The Scottish Government will work with teacher unions, and COSLA through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers to agree our approach to delivering a reduction in class contact time.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are committed to working in partnership with the teacher unions to set out a timeline for implementation of this important commitment, so that meaningful progress can be made as soon as is practical.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has now entered into committee stage in the House of Lords. Following the conclusion of the Bill’s passage through Westminster, we expect to consult on the extension of restrictions on smoke-free places.

Standard 1.2 of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification relates to the offer of a first appointment. As set out in the Specification, Neurodevelopmental Services that are delivered locally are the responsibility of Children Services providers. A first appointment could be provided by a number of professionals within a range of agencies, including education, health and voluntary organisations.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on length of waits for neurodevelopmental services centrally. Our focus is on improving support. Our Neurodevelopmental Specification places an expectation on NHS and Children's Services to work together to implement standards, in line with GIRFEC. Crucially, local authorities have a statutory duty to identify and provide support for pupils with additional support needs, regardless of diagnosis.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Network Rail has spent £461 million of Network Grant funding and £163 million of Enhancement Grant funding in year one of the control period. The quoted figures represent Network Rail spend alone.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the need for improved access to detoxification services. This is an issue we are keen to see addressed through our strategy. Improving access to effective detoxification services is essential to ensure people can access help to reduce or stop drinking safely, avoiding acute withdrawal.

We are seeing more residential rehabilitation providers being able to offer in-house detox to prepare people for rehabilitation.

We are working with providers and other partners to discuss a wider set of residential harm reduction support – this includes stabilisation, crisis care, detox and long-term care for issues such as alcohol-related brain damage.

Our forthcoming National Specification for alcohol services will emphasise the requirement to provide a full range of services, including detox.

We are committed to ensuring that children and young people have the opportunity to learn about substance use and its impact on life choices and health. Curriculum for Excellence already provides the opportunity to explore the risks associated with a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents. We recognise that education alone will not resolve the harmful abuse of substances, but it is an important strand within a broad range of measures across communities that are designed to tackle this issue.

There are no plans to introduce information on the dangers of methanol poisoning to the school curriculum. We do not take a prescriptive approach to the curriculum in Scotland and it is up to individual schools and local authorities to design approaches to help them deliver relevant and engaging learning.

Following the announcement in December 2023, Education Scotland has been leading on development and delivery of the new Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC). This represents a planned and systemic approach to strengthening the curriculum to ensure it remains forward looking, and supports more consistent teaching and learning experiences and improved attainment and achievement of our children and young people. The CIC, which covers all curricular areas including Health and Wellbeing (HWB), is considering all curricular areas and key aspects – including the subject area of HWB, where work is already underway, drawing on robust interrogation of evidence and a co-design process with practitioners and wider stakeholders.

Data on full-time equivalent (FTE) secondary teachers by main subject taught and Local Authority is available in the Teacher Census Supplementary Statistics, here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

In 2025-26 the Ministerial element of all Ministers' pay remains frozen at 2008-09 levels. This is the seventeenth consecutive year in which Ministerial pay has been frozen. In 2025-26, it is estimated that, as a result of the Ministerial pay freeze, Ministers will contribute £166,000 to public spending from their own pay packets. This is on top of the estimated £2.23 million Scottish Ministers contributed to public spending from their own pay packets between the start of the pay freeze on 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2025.

The Scottish Government have not issued any guidance in relation to enforcement or prosecution of the sale of illegal vapes.