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NHS Boards are responsible for the management of their administrative assets and for identifying restructuring requirements. Any such costs would be met from Boards’ delegated budgets.

The Scottish Government is committed to the sustainability of frontline GP services and has increased the budget for General Medical Services by more than £227 million since 2020-21.

Highly able learners are entitled to support under the Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004.

Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide for, and to review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs. This includes highly able children and young people.

There is existing guidance in the Additional Support for learning Statutory Guidance: Additional support for learning: statutory guidance 2017 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).We have committed to refreshing this during this Parliamentary term and have been working collaboratively with a range of education partners and policy areas to ensure it continues to fully support schools and local authorities to fulfil their duties under the ASL Act.

Education Scotland provide guidance for teachers of learners who are working, or who are capable of working, significantly ahead of their peers. This guidance was last updated on 28 June 2024 and is available here: A summary of resources relating to highly able learners | Resources | Education Scotland.

Statistics on more able pupil as a reason for support are published in the pupil census supplementary statistics. This is available on the Scottish government website here https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/.

Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide for, and to review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs, including more able pupils.

As noted within the Operational Improvement Plan, the Government will report against it publicly and to Parliament within 2025-26. Statistics relating to a number of its commitments will also continue to be published meantime.

The Scottish Government published analysis of the impact of the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) on Scotland’s labour market in July 2024; Scottish Child Payment and the labour market - gov.scot and concluded it had not negatively affected labour market outcomes at scale in Scotland’s economy, while supporting the families of nearly 330,000 children.

The analysis also showed that the employment likelihood of Universal Credit (UC) clients in the planning for work regime – the majority of whom should be receiving SCP – was consistently higher in Scotland than in England, suggesting that interactions between UC and SCP are not materially impacting work incentives.

The Scottish Government continues to assess how SCP is interacting with the labour market. A further evaluation of SCP is due to be published this summer and will include a survey of recipients including questions about how and why SCP has affected their labour market activity.

In line with our commitment to creating safe and nurturing school environments, the Scottish Government prioritises approaches that address behaviour through understanding and positive intervention.

Our approach to relationships and behaviour in schools is focussed on prevention and de-escalation of concerns. School staff should be supported through clear understanding of their establishment’s relationships and behaviour policy, arrangements for de-escalation and support that can be provided to them where situations do escalate.

The Scottish Government has not received any requests from local authorities for funding for teacher self-defence training in each of the last five years.

Offshore oil and gas licensing, consenting and the associated fiscal regime are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government. As such, estimates of future production from North Sea oil and gas fields are a matter for the relevant UK regulator – the North Sea Transition Authority.

The Scottish Government has consistently called on the UK Government to approach decisions for North Sea oil and gas projects on an evidence-led, case by case, basis – with climate compatibility and energy security key considerations.

In August 2024, I published the national relationships and behaviour in schools action plan as part of our response to the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research report published in November 2023. The plan is jointly owned with COSLA, given the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education rests with our councils.

The first progress report on the action plan, setting out the range of activity that has been taken forward between November 2023 and March 2025, was published on 28 March 2024. During the first phase of the plan, progress has been made against all 20 actions set out within it, including relationships and behaviour in schools. Outputs include new guidance on addressing gender-based violence in schools, updated guidance on mobile phones, and updated anti-bullying guidance.

Theme 7 of the action plan relates to tracking impact and progress, with an action to continue to update and maintain the evidence base on relationships and behaviour in schools. As noted within the Progress Report, the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools has begun its considerations on the scope of the sixth wave of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research, which will be commissioned during phase 2, with fieldwork expected in early 2026. We also continue to reflect on other sources of evidence, including information brought to us by our professional teaching unions.

On 3 April I announced the intention to bring forward a revised Heat in Buildings Bill to set a new target for decarbonising heating systems by 2045 alongside continuing work to reduce fuel poverty.

The iMatter Continuous Improvement Programme, which was developed by NHSScotland staff, enables the measurements of staff experience and employee engagement across all 22 Health Boards as well as participating Health and Social Care Partnerships.

This enables Health Boards to ensure that the insights and experiences of staff are captured and acknowledged, helping to influence and shape initiatives to enhance staff support.