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The Scottish Government has full confidence in NatureScot’s Chief Executive Officer and its Chair on the work being carried out by NatureScot in relation to gull management.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers regularly meet with NatureScot on a range of issues, including gull management.

NatureScot staff continue to engage with officials from the Highland Council Steering Group that is dealing with the issues of seagull management.

NatureScot staff are due to attend a Steering Group meeting with Highland Council in December. This was originally proposed to take place in November but has been rescheduled due to the unavailability of some staff.

The (SMC) appraisal is undertaken independently of Scottish Ministers and is based on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of newly licensed medicines at a population level, ensuring value for both the NHS in Scotland and taxpayers.

Following a submission for (a) elacestrant (Korserdu®), as a treatment for postmenopausal women, and men, with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, the SMC published ‘’ advice in November 2025, and (b) capivasertib (Truqap®), as a treatment for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast secondary breast cancer, the SMC published ‘’ advice in October 2025.

In both cases, the submitting pharmaceutical companies did not present a sufficiently robust economic analysis to gain acceptance. The SMC would welcome a resubmission from both companies at any time.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail Trains Ltd. The member may wish to contact ScotRail Trains Ltd directly to obtain the information related to complaints received by it.

Since May 2021, Ministerial oversight of the National Library of Scotland (NLS) has been led by the Minister for Europe and International Development until January 2022, then the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development from January 2022 until May 2024. I took over Ministerial oversight of NLS in May 2024.

In that time period, I have not attended any board meetings of NLS. However, the Ministers and I have met when required with the Chief Executive as is normal convention for non-departmental public bodies.

We are committed to ensuring that children and young people are equipped with the skills, knowledge and understanding to successfully navigate a world where AI permeates all aspects of society.

The current curriculum includes digital literacy which allows teachers to develop learners’ skills in the use of digital tools, including AI.

Work to consider and update all curriculum areas as part of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle, including Technologies, is underway. The Cycle will consider cross-curricular expectations, including digital literacy and political literacy and will involve input from a range of academic and industry experts, ensuring that our thinking reflects best practice in what is a fast moving and complex area.

In recognition of the challenges and opportunities that AI poses for teaching and learning, we have been pleased to provide funding to the University of Edinburgh to develop resources to support the teaching of AI across several subject areas.

Work also continues at pace to develop AI guidelines and guardrails for teachers on the ethical use of AI in schools. We hope to publish this in the coming months.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41902 on 1 December 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the current and future skills needs of the rural economy. We are integrating consideration of skills for rural Scotland into mainstream skills policy development and delivery, including the Post School Education and Skills Reform (PSESR) programme. This approach follows the delivery of the Skills Action Plan for Rural Scotland (2019) that produced better alignment of skills delivery to skills needs in the rural economy.

The Scottish Government funds Lantra Scotland to contribute to increasing the number and diversity of skilled employees in the land-based, aquaculture and environmental conservation sectors.

Operational decisions such as course provision are a matter for individual colleges. However, in recognition that Scotland’s colleges are a vital part of our economy and wider society, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) allocations provide a 2.6% sector increase in teaching funding for 2025-26 compared to last year, with an increase of almost 5% in capital maintenance funding over the same period.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41944 on 1 December 2025, Education Scotland are currently reviewing the curriculum in line with the Curriculum Improvement Cycle programme. As part of this review, work is taking place to review the place of financial education within the curriculum. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The engagement to date has included a series of collaborative sessions involving a broad range of practitioners, stakeholders, and academics, including representatives from the Money and Pensions Service, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, the National Association of Student Money Advisers, and Money Ready. These sessions have examined the current landscape of financial education, drawing on evidence-based research, and have initiated planning on how financial education might be effectively integrated into the Scottish curriculum to promote a coherent and equitable approach.

As required by the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 (the Act) NatureScot must have regard to Deer Code of Practice when exercising their functions under the Act, including when exercising functions under section 7(1) (control agreements) and section 8(1) (control schemes).

The documentation relating to this case explicitly states that regard was had to the Deer Code when exercising their section 7 functions. This documentation was published at the following link: .