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The Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship is based around the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 which reaffirms the role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflict, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction, and stresses the importance of their equal participation in all efforts for the promotion of peace and security. By bringing together women activists from a range of conflict affected countries the Fellowship facilitates sessions focussing on conflict resolution, mediation, reconciliation and dialogue methodologies with an emphasis on inclusivity and sustainable conflict resolution. The Fellowship also includes workshops on personal self-care strategies for those living in conflict areas and involved in conflict-based work.

The Fellowship has been held 3 times a year since 2015 in Edinburgh and online during the Covid-19 pandemic, and has built up a fantastic network of over 360 women from 33 countries across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Latin America. These women are a diverse group, working in an equally varied range of professions related to peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

The Fellowship is delivered by Beyond Borders, with grant funding from the Scottish Government’s International Development Fund. Applications were recently sought by Beyond Borders for their October 2025 Fellowship Programme, with the requirements being experience or interest in working on conflict and peacebuilding. Applicants were asked to (a) complete an online form submission on the Beyond Borders website, which seeks to test applicants’ motivation, experience, knowledge, and to assess their understanding of the Women Peace and Security agenda in their own countries, and (b) submit a CV/Resume/Professional Biography, copy of passport, and Letter of Recommendation. There is no definition of a “woman” included within the criteria at this time.

The Scottish Government has been clear since the April 2025 judgement of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland vs The Scottish Ministers that it accepts the judgement of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers that it accepts the judgement.

The Scottish Government has increased the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) capital budget by £10.5 million in 2024-25 and by a further £4 million in 2025-26, bringing the total annual budget to £47 million. SFRS is currently conducting a Service Delivery Review to ensure that investment in its estate, fleet and equipment is focussed where it is needed most.

Our position is unchanged on waiting times – by March 2026 no one will wait more than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment or inpatient/daycase treatment.

We are investing more than £110 million this year to cut waits, and we expect to see the full impact of our targeted funding in the coming months. This targeted funding is expected to deliver more than 213,000 additional procedures and appointments this year.

Our plan is clearly working with a record number of hip and knee operations last year and the highest level of operations performed in July since February 2020.

The Scottish Government has a strong track record in the investment in and delivery of affordable homes. Since 2007 we have supported the delivery of more than 139,000 affordable homes, with 99,000 of these being made available for social rent. This has resulted in the delivery of affordable homes in Scotland being 47% more per head of population than in England, and 73% more than in Wales. However, prevailing economic conditions across the United Kingdom in recent years, driven by EU-exit, Covid-19 and wider global pressures, has made delivery in recent years more challenging. For example, construction inflation reached 24% in the summer of 2022.

Despite these headwinds we remain absolutely committed to our longstanding affordable home ambitions. We are investing £808 million in 2025-26 alone, and remain focused on delivering at least 70% of homes for social rent towards our 110,000 affordable homes target. This investment includes a doubling of our acquisition fund from £40 million to £80 million in 2025-26 helping to deliver homes more quickly, the majority of which will be for social rent. Of the 28,537 affordable homes delivered to end March 2025 against our target, 77% are for social rent.

We have announced plans to invest up to £4.9 billion over the next four years in a multi-annual, multi-billion pound affordable housebuilding project and continue to work with partners to maximise delivery in Scotland.

We recognise the challenges facing Scotland’s health and social care system. That is why we have already taken significant steps to set out clear, short and longer term actions to improve access to treatment, shift the balance of care, harness digital innovation, and strengthen prevention.

We recently published the, Foreword - NHS Scotland operational improvement plan - gov.scot the Scotland's Population Health Framework - gov.scot and the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework - gov.scot in which we outline our shared vision for reforming and renewing health and social care services to ensure they are more sustainable, preventative, and equitable.

We remain committed to engaging with leaders across health and social care, including clinical leaders, to design and deliver the change needed in our NHS.

With regard to charging for services, the Scottish Government’s policy could not be clearer: our National Health Service must be maintained on its founding principles – publicly owned, publicly operated, and free at the point of need. As we have previously said, the provision of health services must always be based on the individual needs of a patient.

The Penrose Inquiry’s report, published on 25 March 2015, contained a single recommendation, which was that the Scottish Government take all reasonable steps to offer a hepatitis C virus (HCV) test to everyone in Scotland who had a blood transfusion before September 1991 and who has not been tested for HCV. The Scottish Government accepted this recommendation and in response a Short-Life Working Group (SLWG), involving key stakeholders such as the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, was established by Health Protection Scotland. The SLWG progress report was published on 2 September 2016, setting out the range of work undertaken by the SLWG.

The Scottish Government accepted the recommendation of the SLWG that there should be an awareness raising campaign to encourage people who had (or are likely to have had) a blood transfusion prior to 1991, and who have not already been tested for hepatitis C, to come forward for testing. A targeted awareness raising campaign to encourage such individuals to be tested was launched in October 2016 and an evaluation of the campaign, as recommended by the SLWG, was completed by Health Protection Scotland in 2018. The SLWG also recommended that a Chief Medical Officer letter should be sent to all clinicians in Scotland to remind them of certain risk factors and clinical indicators for HCV infection and making them aware of the recent advances in therapy and thus the benefits of HCV testing. The Chief Medical Officer accordingly wrote to all clinicians in Scotland on 20 September 2016, following up a previous letter issued just after the publication of the Penrose report on 27 March 2015. The Penrose Inquiry’s recommendation has therefore been fully implemented.

Scottish Government committed to a Four Day Working Week pilot in the public sector to explore the wellbeing and productivity benefits that a shorter working week could bring. No additional funding was allocated to either Accountancy in Bankruptcy or South of Scotland Enterprise to deliver the pilot in their organisations.

The pilot was delivered in partnership with The Autonomy Institute who published their evaluation report on 27 August. The report can be accessed here - Four day working week pilot - Public sector pay - gov.scot.

The National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Strategic Group held an extraordinary meeting on 15 July to consider the Casey Audit. The minutes of the Group’s meetings are published on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/groups/national-child-sexual-abuse-and-exploitation-strategic-group/.

It was noted that Police Scotland is undertaking a number of activities in relation to the Casey Audit including an initial assessment of the current child sexual abuse investigative landscape across Scotland, an analytical review looking at previous group based offending investigations and are carrying out a mapping of CSAE policy, process, practice and investigations. An update on this work will be provided at the Group’s next meeting in October at which there will be further discussion of the Audit findings, alongside other key inquiries and practice reviews including the Independent Inquiry into Child Abuse (IICSA) to inform next steps in its ambition to enhance our shared response to child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland.

Scotland’s National Child Protection Data Group also discussed the Audit’s data findings and recommendations in July and officials are taking forward work to explore opportunities to improve data and intelligence on this issue.

Scottish Government officials continue to engage with the UK Government’s response to the Casey Audit to understand implications for Scotland and opportunities to work together and share learning.

Programming decisions are the responsibility of individual cultural organisations - the Scottish Government does not and should not have any role. All cultural organisations, whether in receipt of public funding or not, must operate within the wider framework of the law, including equalities legislation.

All cultural organisations in receipt of public funding must ensure that funding is not used for party political purposes. They must also operate within the wider framework of the law, including equalities legislation.