse or civil partner and in some cases, a cohabitant, to live in the family home, for the duration the order is in place. Other conditions can be requested, including preventing a spouse or civil partner from coming within a certain distance of the home, or preventing the removal of any items from the home.

An exclusion order is temporary. It will end, for example, when a married couple divorce or when a civil partnership ends. An exclusion order does not affect who owns or tenants the home, nor prohibits future transactions with the property. Before applying to the court for an exclusion order, the person at risk must have the legal right to live in the family home, either as an owner or tenant or because they have occupancy rights as the spouse or civil partner of person who is so entitled. A non-entitled cohabitant can apply to the civil court for occupancy rights and seek an exclusion order.

The Scottish Law Commission are working on a project at the moment on civil remedies against domestic abuse: Scottish Law Commission :: Aspects of family law