Details of funding provided to the Scottish Assembly from the Scottish Government’s Mental Health budget over the last five years are as follows:

I engaged with the Lord Advocate, Solicitor General and the Crown Agent during the 2025-26 budget process which informed the allocation to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The portfolio received a resource budget of £225.2 million for 2025-26, an increase of 10.7% compared to 2024-25. The funding uplift was allocated to support the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to manage a range of demand led pressures

The final report has been received and as agreed it will now be subject to peer review. I will provide a further update on progress as soon as that has been concluded. We are committed to publishing the report and will do so once the peer review process and any further action needed has concluded.

The proposed consultation on phasing out the use farrowing crates for pigs was originally intended to have been delivered jointly across all UK administrations. However, progress on a number of important pieces of animal welfare legislation have been significantly delayed or has ceased due to delays in UK Government timetabling, such as the Kept Animals Bill.

Regardless, the Scottish Government is pressing ahead on improving the welfare of all animals in Scotland, including pigs. This included updating and publishing the Scottish Government’s Guidance for the Welfare of Pigs.

We continue to listen and work with the industry and stakeholders on how best to achieve improvements in animal welfare as well as monitoring industry information to allow us to determine how to ensure best practice is delivered, and remain committed to consulting on ending farrowing crate use.

This information is not held centrally. However all recommendations are published on the website of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and are publicly available.

The Learning Disability Support Fund aims to sustain and support organisations working directly with people with learning disabilities in Scotland to build a more inclusive society, reduce inequality and provide opportunities for fulfilling lives.

Funded work will contribute to at least one of the following objectives:

• A more inclusive society
• Improved health outcomes for people with learning disabilities
• People with learning disabilities have a social network and safe relationships

Further details on the Learning Disability Support Fund can be found via the fund manager, Inspiring Scotland’s, website here Learning Disability Support Fund - Inspiring Scotland.

Three year funding was provided separately to the Scottish Assembly for the Leadership and Engagement Framework project. This was a time-limited project which came to a natural conclusion in 2024-25.

In August 2024, I published the national relationships and behaviour in schools action plan as part of our response to the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research report published in November 2023. The plan is jointly owned with COSLA, given the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education rests with our councils.

The first progress report on the action plan, setting out the range of activity that has been taken forward between November 2023 and March 2025, was published on 28 March 2024. During the first phase of the plan, progress has been made against all 20 actions set out within it, including relationships and behaviour in schools. Outputs include new guidance on addressing gender-based violence in schools, updated guidance on mobile phones, and updated anti-bullying guidance.

Theme 7 of the action plan relates to tracking impact and progress, with an action to continue to update and maintain the evidence base on relationships and behaviour in schools. As noted within the Progress Report, the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools has begun its considerations on the scope of the sixth wave of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research, which will be commissioned during phase 2, with fieldwork expected in early 2026. We also continue to reflect on other sources of evidence, including information brought to us by our professional teaching unions.

As of 3 April 2025, the number of postgraduate medicine training places occupied by individuals who studied as undergraduates in Scotland is 4081, the number of places occupied by individuals who studied as undergraduates in the rest of the UK is 1558. NHS Education for Scotland do not record UK citizen status or permanent UK residency status specifically.

The Scottish Government recognises the value and special characteristics of Scotland’s traditional and protected buildings. Traditionally built properties make up around 18% of all homes in Scotland and may have different requirements to other homes because of their construction type, location or status.

Although Edinburgh College ceased delivery of the Stonemasonry Modern Apprenticeship in 2023, there are still three centres of stonemasonry MA training across Scotland: City of Glasgow College (CoGC) and Historic Environment Scotland (HES) at Stirling and Elgin.

The Scottish Government continues to work to ensure traditional skills needed to undertake retrofitting work are available. Scotland’s revised strategy for the historic environment “Our Past Our Future” has as one of its three key priorities “Delivering the transition to net zero”. Collaboration will be key to achieving success, as is working across different sectors and employer groups, and working nationwide across regional borders.

On 3 April 2025 it was announced that a new national training centre for Scotland, focused on traditional skills, had secured £3.7 million of National Lottery support. Scotland’s Centre of Excellence for Canals and Traditional Skills will be located near Lock 16 on the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal in Falkirk. The centre, which will see Scottish Canals partner with Historic Environment Scotland, will focus on developing pathways into heritage skills training, volunteering, and employment within the historic environment sector.

On 8 April 2025, Historic Environment Scotland, Historic England and Cadw, published a new retrofit training handbook to support learners undertaking retrofit qualifications.

Alan Gray, Director of Health and Social Care Finance, wrote to Chief Executives of NHS Scotland on 04 December 2024 to provide the details of the indicative funding settlement for NHS Boards in the Scottish Government Budget 2025-26. This letter set out the Scottish Government position that brokerage would not be available in 2025-26.

NHS Borders are at Level 3 of the NHS Support and Intervention Escalation Framework. and the Board continue to receive enhanced monitoring and support commissioned by Scottish Government’s NHS Scotland Finance Delivery Unit; to support the Board to return to financial sustainability.

Under the terms of this support, the Scottish Government’s NHS Scotland Financial Delivery Unit maintain frequent contact with NHS Borders Executives regarding its financial position. At present, these conversations are focussed on securing a credible path to balance and, once this has been established and on course to be achieved, conversations will commence on brokerage repayment.