Seòmar agus comataidhean

We want to encourage people to enjoy our beautiful beaches safely and responsibly.

The Scottish Government is working with partners to promote community safety over the summer period.

This month, our grant funded partner Fearless will launch a summer safety campaign to encourage pro-social behaviour and responsible decision-making among children and young people on key issues affecting them. Campaign messaging will be promoted through social media as well as a series of outreach events across Scotland.

We support Police Scotland and partners in making full use of available resources, tools and powers available to them. Partners working locally are best placed to understand and address issues that communities face, including at coastal communities. Taking account of different circumstances and intelligence, preventative, diversionary work may also be undertaken by partners. Police Scotland can enforce the law by using a number of measures, including public disorder and dispersal powers

The Scottish Government also supports a range of targeted prevention and early intervention activity in schools, hospitals and across communities, working with partners to tackle violence. This is in addition to the Cashback for Communities programme, which supports young people most at risk of being involved in antisocial behaviour, offending or reoffending.

Our Water Safety Action Plan includes raising awareness of how to stay safe around water through promoting the Scottish Water Safety Code, which recommends avoiding alcohol or drugs if near water to prevent an increased risk-taking behaviour.

Portfolio Question Time is an opportunity to raise questions relevant to the portfolio concerned and, as already set out in response to S6O-04664, all of the Education and Skills questions raised on 24 April 2025 were answered by a Minister from the Education and Skills portfolio, in line with rule 13.7 of the Parliament’s standing orders.

As Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, all matters within the Education and Skills portfolio pertain to my responsibilities.

A significant share of the annual active travel budget is allocated to partner organisations, including local authorities. This means that not all of the planned spending on programmes and projects in any given budget happens within that year. Delays happen for a range of reasons, not least because of the pandemic between 2020-22 and cuts to capital funding allocations by the previous UK Government.

In 2020-21, 75% of the Active Travel Budget was spent. In 2021-22 76% was spent. In 2022-23, 93% was spent and in 2023-24, 91% was spent. While 2024-25 expenditure has not yet been consolidated, and we only have indicative figures currently, 63% of the active travel budget was spent as a result of urgent action necessary to balance the 2024-25 Budget, following the UK Labour Government’s fiscal statement in summer 2024

Initial discussions have taken place over the opportunity for financial assistance through the Marine Fund Scotland (MFS) to support Seafish to deliver safety training through the approved Scottish providers. Once a full application has been received, we will assess it and consider provision of appropriate assistance. At present funding from the UK Government to deliver the MFS, is only available for 2025-26 and no commitment can be made in future years.

The Scottish Government is aware of the situation with a UK registered gillnet fishing vessel which had broken down and was towed to Lerwick, leaving its gear in the water. Officers from the Marine Directorate worked with the owners of the vessel as soon as it was made aware of the situation, to ensure the gear was recovered by another vessel.

The master was interviewed for breaching soak time limits and was issued with an Official Warning letter.

Seafish are responsible for delivering sea fisheries safety training schemes through the approved Scottish providers. Their opening for registration and when these schemes begin, are a matter for Seafish.

Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers.

Due to the appointment of a new First Minister in May 2024, there were a number of departures, re-appointments and new appointments to the Special Adviser team during 2024-25. This is reflected in the numbers presented in the two following tables which show the configuration of the Special Adviser team before and after 7 May 2024. The maximum number of Special Advisers in post at any one time was 19.

The total cost of Special Advisers employed during the financial year 2024-25 was £1,745,042 which is a reduction from the 2023-24 total cost of £1,906,963.

Total cost includes all salary costs, employer NI, and employer pension contributions. The level of employer NI, and civil service pension contribution is reserved and is not a matter for the Scottish Government.

The cost of Special Advisers during 2024-25 was based on the following Pay Bands and Pay Ranges:

Breakdown of Special Advisers in post prior to 7 May 2024:

While there is no statutory requirement, the decision on whether an applicant should have further assessment is a decision for the local authority to make. Blue badge administrators may use desk-based screening tools to inform decisions and identify which applicants should be referred to regulated health care professionals.

Transport Scotland considers it good practice for local authorities to refer applicants for an independent mobility assessment, if that is required to make a clear and robust decision on eligibility.

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) publishes annual statistics on referrals. Data on referrals going back to 2003-2004 is available on the SCRA website here: Online Statistical Dashboard - SCRA.

If this is not sufficient for your purposes, and you require data going back further, requests for this information can be directed to SCRA.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all eligible children have access to high quality early learning and childcare (ELC) in order to receive the support they need to reach their full learning potential, and to give them the best possible start in life. The Scottish Government and local government have worked in close partnership throughout the delivery of the 1140 expansion, underpinned by a joint policy framework and a multi-year funding agreement.

Questions about the scrutiny of ELC services should be directed to the relevant bodies:

• Local authorities are responsible for meeting their statutory duties in relation to funded ELC. Statutory requirements for the fitness of premises to be used for the provision of ELC are set out in Section 10 of The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011.
• Under section 53 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, the Care Inspectorate has statutory obligations to carry out inspections of all ELC and school age childcare settings that are registered with them. The Scottish Social Services Council is the regulator for the social work, social care and children and young people workforce in Scotland.