Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting specialist services that provide vital support to victims and survivors of gender based violence.

Our Programme for Government 2026 to 2031, sets out our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls and the significant action we will take, including that we will act to support rape crisis centres providing justice advocacy who have closed their waiting lists for that form of support.

We will also enhance arrangements for the Delivering Equally Safe Fund, which benefited from a 5% increase in 2026-27 and a two-year funding agreement, and will develop a new multi-year fund to ensure vital services are sustainable and can respond flexibly to need.

Officials will be progressing conversations with organisations soon to ensure delivery of these commitments.

The University Hospital Crosshouse, Kilmarnock and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, and Victoria Hospital, Fife and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary have been working under this model as early implementers since 2019. It is important that we assure a managed transition to the new model taking learning from the early adopters, to allow safe and effective implementation within Scotland.

To support governance and consistent implementation of the Neonatal Service Change in Scotland national work has moved to the Sub National Planning and Delivery Committee. They are actively considering ongoing actions to deliver the change in practice, following further modelling work. We continue to work with the Regional Chief Executives and NHS Boards to continue to implement this service change.

I must be absolutely clear, the vast majority of sick babies will continue to be cared for in local neonatal units. Local Neonatal Units will continue to provide a level of intensive care and be able to care for singleton births over 27 weeks gestation.

Under the Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004, education authorities are responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs of children in early learning and childcare (ELC) settings. In line with the National Standard, local authorities and settings are expected to work together to support children with additional support needs to access their funded ELC entitlement. Settings must provide appropriate support, including reasonable adjustments, to ensure that children’s disabilities or additional support needs do not present a barrier to participation.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has recently reviewed the National Occupational Standards for Early Learning and Childcare. This work is informing the redevelopment of qualifications and learning resources to help ensure that the workforce has the knowledge and skills required to support children with diverse and additional support needs.

As we take forward our approach to childcare expansion, we will continue to build on evidence and experience to ensure that the needs of children with additional support needs, and their families, are understood and reflected in future delivery.

We are adopting a public health approach to online harm as an overarching approach to protecting children and young people from the risk of a spectrum of harm linked to the online world.

We understand the spectrum of harm can range from, among others, loss of concentration and wasted childhood time at one end, through disruption to education and the absorption of harmful often sexualised, misogynistic or violent content in the centre, to online bullying, incitement to self-harm and grooming at the extreme end. A public health approach allows us to respond appropriately to each of these risks and to adapt as the technology advances.

Ministers confirmation that we will introduce legislation to create phone free learning environments is an early policy and legal response to the spectrum of harms.

Ministers discussed this approach with members of our Online Safety Taskforce on 23 June and developments will be considered as this work progresses.

Another will be the development of a Public Health campaign which will develop the advice we have already published on our Parent Club website that recommends no screen time for babies and infants under 2 years, apart from communication (face time) with known adults. This is in line with World Health Organisation guidelines. The guidance also recommends that children aged 2-4 years should have no more than one hour of screen time per day.

To support our Screen use guidance we have also updated the Baby Box booklet to include information on the importance of early child development, speech, language and communication development, information supporting parental confidence to play and screen use advice. New information has been added to Parent Club providing guidance on managing screen use and also providing advice on how parents can also reduce their screen time.

Building on the comprehensive content currently included on Parent Club we will engage directly with parents and children and young people on what advice they need or want to support their positive digital behaviours. We will also undertake a review of research on the impact of digital media (including screen time and screen use i.e. content) on children and young people’s wellbeing to further inform the Scottish Governments position on children and young people’s positive digital behaviour.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-44232 on 12 March 2026, work on the Colleges Sector of the Future workstream is underway and will continue over the coming months. The workstream consists of three interconnected pillars: development of the evidence base, regional and national workshops, and co-creation of a set of sustainable and flexible options. As these pillars inform one another, evidence and related outputs will be developed and published in tranches as the work progresses. I will continue to keep Parliament updated. 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 has committed to begin procurement for the ‘Welcome to School bag’ within the first 100 days by working with children and families to shape the best items for the start of school. Scottish Government Officials have begun engaging with learners, parents and carers, and headteachers on the various design, content, and delivery options, after which, we will produce a timeline for delivery.

The Scottish Government provided funding to Queen Margaret University and the University of Glasgow to extend tutoring provision to more pupils and schools in early 2026. Project staff will produce an end-of-project evaluation and impact report post-August 2026 exam results, for publication by November 2026.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving outcomes for young people within under-represented communities to break down systemic inequalities across every educational pathway.

We aim to create a balanced and inclusive educational system that accommodates diverse learner needs, providing appropriate learning levels and destinations.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament to tackle violence against women and girls.

We are working closely with stakeholders to ensure the effective implementation of the Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020. Progress to date includes the development of court rules proposal papers, preparing statutory guidance and reviewing existing training provisions and awareness raising approaches. We aim to implement the Act by the end of 2026, although this timeline is also dependent on the readiness and capacity of partner organisations.

Despite the implementation challenges in relation to Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021, the Scottish Government and associated partner agencies are committed to working together to consider how the protection notice and order scheme could be implemented.

A working group was established in 2025 to consider possible legislative changes to the 2021 Act to enable the protection notice and order scheme to be implemented in a way that is sustainable, deliverable and affordable.

The working group has met five times and has identified a number of potential changes to the legislation, with the intention of these informing a consultation in 2026. Following the election we will now look to refine the potential legislative changes further, with a view to a targeted consultation later in 2026. Following any such consultation and analysis of responses I will be able to provide a more detailed update on timelines for bringing forward the necessary legislative changes to enable the domestic abuse protection notice and order scheme to be operationalised.

During the previous parliamentary session, funding was provided for academic year 2025-26 whereby 475 pupils across a number of schools and Local Authorities received support from the tutoring pilot. The tutoring programme aims to support individuals from deprived backgrounds to improve their attainment and potentially go on to participate in higher education, where they can access the opportunities and outcomes made available via post-school education.

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to build on this pilot and ensure more young people can access bespoke support to raise their grades and attainment.

We will consider the end-of-project evaluation and impart report post-August 2026 exam results to inform our approach for this parliamentary session.