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In 2024, the Scottish Government France Office continued to take forward the objectives of the Scottish Government’s International Strategy [Scotland's International Strategy - gov.scot] in bringing benefits to Scotland under our key themes of Economy, Trade and Investment; Climate Change, Biodiversity and Renewable Energy; and Reputation, Influence and Relationships.

Some examples from 2024 include:

To support Economy, Trade and Investment, the Scottish Government and SDI France jointly organised a Saint Andrew’s Day showcase event at the British Embassy and supported a Ministerial-led delegation of Scottish meat producers led by Quality Meat Scotland at the Salon International de l’Agroalimentaire to showcase Scottish products.

To support Climate Change, Biodiversity and Renewable Energy, we continued to engage with French partners to promote green energy including at the Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Conference (FOWT) in Marseille, with a range of potential investors in the offshore wind sector in Paris and with a delegation of Scottish companies at Hyvolution.

To support Reputation, Influence and Relationships, we continued to work with the Brittany Region with our MoU, with UK delegations of multilateral organisations (UNESCO and OECD), and numerous Scottish diaspora organisations (under our Scottish Connections Framework). We also supported a range of cultural events such as the Interceltique Festival in Lorient, and worked with the UK Embassy on remembrance events and ceremonies.

Examples of our international network’s work from last business year can be found here: International network: annual report 2023-2024 - gov.scot

As set out in our recently published National Flood Resilience Strategy, we are considering how farmers can be supported to make changes to handle extremes in water availability; for example, through improving soil management practices. We continue to work with stakeholders to make the most of existing financial support for farmers to adapt to a changing climate for the good of the farm itself, and the wider public good, as well as exploring opportunities offered by the Agricultural Reform Programme.

Existing financial support includes the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) which was launched in 2015 to promote land management practices which protect and enhance Scotland’s natural heritage, improve water quality, manage flood risk and mitigate and adapt to climate change. Last year alone £4 million of funding was made available through AECS to fund irrigation lagoons. As well as support for the restoration of natural riverbank profiles and intertidal habitats through the AECS, support to restore flood plains which can provide space for flood water to be stored was also included; helping to reduce flood risk downstream.

Agricultural businesses also have a range of support available to them on water management through the Farm Advisory Service. This includes: events, peer-to-peer groups, videos, podcasts, technical notes, advice line support and up to £5,860 funding for bespoke consultancy support.

In 2019 the Scottish Government and COSLA agreed to adopt the Place Principle to help overcome organisational and sectoral boundaries, to encourage better collaboration and community involvement, and improve the impact of combined energy, resources and investment.

It promotes a shared understanding of place, and the need to take a more collaborative approach to a place’s services and assets to achieve better outcomes for people and communities. The principle encourages and enables local flexibility to respond to issues and circumstances in different places.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) embeds and promotes the Place Principle, to ensure all land-use planning decisions take account of place and local circumstances, including flooding. The NPF4 also encourages the use of the Place Standard tool in the early stages of planning, to ensure that the needs and priorities of local communities are incorporated, and for developers to demonstrate how the Place Principle has been incorporated into their proposals.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-32606 on 14 January 2025. 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.

Details of decarbonisation of the Scottish rail network will be outlined in the refreshed Decarbonisation Action Plan.

As with all previous years, level 1 funding for each portfolio will be adjusted following the Autumn and Spring Budget Revision to reflect changes in funding and expenditure plans such as in-year transfers between portfolios.

The transfers identified in Table 4.12 of the 2025-26 Scottish Budget would reduce Education and Skills portfolio budget by £689.6 million, reduce the Justice and Home Affairs budget by £1.0 million, reduce the Health and Social Care portfolio budget by £593.0 million, reduce the Social Justice portfolio budget by £179.7 million and increase the Finance and Local Government portfolio budget by £1,463.3 million compared with the published 2025-26 budget position.

Any new funding commitments or changes to existing funding will also be adjusted at Autumn or Spring Budget Revision, following approval through the formal financial governance process which requires agreed recommendations from the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Officers’ Settlement and Distribution Group and political agreement from Scottish Ministers and COSLA political Leaders.

Table A.07 in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget shows an adjusted 2024-25 resource position removing the impact at portfolio level of the recurring transfers actioned at ABR, to allow a like-for-like comparison against the 2025-26 initial allocations. The table shows the year-on-year movement at portfolio level in cash and real terms on a comparable basis.

I meet with Trade Union representatives on a regular basis to discuss all matters pertaining to Scotland’s Railway, including investment plans.

“Ghost fishing” results from abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear and has a negative impact on our environment. Some loss is unavoidable because of weather, snagging or gear failure, and fishers make every effort to retrieve this gear where possible. Marine litter resulting from fishing gear is a shared global problem and we will continue our work in Scotland set out in our Marine Litter Strategy, and internationally through the Oslo Paris Convention (OSPAR) and the Global Ghost Gear Initiative to help tackle it.

The international and European relations budget principally comprises the International Development Fund, the budget lines for the international network offices, an advice and policy budget which includes operational costs for the Directorate for Culture and External Affairs, and funding in support of the Brand Scotland Partnership.

In terms of our international development work, we believe Scotland should play its part in tackling global challenges like climate change, pandemics, poverty, injustice and inequality, all of which remind us of our global interconnectedness and the need for the Global South and North to work together. Supporting international development and humanitarian action is one of the most important ways Scotland can be a good global citizen and our financial investment in our international development partner countries, and for humanitarian crises is a key part of this.

Other international activity, including the work of the international network offices, is directed according to priorities established in Scotland’s International Strategy. We will report on delivery of the actions identified in that strategy in an annual report for 2024-25 onwards, which we intend to publish by the end of 2025.

Evaluating Scotland’s nation brand is a multi-faceted process. Marketing and communications activity, policies, legislation, experiences of those who come to Scotland and marketing activity beyond Brand Scotland all play a critical role in enhancing Scotland’s reputation.

Since 2008, the Nations Brand Index (NBI) has been used to measure Scotland’s reputation internationally. In addition, we measure the effectiveness of communications and marketing campaigns against SMART communications objectives, to be delivered among our core target audience in priority markets (Germany, France, USA) against a specific timescale. This includes a bespoke brand tracker in key markets and a range of additional KPIs, partner conversions, social media metrics and website analytics tracked on a monthly and annual basis.

The National Flood Resilience Strategy will not replace the Flood Risk Management Planning Process which is the primary delivery vehicle for flood risk management actions in Scotland.

SEPA are responsible for identifying Potentially Vulnerable Areas and producing Flood Risk Management Plans in collaboration with other Responsible Authorities.

Local Flood Risk Management Plans set out how specific actions will be delivered and local authorities work in partnership with SEPA, Scottish Water and other responsible authorities to develop these. During severe flooding, local authorities will work with the emergency services and co-ordinate shelter for people evacuated from their homes.

The Scottish Flood Forum is funded by Scottish Government and aims to reduce the impact of flooding by providing immediate support to flooded communities and establishing a network of community resilience groups in flood risk areas to equip communities to cope with the impacts and threat of flooding.