Suicide Prevention Scotland, the delivery vehicle for Creating Hope Together, has been engaging with Suicide Prevention Leads in local areas to facilitate the development of local suicide bereavement approaches that meet the needs of their communities.

Specifically, in the Borders region, there has been good engagement with the local suicide prevention lead within the Health and Social Care Partnership to progress work to develop a local Suicide Bereavement Service. It is anticipated this will connect to the existing After a Suicide Working Group and Wellbeing Hub resources.

Recruitment and retention of Wholetime and On Call firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Fire Officer and Board.

Terms and Conditions of all firefighters are negotiated on a UK wide basis under a well-established collective bargaining process. Through this process, there is a new nationally agreed pay banding system which offers more flexibility in the contracts SFRS can offer to Retained Firefighters, which SFRS hope will allow people who may not previously have been able to provide the requisite commitment to contribute to protecting their communities whilst maintaining a better work/life balance.

We are continuing to work closely with partners to design and plan the expansion of suicide bereavement support across Scotland, taking account of the evaluation findings and existing local provision.

In addition to delivering suicide bereavement support services in Highland and Ayrshire & Arran Health Boards, Suicide Prevention Scotland has progressed discussions to establish suicide bereavement support which connects to existing local and national provision in several NHS Board areas. These are: Borders, Tayside, Fife, Shetland, Dumfries & Galloway and Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

We will continue our discussions with the remaining health boards over the coming months.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Details regarding the Campbeltown workforce including students on clinical outreach placement will be held by NHS Highland.

Recruitment and retention of Wholetime and On Call firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Chief Fire Officer and Board.

In common with other fire and rescue services both across the UK and internationally there are recognised challenges to the recruitment and retention of firefighters in rural areas. Scottish Government is supportive of the work that SFRS is doing to enable recruitment in these areas.

SFRS continues to recruit all year round and actively recruit for on call firefighters across local areas by holding community open days and events. Within many areas across Scotland, SFRS has targeted recruitment campaigns on a variety of platforms and many of these highlight the local people who are already helping their community.

The Scottish Government established a small team of civil servants in the months following the publication of the 2019 Programme for Government until 18 March 2020 which had work to update Scotland’s Future as part of its remit. We cannot provide you with a specific figure on the costs of that work as a full financial year was not completed.

The staffing costs of the Constitutional Futures Division (CFD), for the years that a full financial period was completed, have previously been published in response to an FOI request and in response to question S6W-22623:

2022/23 - Written question and answer: S6W-22623 | Scottish Parliament Website

2023/24 - Various questions relating to Independence: FOI release - gov.scot

The CFD disbanded on 17th January 2025 and therefore, as advised above, we are unable to provide details of staffing costs as a full financial year was not completed.

The Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement Programme, launched in 2024, aims to develop a more agile and regional inshore fisheries management framework. Our Call for Evidence on the programme closed on 18 February 2025 and the submissions received are currently being analysed.

This is a transformational project for inshore fisheries in Scotland, supporting delivery of locally appropriate management solutions. As such, the Scottish Government is not currently progressing proposals for a national cap on fishing activity in our inshore waters or reviewing the management of Scottish scallop entitlements.

Full details of the Bank’s investment portfolio can be found on its website, including the level of investment committed by the Bank.

Our investment portfolio supports businesses, projects and communities that align with our missions | Scottish National Investment Bank.

The Bank also publishes its Annual Report and Accounts detailing financial performance and financial statements, and an annual Impact Report which illustrates the Bank’s progress against its three missions. The Bank’s investments are made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a commercial return.

Our key publications feature insights reports and blogs relating to out core missions | Scottish National Investment Bank.

As already stated, the Scottish Government will publish further material on independence to give the people of Scotland the information they need to make an informed choice about their constitutional future.

The Scottish Government estate is under review to allow us to plan for affordable, inclusive, accessible, modern, secure, energy efficient buildings of the right size to meet our changing needs and net zero ambitions, as well as to ensure best value for taxpayers’ money.