The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture is independent of Scottish Government which is not responsible for any review or updates made to the Code.

The Scottish Government, in its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (13 March 2025), has committed to exploring options for how to best to set welfare standards for production going forward and will update the Committee in September 2025 on progress and next steps.

Following commencement of a national BWV solution in Spring 2025 to Tayside Division, Police Scotland have advised that the target schedule to complete rollout is Summer 2026 for circa 10,695 front-line officers and staff and then into Spring 2027 for rollout to the remaining officers and staff.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government provided a grant of £200,000 to FareShare Scotland to deliver the Surplus With Purpose programme. This supported the redistribution of 1,001 tonnes of fresh surplus produce from Scottish farms, equivalent to 2.3 million meals, and benefited an estimated 53,700 people via 448 community organisations. The food redistributed was primarily potatoes and carrots which would otherwise have gone to waste.

In September 2022, Surplus With Purpose activity resumed as part of a wider £313,000 allocation from the Fair Food Fund 2022-23. The overall funding contributed to the redistribution of 3,203 tonnes of surplus food, representing 86% of all food distributed by FareShare Scotland – this included a proportion of redistributed surplus food from farms. This supported 585 community organisations and helped provide 8.9 million meals to an estimated 66,000 people.

In addition to these two years, the Scottish Government has, and continues to, fund FareShare to support the redistribution of surplus food to people; this support does not specifically target surplus from farms, but targets a range of surplus from farms and other sources.

The Scottish Government has in place a Notifiable Scottish Public Sector Cyber Incidents Procedure. This is a voluntary process which encourages Scottish Public Sector bodies to report cyber incidents to the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre. The process also encourages reporting of cyber incidents to the UK Government National Cyber Security Centre and Police Scotland where appropriate.

The Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3) provides a centrally coordinated, multi-agency response capability and expertise in national incident response and to support any Public Sector organisation which is victim to a cyber security incident.

Paragraph 12.1 of the Scottish Ministerial Code (Scottish Ministerial Code: 2024 Edition - gov.scot) requires former Ministers intending to publish their memoirs to submit the draft manuscript in good time before publication to the Permanent Secretary and to conform to the principles set out in the Radcliffe Report of 1976. On receipt of any such manuscript the Permanent Secretary, supported as necessary by other senior Scottish Government officials, will conduct a review in accordance with that arrangement.

Since 2022, the Scottish Government has been notified of 38 cyber incidents under our Notifiable Scottish Public Sector Cyber Incidents Procedure. This is a voluntary notification procedure. The National Cyber Security Centre advises government departments to withhold specific information that may provide insight into the likelihood of successful attacks, and the Scottish Government follows this advice. The Scottish Government will therefore not provide further details as this may cause substantial harm to the effective conduct of public affairs and the security of our public services.

There are no plans to review our nuclear policy or to revise the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4). The Scottish Government’s position on traditional fission nuclear energy is clear: we do not support the building of any new nuclear power stations in Scotland under current technologies.

Glasgow City HSCP is refining its reporting systems and cannot yet provide a precise percentage of users referred solely to rehabilitation services. Given the early stage of the facility’s operation, data validation is ongoing.

The service has now recorded over 30 formal referrals to health, care and recovery support. This likely underrepresents engagement with recovery services and is above expectations for so soon after implementation. The Thistle’s primary focus is harm reduction, ensuring vulnerable individuals access a safe environment where recovery support begins. Staff respond to service users’ needs in a person centred manner, supporting them to meet needs they identify.

An independent evaluation is underway, and further data will be shared once reporting systems are improved.

The operation of FAIs is a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service rather than for the Scottish Government. The experience of families will inform the forthcoming focused review of FAIs in relation to deaths in custody.

The determination of an FAI will set out the Sheriff's recommendations, which will be aimed at the relevant public body. The Scottish Government would expect any public body to take cognisance of any recommendations.