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Scottish Government does not provide legal advice to external parties and any questions about reported comments by Scottish Trans should be re-directed to that organisation.

The Scottish Government has invested an additional £11m in the past seven years to support new mothers to achieve their breastfeeding goals, with babies in Scotland now being breastfed for longer than ever before.

The Equality Act 2010 provides protection for breastfeeding mothers in public. In Scotland, section 1 of the Breastfeeding etc (Scotland) Act 2005 provides that it is a offence deliberately to prevent or stop a person in charge of a child from feeding milk to that child in a public place or on licensed premises, unless the child, at the material time is not lawfully permitted to be in the public place or on the licenced premises otherwise than for the purposes of being fed milk.

In addition, we are providing funding of over £1.1m to organisations working to promote LGBTQI+ equality in Scotland in 2025-26 demonstrating our commitment to protecting the rights of every LGBTQI+ person in Scotland.

The Just Transition Fund (JTF) created and safeguarded at least 230 jobs in its first two years of operation, alongside the provision of more than 750 training places and it leveraged over £34 million in additional investment. The fund also supported innovative technologies such as EV battery recycling and offshore green hydrogen; it invested in improved environmental outcomes, for instance through the Findhorn Watershed project; and it invested in communities with our participatory budgeting approach, benefitting projects in ecovillages, adaptation and local climate assemblies.

These are some of the initial impacts of the JTF, and we expect job numbers and other key outputs to increase as projects continue.

In addition, the Scottish Government, in partnership with the UK Government, has launched a new Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund to help support offshore workers transition to roles in sustainable energy sectors. The new Fund forms part of a wider toolkit of support available for Scotland’s offshore oil and gas workers, including an industry-led Energy Skills Passport. These initiatives reflect our commitment to ensuring a just transition for Scotland’s valued and highly skilled offshore oil and gas workers.

Freight Facilities Grant for 2025-2026 opened to applications on 7 April and closed on 1 May. Any company which wants to move freight by rail or water rather than by road and which is proposing to invest in new freight handling facilities in Scotland or re-invest in existing facilities in Scotland was able to apply for an FFG. Applications were considered against published criteria on what is and is not eligible under the scheme.

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their bids shortly. Payment of grant to any successful applicants will be made no later than 31 March 2026.

As set out in the answer to question S6W-35981 on 31 March 2025, delivery of the health and social care online app for Scotland is being taken forward by NHS Education Scotland (NES) as part of the wider Digital Front Door programme. The majority of costs to date have been on mobilising the team required and developing the Outline Business Case. NHS NES staff have participated in the Civtech Challenge, which has allowed NES to understand what is required to develop the app in a way that integrates into Scottish Government plans to digitise postal communications. More information about this can be found at: https://www.civtech.scot/civtech-9-challenge-8-secure-individualised-and-effective-communications-channel.

The assessment of requests and permission for officers seeking additional jobs or business interests are matters for the Chief Constable. Police Scotland has confirmed that an assessment is undertaken of every application for additional business interests, many of these agreed to are voluntary or charitable posts.

The Scottish Government values the dedication shown by police officers in Scotland. That’s why our police officers remain the best paid in the UK, recognising the hard work and valuable contribution they make daily, as well as our commitment to investing in policing.

The following table provides the number of injury road collisions recorded by Police Scotland as taking place on the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass.

Whilst this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, I am pleased that Police Scotland has signed up to the Mental Health at Work Commitment, which prioritises mental health in the workplace. In addition to Trauma Risk Incident Management assessments and Occupational Health counselling, Police Scotland has invested £17 million to enhance welfare provision. This included a new 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, direct access to occupational health services and a greater focus on mental health.

This highlights the priority that Police Scotland places on supporting the health and wellbeing of the workforce, supported by a Health and Wellbeing Action Plan to underpin delivery.

There are no implications for the Peatland ACTION budget in the year 2026-2027 as a result of the carbon contracts pilot.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 provides the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland to issue property factor enforcement orders and to determine whether or not that Enforcement Order has been met.

A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a property factor enforcement order commits an offence. Any further action in relation to non-compliance with a property factor enforcement order (PFEO) is an operational matter that fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). These matters have been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 also provides that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland serves Notices to Scottish Ministers of a failure to comply with a PFEO. To date 79 Notice to Ministers have been received. This figure may not be fully comprehensive as information may not be available due to the Scottish Government’s data retention policy.

On receipt of a Notice, the first aim is to encourage compliance and address the issue. If this cannot be achieved, Scottish Ministers will remove registration as this will prevent the entity from legally operating as a property factor in Scotland. To date, the Scottish Ministers have removed registration from 3 property factors for failing to meet the requirements of the fit and proper person test, part of which included failing to comply with a PFEO. These property factors were removed in January 2015, January 2016, and April 2019 respectively.

Scottish Ministers have sought additional powers in the Housing (Scotland) Bill to obtain further information and to carry out inspections with a view to supporting compliance and providing information to fully re-assess the fit and proper person test, if required.

The EU published a recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive which came into effect on January 2025. Article 4, in particular places requirements in relation to Individual Systems – more commonly known as Private Wastewater Treatment Systems. The Scottish Government is reviewing its policies to establish how it should align with this Directive.