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The Scottish Government routinely works with partners to support the manufacturing sector in Scotland. In addition, our investment strategies are designed with the goal of maximising the impact of our interventions, allowing us to maintain our position as the top performing region or nation of the UK for inward investment projects outside of London for the ninth year running as per the 2024 EY Attractiveness Survey.

The Scottish Government along with Scottish Development International and Enterprise Agencies are actively engaged with business and international firms operating in Scotland to expand the domestic supply chains. For instance, Scottish Enterprise works with more than 350 foreign owned businesses to support their growth which includes encouraging the benefits of engaging with local supply chain companies.

This is achieved by building on the strength of Scotland’s innovation ecosystem, which supports technology development and skills across a wide range of manufacturing sectors, leveraging the knowledge and expertise of industry bodies, partners and Scotland’s academic institutions. This approach will enable our manufacturing sector to take advantage of emerging market opportunities, such as offshore wind, hydrogen and future industries in which Scotland has the potential to excel.

In general, the Scottish Government has no role in day to day operations at airports in Scotland as these are regulated by the UK Government and its associated agencies. For power loss specifically, this would be a matter for the electricity distribution networks, who in turn are governed and regulated by the UK Government and OFGEM respectively.

However, the Scottish Government works closely with Highland and Islands Airport Limited (HIAL) and we remain assured that robust measures are in place to ensure all 11 airports operated by HIAL have sufficient power. Contingency plans are also in place for these airports should the primary powers sources be affected.

No One Left Behind is the Scottish Government’s shared approach with Local Government and wider partners to delivering an all-age, place-based, person-centred model of employability support in Scotland. Services are delivered locally, ensuring individuals, including young people, receive tailored support to help them progress into sustainable employment.

In general, the Scottish Government has no role in day to day operations at airports in Scotland as these are regulated by the UK Government and its associated agencies.

Officials engaged regularly with Scottish airports during the disruption affecting Heathrow Airport in order to understand the impact on Scotland. Whilst no concerns were raised by Scottish airports in relation to power supply, we would of course be happy to engage further with the sector should any issues arise that directly affect Scotland.

Under section 2 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, the Lord President as head of the Scottish judiciary is responsible for "making and maintaining appropriate arrangements for the welfare, training and guidance of judicial office holders". Training is delivered through the , under the direction of the Lord President.

It is for a court to reach a view about the appropriate terms of an order in a particular case based on the existing law and the facts and evidence before them.

There are protection measures available to a person at risk of future abuse by application to a civil court. These include an exclusion order to suspend the legal right of a spouse or civil partner and in some cases, a cohabitant, to live in the family home, for the duration the order is in place. Other conditions can be requested, including preventing a spouse or civil partner from coming within a certain distance of the home, or preventing the removal of any items from the home.

An exclusion order is temporary. It will end, for example, when a married couple divorce or when a civil partnership ends. An exclusion order does not affect who owns or tenants the home, nor prohibits future transactions with the property. Before applying to the court for an exclusion order, the person at risk must have the legal right to live in the family home, either as an owner or tenant or because they have occupancy rights as the spouse or civil partner of person who is so entitled. A non-entitled cohabitant can apply to the civil court for occupancy rights and seek an exclusion order.

The Scottish Law Commission are working on a project at the moment on civil remedies against domestic abuse:

We have consistently called for the UK Government to remove the two-child cap at source. Fixing a broken Universal Credit system would be the best way to alleviate the impacts of the pernicious two-child cap, however it is clear that despite repeated calls on them to do so, the Scottish Government can no longer wait for action. That is why we are taking decisive action as early as possible, using the limited social security powers that we have, to scrap the cap in Scotland. Our actions will result in an estimated 20,000 fewer children living in relative poverty in 2026-27.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s report on “Mitigating the two-child limit and the Scottish Budget” states, “it is likely that the proposed mitigation payments would not generate large behavioural responses over and above the ways that families may already have adapted to the Scottish Child Payment.”

Our own published analysis of how Scottish Child Payment interacts with the labour market concludes that it is not currently negatively affecting work incentives at scale in the economy.

However, we will continue to analyse the impact of Scottish Child Payment on work incentives, and of the two-child cap mitigation when it is introduced.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide vital assistance to enable older people to heat their homes, to help disabled people live independent lives and will keep thousands of children out of poverty. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s December 2024 forecasts show that our investment in Social Security over and above the money we get from the UK Government is projected to be less than 3.5% of the total Scottish Government Resource Budget by 2029-30.

Scottish Government uses the Microsoft 365 product suite to support shared services across 21,000 users in 55 government sector organisations. Within that suite, Microsoft Teams is the component used for videoconferencing, but also supports an array of uses such as file sharing, messaging, telephony, calendar management, and mass corporate notification. As such, the costs provided here are for the total costs of Microsoft product tools as the components are not priced individually.

Streamlining product purchase and usage in this way has enabled Scottish Government to reduce or eliminate spend in other areas. The tool is highly resilient and supports Scottish Government in continuing to operate during disruptive events. It has also cut travel significantly during routine operating.

The following table shows the total amounts spent on Microsoft subscriptions over the past five years. There is a charge for Skype in 2020-2021, as we were transitioning from this service to Microsoft Teams.

Overall, the move to Microsoft cloud services has been driven by a focus on delivering value for money while building business resiliency. Any Microsoft procurement is managed through a government framework in order to ensure the best deal possible and safeguard the public purse.

Scottish Government is clear that children and young people should not be using vapes as these are an age-restricted product. Our ‘Take Hold’ marketing campaign educated parents, carers and children about the dangers of vaping and increased the awareness of the harms and risks of nicotine addiction.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on vaping in schools. As the responsible body, education authorities are best placed to provide this level of information.