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As set out in answer S6W-32929 on 15 January 2025, the Scottish Government have confirmed that the replacement of the Eye Pavilion is a strategic priority and the 2025-26 Draft Budget has provided the necessary funding to allow the development of the business case to restart.

NHS Lothian’s Eye Pavilion replacement program had progressed to an Outline Business Case, the second of three approval stages, and therefore no Full Business Case or final estimate of costs has ever been produced.

We also do not yet have an updated cost estimate of a new eye hospital in Edinburgh, therefore it is not currently possible to answer this question. NHS Lothian are in the process of re-establishing the project team and will provide an updated forecast in due course.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government agrees that research needs to be carried out in order to improve our collective understanding of all forms of childhood sexual abuse and exploitation. As such, we are continuously looking to improve local and national data and evidence around child protection, including child sexual exploitation. However, any data must be gathered in a manner that is appropriate, sensitive and minimises the risk of re-traumatisation of victims.

A National Child Protection Data Group has been established with members from the Scottish Government, Care Inspectorate and the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS), which oversees this work and has developed a work plan for 2024-25.

In a joint effort, CELCIS, the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Government has also developed a minimum data set for Child Protection Committees (CPCs), which is a ‘package’ of data collation, presentation, analysis, reporting and scrutiny supports to support child protection improvement, local planning and service development, and expanded analytical capacity.

In addition, a national dataset is published on an annual basis to support the publication of the Scottish Government’s annual children’s social work statistics. Data on prevalence of child sexual exploitation within child protection processes is included in this publication.

Childlight is also a global research centre of expertise on child sexual abuse based at the University of Edinburgh and has an aim of improving collection and use of data on child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE). Officials continue to engage the Centre on its work and Childlight is a member of the new National CSAE Strategic Group.

Additionally, progress continues to be made on data gathering and sharing by agencies in Scotland. Data on reported concerns about child abuse or neglect is collected by Police Scotland and reported nationally in a monthly dashboard, and this dataset is currently being extended to provide more in-depth analysis of characteristics and trends in abuse and exploitation. This will provide an improved understanding of prevalence of different forms of abuse, including child sexual abuse and exploitation.

However, we continue to consider opportunities to explore the scale and nature of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The Scottish Government has committed £10m over 2023–2025 to support delivery of Scotland's food and drink strategy, Sustaining Scotland, Supplying the World. This funding facilitates a range of activities and direct engagement with grocery retailers to help increase the volume of Scottish food and drink on retail shelves, including Scottish seafood. Activity includes: hosting regional Sourcing Scotland Meet The Buyer events to connect retailers and producers; participating in various sales exhibitions; placing graduates within retail and wholesale buying teams to drive sales; and working with the Scottish Wholesale Association and Scottish Grocers’ Federation to increase sales through wholesale and convenience channels.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government is providing Marine Fund Scotland funding towards Seafood Scotland’s Market Development Project, which involves work to ensure Scottish seafood’s profile grows in UK markets. This includes specific activity with various stakeholders throughout the supply chain to look at ways of increasing the amount of Scottish seafood within retail settings.

Marine Directorate Marine Protection and Research vessels range in age from between seventeen and twenty-seven years old. A zero and 'low carbon' fuel is generally associated with zero or low emissions at point of combustion onboard a vessel. Low emission fuels being explored by the shipping industry and its regulators include Ammonia, Methanol, Biofuel and Hydrogen. Each of the Scottish Governments (a) marine protection vessels, and (b) marine research vessels are fuelled with Marine Gas Oil (MGO), but low carbon fuelling options will be a key factor in any vessel replacement moving forward to meet emissions regulations and targets.

Geographical indications are a reserved matter. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the competent authority for the geographical indication schemes in the UK.

To ensure compliance with product specifications for protected geographical indications, regular inspections are carried out by control bodies, such as local authorities or UKAS-accredited organisations.

The following organisations have received funding from the victim surcharge fund since 31 March 2024

The Scottish Government uses robust contract management procedures in relation to the procurement and compliance of licensing agreements for software subscriptions, procuring through national public procurement frameworks to ensure transparency, quality and value for money. Criteria will vary depending on business needs, costs and value.

The Scottish Government has a centrally-managed contract with Office Papers to supply newspapers on an ad-hoc rather than subscription basis. The guidance on spending on newspapers allows for current awareness; to help identify and monitor local and regional issues and to support policy and operational delivery.

For software subscriptions, the Scottish Government uses robust contract management procedures in relation to the procurement of licensing for software subscriptions, procuring through national public sector procurement frameworks to ensure transparency, quality and value for money. Criteria will vary depending on business needs, costs and value.

In relation to the Scottish Government's policies or guidance in relation to spend on professional membership subscriptions, we have published guidance. The key points are that any professional membership the Scottish Government supports must be a) directly relevant to the person's current job, b) of relevant value to the SG, and c) further the person's continuous professional development. The funds and decisions on professional memberships are held by local senior managers, not centrally.

The Scottish Government remain committed to ensuring the Arran ferry service is fit for the future, and to finding a solution at Ardrossan that can be delivered in a cost effective way, reflecting the needs of all of the partners involved. We understand and share frustrations at the pace of progress on the Ardrossan Harbour redevelopment.

Ongoing discussions and negotiations around the delivery of improvements at the port have been complex but the business case review is substantially complete, and project partners continue to work on this as quickly as practicable. The next meeting of the Ardrossan Task Force will be convened soon after the business case and cost review exercise has been submitted to Ministers for a decision.

Professional memberships are funded by each Directorate - i.e. the home location of the job and the person.

Our financial systems do not hold central or aggregable data on how much each Directorate or Division spends on memberships.

In most cases this would be an element of their local learning and development budgets and not a distinct, identifiable budget component. The information requested could therefore only be obtained at disproportionate cost.