To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding its engagement with credit unions in relation to CMutual withdrawing its family protection plan. (S6O-05403)

I have been regularly meeting the independent coalition of credit unions, which has been working tirelessly to support policyholders who have been impacted by the withdrawal of the family protection plan. However, we need the FCA and the United Kingdom Treasury to compel CMutual and Maiden Life Försäkrings to discuss mitigating, in the form of financial redress, the harm that is now occurring. According to the coalition, around 20 people who were policyholders have died since financial support from the plan was withdrawn, which shows that we need action from the UK authorities as a matter of urgency. Will the minister outline any discussions that the Scottish Government has had in that regard with UK Government counterparts or the FCA?

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that I hold a bank nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

First and foremost, I offer sincere thanks to all stakeholders who engaged throughout the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s budget scrutiny process. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray MSP, and his officials for giving evidence and responding to the committee’s subsequent pre-budget report. I also thank the committee clerks for their work in supporting the committee’s members. I look forward to welcoming the cabinet secretary to the committee next week to discuss the budget and its implications for health, social care and sport across Scotland.

Members will be aware that the health and social care portfolio is again a budget priority. It remains the largest budget area in the Scottish budget, with total planned spending in 2026-27 coming to £22.5 billion. As is highlighted in the latest SPICe briefing on the Scottish budget, the health and social care portfolio will grow at a faster rate than any other area of the Scottish budget, at 1.5 per cent in real terms, compared with 0.2 per cent across the budget as a whole.

However, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that the health capital budget remains constrained. According to recently published analysis, it is set to fall by 6.6 per cent in real terms. Despite that, the spending review in 2026 also sets out plans for further increases in health and social care spending. The committee welcomes the inclusion in the spending review of indicative health board budgets for a three-year period. Such indicative budgets have long been requested in previous budget letters and reports, and they should go some way towards helping boards with future planning.

On average, the budgets for health boards in 2026-27 are set to increase by 14.5 per cent. However, some of that increase reflects the fact that budget lines that were previously transferred in-year have now been baselined. That said, the committee nonetheless welcomes the additional funding that has been made available to meet the pay settlements that have been agreed for nurses and doctors. The committee commends the efforts on all sides to reach those settlements and avoid widespread industrial action by resident doctors, unlike in England.

The committee also welcomes the additional funding for primary care and community health services, which has increased by 10.1 per cent. That includes the £36 million that has been allocated for walk-in general practitioner clinics.

Furthermore, the mental health budget is increasing by 11.8 per cent, with further mental health spending now baselined in health board budgets. As members may be aware, the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s central focus in its pre-budget scrutiny was on mental health spending, and the committee has long raised concerns regarding the transparency of spend in that area. Although the additional investment is welcome, issues regarding transparency and the linking of spending to outcomes remain.

The Scottish Government has stated that NHS boards are expected to spend about £1.5 billion on mental health services in 2025-26. However, it remains impossible to break that down to any granular level of detail on specific services, which is an issue that many stakeholders raised during our pre-budget scrutiny. I am aware that the population health framework and the service renewal framework note that those links will be made clearer. However, I flag that, although the Government’s response to the committee states that it is “committed to improving transparency”, it has not yet given specific examples of how that will be achieved. To that end, the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee awaits a detailed plan as to how improvements in that area will be implemented, and it stands ready to assist where necessary.

I remind members that I am a practising NHS nurse.

Mr Rennie referred to improving patient flow. Nowhere is that more evident than in the recent statistics that show that, under this Scottish National Party Scottish Government, waiting times are down for the sixth month in a row. How will the cabinet secretary work to build on that progress to ensure that people receive high-quality care on an appropriate timescale?

Mr Sweeney must have been reading my speech, because I am about to come on to the issue of preventative spend.

There are also similar challenges in relation to the social care budget. Although the committee welcomes the additional funding of £471 million that is identified in the budget, it remains difficult to get an overall picture of planned social care spending for 2026-27.

There is some clarity on future budgets for health boards, but the same multiyear planning is not set out for social care, which the committee and stakeholders have been highlighting as an issue for some time.

I wish that the member had been as vociferous in her complaints about the increases to employer national insurance contributions that her Westminster colleagues have imposed on social care providers, which have caused huge issues across health and social care.

Similarly, the committee argued in its pre-budget report that there needs to be a clearer definition of what constitutes preventative spend and that the level of resources that are currently assigned to preventative activities needs to be identified. Although that information has not been provided, the committee nonetheless welcomes the response from the Government and the references to on-going work in that area to tag spending and enable tracking, and looks forward to seeing the initial outputs of that work.

On preventative spend, the committee welcomes the strong uplift for sportscotland and the active, healthy lives budget line, with planned spending in those areas set to double in 2026-27. The importance of physical activity has been a common theme throughout the committee’s work during this session of Parliament, and I cannot overstate the positive impact that it has on individuals of all age groups, from both a physical health and a mental health point of view.

That said, the committee seeks reassurance as to whether those levels of spending will be maintained in 2026-27. With major sporting events happening this year, such as Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth games and Scotland reaching the men’s FIFA world cup finals, it is vital that we harness the momentum that the events will bring and ensure that there continues to be adequate funding for sport and physical activity for future generations.

The additional investment for the health and social care portfolio that is contained in the budget is most welcome, particularly in the light of the immense challenges that the sector faces. However, it remains of paramount importance that we can efficiently track spending in those areas. It is the view of the committee and, I believe, across the chamber that there is more to do to improve transparency in spending decisions. It is only by making such progress that we can make the best use of the budget to ultimately improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland.

Good morning, and welcome to the third meeting of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee in 2026. I have received apologies from Elena Whitham and Paul Sweeney. Jackie Dunbar will be joining us as a substitute member of the committee.

Agenda item 1 is for the committee to decide whether to take items 5 and 7 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Item 2 is to take oral evidence from a second panel of witnesses on the draft climate change plan and its implications for public health in Scotland. I welcome Jane Miller, programme manager at the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, and Dr Joanna Teuton, health improvement manager for population health and climate change at Public Health Scotland.

We will move straight to questions.

Our third agenda item is consideration of one affirmative instrument: the draft Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2026. This draft statutory instrument requires approval by resolution of the Parliament before it can become law. In this case, the instrument also requires approval by both houses of the United Kingdom Parliament before it can become law.

The purpose of the order is to provide for a limited exception to the list of reserved matters in schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998, in respect of the identification and regulation of substances and devices for use in assisted dying. The order has been laid in the context of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. I welcome Liam McArthur, the member in charge of the bill, to our meeting.

The order will enable the Scottish Parliament, subject to certain limitations, to confer a power on the Scottish ministers by way of subordinate legislation made with the agreement of the secretary of state to identify substances and devices for use in assisting a terminally ill adult to voluntarily end their own life, and to confer a power on the secretary of state to regulate such substances and devices by way of subordinate legislation.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the order at its meeting of 13 January 2026 and made no recommendations. However, it agreed to write to this committee and to the Scottish Government with further questions about the order.

We will now have an evidence session on the order with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and supporting officials. Once we have had any questions answered, we will proceed to a formal debate on the motion.

I welcome to the committee Neil Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, and, from the Scottish Government, Gerald Byrne, head of constitutional policy; Nicki Crossan, assisted dying shadow bill team leader; and Ailsa Garland, principal legal officer. I invite the cabinet secretary to make a brief opening statement.

Thank you very much, cabinet secretary. I will bring in Sandesh Gulhane.