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Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships have a duty to assess the social care support needs of people and decide, in light of that assessment, arrange suitable services, if required.

We understand the pressures faced and addressing long waiting times for Social Care Assessment is one of the reasons that the 2025-26 Budget prioritised both the Local Government Settlement and the Health & Social Care portfolio with both receiving record funding allocations.

This includes almost £2.2bn for social care and integration – increasing investment by £1.2bn since 2021-22. On top of that, our Budget makes a record £15 billion available for councils for 2025-26.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has statutory responsibility for quality assurance of provision by colleges and universities, including in relation to academic standards. With the support of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), the SFC is continuing to work with universities to address the risks and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, and its potential impact on assessments, academic integrity and standards. This includes guidance on quality and academic standards issued by the SFC, and guidance issued by QAA to support universities with the use of generative Artificial Intelligence tools.

The Scottish Government has considered the Grangemouth Refinery’s historical financial performance and, from the information available, has concluded that the asset is loss-making with significant capital investment required to retain operations.

Noting the fiscal constraints within which Scottish Ministers are required to operate, such an intervention would require the UK Government to intervene.

I continue to call on UK Government to leave no stone unturned to ensure a long term and sustainable future is secured for those who work and live at Grangemouth.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has a statutory duty set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 to secure the coherent provision by the post-16 education bodies (as a whole) of a high quality of fundable further education and fundable higher education. As autonomous institutions, universities have the key role in mitigating financial pressures and external risks.

Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own academic misconduct policies, including in relation to students’ use of generative Artificial Intelligence tools.

The Scottish Government has engaged with key sector stakeholders, including the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), on the ways in which these bodies are supporting universities with use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and adaptations to academic integrity policies.

The SFC, as the body with statutory responsibility for quality assurance of provision by colleges and universities, has worked alongside the QAA to develop guidance and share best practice across the sector to address the risks and opportunities presented by generative AI tools, and their potential impact on assessments, academic integrity and standards.

Universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own academic misconduct policies. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has statutory responsibility for quality assurance of provision by colleges and universities. With the support of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), the SFC is continuing to work with universities to address the risks and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, and its potential impact on assessments, academic integrity and standards.

This includes funding provided by the SFC to JISC, who offer specialist and expert advice and guidance to institutions on accessing useful and effective tools to detect and address AI-assisted plagiarism and misconduct.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on all public sector leases centrally. The following table shows all current Scottish Government leased properties and the cost of each lease.

The Scottish Government has not had any discussions with the Scottish Funding Council, or individual universities, regarding the Office for Students’ ruling concerning the University of Sussex in March 2025.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce legislation in relation to freedom of speech at universities, however it fully supports individuals’ rights to freedom of expression, and believes universities to be places where freedom of expression should always be promoted and fostered, but this should be done in a courteous and respectful manner.

The Scottish Government expects universities to comply with relevant legal requirements in respect of academic freedom (which is addressed in section 26 of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005), and carefully consider existing Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on freedom of expression for higher education providers in Scotland.

The Scottish Government expects institutions to comply with relevant legal requirements already in place, and carefully consider existing Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance on freedom of expression for higher education providers in Scotland. In 2020 the Scottish Funding Council entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Equalities & Human Rights Commission to support colleges and universities in meeting Public Sector Equality Duty requirements.