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The Scottish Government continues to pursue a long-term solution to the issues at Tarbolton Moss, engaging with partners, including South Ayrshire Council and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) around issues such as land ownership. We also remain open to discussions with interested parties from the private or third sector.

There are provisions in the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003 to require companies to make adequate financial provisions for landfill aftercare and this requirement is also included in the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendments Regulations 2025. However, in the case of Tarbolton Moss the company was dissolved without any such funds remaining.

Officials continue to work with SEPA to understand how this occurred to ensure that the risk for similar future scenarios is minimised.

Furthermore, to minimise risk of further site abandonment, we will continue to work closely with local authorities and commercial operators to examine challenges faced before the commencement of the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste on 31 December 2025.

The Scottish Government has had regular communication with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regarding Tarbolton Moss, and remains open to engaging with the local community.

This information is not held centrally. Public Health Scotland publish information on participation (contact with an NHS dentist) and this can be found at:

NHS dental data monitoring report - Quarter ending March 2025 - NHS dental data monitoring report - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has continued to monitor and assess the financial health (sustainability and viability) of universities, including Edinburgh, through regular engagement and analysis of financial returns, which universities are required to submit to SFC each academic year. SFC also considers universities’ individual circumstances and exposure to risk, capacity to respond to financial challenges and other relevant available information.

Financial sustainability of universities is a condition of grant set out in SFC’s Financial Memorandum with universities. As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for their own strategic and operational decision making, and are required to notify SFC if they identify material risks to their financial viability or sustainability.

Scotland’s economy remains one of the best performing parts of the UK with GDP per person in Scotland growing by 10.3%, compared to 6.1% in the UK and productivity has grown at an average rate of 1.1% per year compared to the UK average of 0.4% since 2007. Despite figures in Quarter 1 of 2025 showing GDP to be lower in Scotland compared to the UK, the pace of growth increased from 0.1% in the last quarter of 2024 to 0.4%.

The Scottish Government published its National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) in 2022, setting out a ten year transformation plan with the objective of creating a fair, green and growing economy and establishing Scotland as a world-class entrepreneurial nation and ensuring that our businesses, industries, regions, communities and public services are more innovative and productive than they have ever been. This year’s Programme for Government sets out specific actions that we will take to grow the economy over the remainder of this parliamentary term.

However, reserved powers on crucial issues such as trade and migration, and the damage of Brexit, all impact Scotland’s economic growth and can create challenging conditions for Scottish businesses. With our limited powers, we are maximising opportunities for economic growth in Scotland.

The Scottish Government regularly meets with UK Government counterparts at official and ministerial levels and on a bilateral and multilateral basis, to discuss shared priorities, including economic growth. The Scottish Government continues to build on this dialogue to deliver joint action and deeper collaboration in this space. For example, the Scottish Business Growth Group, a cross-government forum jointly chaired by the Minister for Business, and Secretary of State for Scotland brings together ministers from both governments alongside business representatives. I have also recently written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and UK Secretaries of State on the importance of deepening cooperation including aligning devolved and reserved powers to accelerate delivery and maximise the impact of economic growth for Scotland and the UK

Regulations implementing international obligations in relation to public procurement permit bidders to be excluded from tender exercises in certain circumstances. This includes when the bidder can be shown to have engaged in grave professional misconduct. The Scottish Government's long-standing view is that the exploitation of assets in illegal settlements is likely to be regarded as constituting grave professional misconduct for this purpose. Any decision to exclude a bidder from a procurement process must, however, be taken on a case-by-case basis by the contracting authority awarding the contract, and must be grounded in evidence. To that end, the Minister for Business wrote to public bodies in October 2024 to inform them that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) database of companies active in listed activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory had been updated, and that this should be considered as part of due diligence processes.

As I confirmed in response to S6O-04782 on 11 June 2025, I have asked officials to advise on what further work can be done to strengthen our approach here.

All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at 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

In line with its statutory responsibilities, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has oversight of the Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework, with responsibility for ensuring that all the component parts work effectively and coherently to provide assurance on academic standards and the quality of the student experience.

The Scottish Government is a partner in the Save a Life for Scotland Partnership, which is working to ensure that all school aged children in Scotland will be given the opportunity to be equipped with CPR skills and increase defibrillator familiarisation across Scotland.

This has included delivery of Restart a Heart Day Live last year. This was a live stream CPR training event targeted at school-age children, which included information on defibrillation. The Scottish Government has committed to working with Save a Life for Scotland to support Restart a Heart Day Live again in 2025.