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The Central Legal Office (CLO) within NHS National Services Scotland provides in-house legal services to NHSScotland Boards and wider public sector organisations. They provide cost effective advice by having fees that are competitive, flexible and compliant with the requirements for the proper handling and reporting of public funds as laid out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Furthermore, their specialist legal advice and representation supports clients make legally informed decisions to promote cost-efficient practice in litigation matters.

The provision of ongoing professional learning opportunities and collaboration with other partners on professional development is primarily the responsibility of local authorities.

In education settings, the Scottish Government has worked closely with partners to develop resources for teachers such as the Home | Autism Toolbox Autism Toolbox. The toolbox provides a range of information and guidance to support the education of autistic learners and complements the free autism and inclusive practice professional learning resources available to all staff. We have also created resources to support universities teaching their students about autism and how best to support autistic children and young people in their classrooms.

The Teachers' Agreement (2001), which aims to enhance opportunities for professional development, made continuing professional development a condition of service while also specifying that teachers should undertake a maximum of 35 hours CPD in each working year. Within this, there is flexibility and opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of neurodivergence and ASN.

In 2024, the Scottish Government committed to examine options for teacher training and to analyse the number of initial teacher training hours attributed to additional support needs. The Scottish Council of Deans for Education is currently undertaking this work. We will consider next steps in this area once we have considered their findings, which are due shortly.

The Scottish Government has also commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the National Autism Implementation Team to provide professional learning about neurodevelopmental conditions at informed, enhanced, specialist and expert levels (according to the NES framework). These can be found on the Turas page (NHS Education for Scotland’s unified training platform) and accessed by the NHS and teachers.

Children and young people - national neurodevelopmental specification: principles and standards of care - gov.scot is also available for educators to refer to and specifies the standards that all children’s services should follow to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland. We recently reviewed the implementation of this specification in partnership with COSLA, including engagement with education staff, and have identified potential areas for improvement, including further professional learning opportunities. We have recently announced the establishment of a cross-sector task force, co-chaired by health and education officials to drive forward these changes, alongside a £500,000 investment in 2025-26 to support system improvements.

While the condition and suitability of the NHS estate is assessed, these assessments are not typically presented as a single percentage of buildings failing "basic modern safety standards," but rather through a detailed, risk-based classification system. The data is managed by NHS Boards with buildings categorised based on their physical condition and functional suitability.

Through measures such as backlog maintenance and functional suitability, we are aware that parts of the NHS estate require additional investment, which is why this year we intend to invest an additional £100 million in funding in 2025-26 to support maintenance-only business continuity investment plans, which prioritises investment based on a risk-based assessment of NHS Boards infrastructure. This is in addition to a 5% uplift to core capital funding provided to boards to support maintenance and improvement of the NHS estate.

All the information submitted as part of the appeal, including everything submitted by the appellant, the national park authority and timeous representations submitted by interested parties is forwarded to Scottish Ministers along with the Reporter's report and recommendations.

Once received, the report and all the information held will be given full and proper consideration by Ministers before any decision is made.

As this is a live planning appeal it would not be appropriate to comment further.

Scottish Ministers are committed to a fair, open and transparent process for all aspects of its planning appeal casework. There is no statutory requirement for the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) to publish any information relating to a case. DPEA does however publish the information a reporter will take into account in their consideration of a case, including everything submitted by the appellant, the National Park Authority and numerous representations received from the local and wider community.

Due to the off-market and confidentiality arrangements imposed by the seller Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) were unable to consult with stakeholders prior to purchase. Full consultation with stakeholders, including the local community, has now be undertaken as FLS has developed its proposals for Glen Prosen through the Land Management Plan (LMP) process.

Despite voting to stay in the EU, Scotland was forced to leave with the UK. That means putting in place trade barriers for both exports and imports that create costs for businesses and consumers. Checks on imports from the EU stem from Brexit and, as Parliament will be aware, that interacts with devolved responsibilities.

Scottish Ministers agreed to adopt the post-Brexit Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) in August 2023. This outlined how checks on goods would begin in phases and be assessed on a sliding scale of risk. While physical and identity checks on most imports from the EU began on 30 April 2024, no definitive start date was announced for Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks on imports from Ireland arriving into Great Britain (GB) via west coast ports.

In May 2025, the UK Government announced a Common Understanding with the EU with a view to negotiating a ‘Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area’. It could, if agreed, exempt many imports of live animals and other goods from EU countries from SPS checks at the border – something the Scottish Government has long advocated for. As a result of this negotiation, Ministers from all four nations have agreed to pause the further implementation of the BTOM at this time.

This pause applies to two categories of goods. Firstly, on the introduction of new import controls on EU and EEA live animal imports. So, at present, there will be no introduction of inspections on EU live animals at the GB border, and a continuation of inspections at destination. Existing BCP checks on goods from the EU will remain in place and controls on rest of the world goods, including transit movements, will continue.

Secondly, there will also be a pause on the introduction of new checks on certain plant and animal goods arriving from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (termed non-qualifying goods). For these goods there will be continued
pre-notification and certification (where required) but further documentary, identity and physical inspections at the border will not be introduced at the moment.

The UK Government issued a press release to outline this policy change on
18 August 2025 to ensure traders are aware that the current inspection regime will remain in place until a new SPS agreement is negotiated and implemented with the EU.

As part of this recent engagement, the UK Government committed to engaging collaboratively with Devolved Governments during the SPS negotiations with the EU. We will also continue to engage with the UK Government to formulate and introduce anti-avoidance measures to tackle illicit trade and balance Scotland’s trade and biosecurity interests.

Registers of Scotland is a non-Ministerial Public Body answerable to the Scottish Parliament.

As of 12 August 2025, Registers of Scotland (RoS) had 59,655 dispositions undergoing registration as compared with 68,894 a year prior, representing a c13% reduction (9,239) year on year. In financial year 2024-25 RoS dealt with over 558k applications to the Land Register , 93% of which were completed within 35 days.

The process of registration in the Land Register involves digital copies of title deeds being sent to the Keeper who then updates the Land Register (LR). The applicant retains the original deeds. The legal effect of registration stems from the date the Keeper receives the application and not from the date when the updates are completed. Further information, including the total number of inflight applications of all types, is available on the Keeper’s website.

On 3 March 2022, when Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy, I wrote an open letter to business in Scotland asking them to review their links to Russia, however indirect, and to sever them, with due regard for the safety of any employees or individuals they may work with.

It remains the position of the Scottish Government that it, and its economic agencies, will not support trade and investment activity with Russia. This policy is additional to the UK government’s regime of sanctions against Russia.

We cannot however, force businesses to sever links if what they plan is otherwise lawful, including not breaching the UK sanctions regime. There may also be legitimate reasons why links cannot be severed, for example: if staff safety might be jeopardised; contractual reasons; and/or being prohibited from selling assets due to Russian law.

The Scottish Government proposes that an independent Scotland would apply to join NATO. Further details can be found in the publication https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-independent-scotlands-place-world/