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The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Ensuring the safety of Large Panel System buildings is a shared responsibility, where there are multiple property owners in a shared residential block they hold joint accountability.

While building owners have responsibility for their properties, the matter of Large Panel System buildings has been considered by the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety and discussed within the Cross Sector Building Safety Forum. The forum includes key sector leads in this area including local authorities and NHS assure. This forum helps to inform the Scottish Government approach to such buildings in Scotland.

Owners are advised to engage appropriate expert consultants to advise them using the authoritative guidance on Large Panel Systems from the Building Research Establishment and the Institution of Structural Engineers.

The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the professional body for Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the UK, has recommended that women who believe they may have been exposed to stilbestrol (DES) in utero and who are concerned about the risks of vaginal and cervical cancer should be offered careful monitoring by annual colposcopic examinations in specialist centres.

Cervical screening is offered to women who live in Scotland and are aged between 25 and 64 years and we encourage all women to take up routine cervical screening appointments when invited.

Evidence for an increased risk of other cancers is less conclusive but participation in the National Breast Screening Programme is recommended. Pregnant women who know that they were exposed in utero to DES should inform their obstetrician and be aware of the increased risks of ectopic pregnancy and preterm labour.

The Scottish Government continues to fund the charity Health in Mind to deliver peer support services to those affected by historic forced adoption, including mothers and adoptees.

Scotland does not have a legislative provision for safety certification of Large Panel System buildings. Local authorities in Scotland have statutory powers under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 to address buildings that pose a risk to public safety due to structural instability or other hazards.

Owners of LPS buildings can use the long established guidance from the Building Research Establishment to assess and manage their property and can use information from The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) website: .

The Scottish Government remains focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70% of these for social rent and 10% in rural and island areas, including new build, rehabilitation and acquisitions.

We report on all homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) via our quarterly official statistics, and this includes approvals, starts and completions. Official statistics for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are available on the Scottish Government website at .

Note: The AHSP statistics reflect the number of affordable homes delivered with government support, whether through loans, grants or guarantees.

For the AHSP, figures are reported at the stages of approval, start and completion:

• Approval marks the point at which funding is granted.
• Start is recorded once there is an on-site presence to progress site work.
• Completion is measured when all homes on a site are delivered and ready for occupation.

This differs from the all-sector housebuilding statistics, where completions are reported on a unit-by-unit basis. As a result, there will be occasions when the AHSP records completions in a local authority while the social sector new housebuilding series shows zero completions in the same quarter. This occurs because the corresponding units are captured in earlier quarters of the housebuilding data.

While the majority of affordable housing developments in Scotland are supported by the Scottish Government through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, there are also contributions to the costs from housing associations, councils and the private sector. In particular, contributions by private sector developers are agreed through the planning system.

More information of Data and Methodology can be found of the Scottish Government website: .

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a cost-benefit analysis of 24/7 thrombectomy provision.

Research suggests that, on average, every patient treated with a thrombectomy procedure could save the NHS £47,000 over five years, due to the reduction in length of hospital stays and a reduced need for social care input. This economic benefit is in addition to the significant improvements in outcome and quality of life for patients.

Learning in the Social Studies curriculum area helps young people to develop important skills in research and evaluation, creativity, critical thinking and communication and it helps our young people develop as responsible, informed citizens with a global outlook covering important topics such as democracy and voting. In particular, Modern Studies helps to equip pupils with a range of Investigative and critical thinking skills; and English helps pupils to engage with texts of all kinds, critically evaluate the contents of those texts, and make informed judgements about the material they encounter on a day to day basis. SQA course specifications for Modern Studies and English are available at: To support learning and teaching, schools can already draw on a range of resources. For example, in relation to political literacy they can access the from Education Scotland, which provides guidance on how to ensure that learners use their voice, participate and contribute to decision-making processes.

The Scottish Government is providing funding to Time for Inclusive Education’s Digital Discourse Initiative. The resources provide teachers with the tools they need to teach core critical and digital media literacy skills, and to equip pupils with the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding they need to navigate digital media and counter the impacts of disinformation and online hate.

Later this year, Education Scotland will publish further professional learning resources on English, aimed at supporting teachers’ understanding of what critical literacy is and how they can support children to develop these crucial skills.

Finally, as the member may be aware, the Curriculum Improvement Cycle is also updating and strengthening the curriculum across all curricular areas.

Since its inception, excluding staff costs, 2.1% of the Techscaler budget spent to date has been invested in international activity, spotlighting Scotland’s growing reputation as a leading tech hub. This is helping our startups secure investment and compete in the international marketplace. Multiple export contracts have been secured, six participants have secured £5.4m of investment and several other firms are in dialogue with investors.

There has been no direct assessment made about the impact of early release of prisoners on knife crime rates.

To ensure transparency and accountability, the Scottish Government commissioned an independent evaluation of the Techscaler programme following my committee appearance in 2024. EKOS were formally appointed in December 2024 to carry out this evaluation. The findings will be published in full and made publicly available by early 2026.

The Scottish Government has invested £33 million in specialist staff and £11.3 million on facilities to deliver thrombectomy treatment since the financial year 2020-21.