Chamber and committees

Public services are fundamental to the Government’s ambitions, including tackling poverty, and reform is about strengthening those services now and into the future.

Our Public Service Reform Strategy recognises that better joined-up, preventative public services can improve outcomes for people while supporting fiscal sustainability, including by ensuring people can access the right support when they need it.

We recognise that women, particularly those experiencing poverty, can be disproportionately affected where services are difficult to access or do not work effectively together. Reform and efficiency are therefore not about doing less with less, but about strengthening services through prevention, better integration and reducing unnecessary duplication and administrative costs.

Our approach includes ambitious work on Whole Family Support and the development of a new Prevention Unit, which will help address the drivers of demand, support greater collaboration across sectors and strengthen investment in preventative approaches. The Government is also developing preventative budgeting arrangements to improve our understanding of investment in prevention and its contribution to improving outcomes.

We continue to listen carefully to the views and evidence of stakeholders, including evidence provided through parliamentary scrutiny of Public Service Reform and its equality impacts. This engagement will continue as individual reform programmes are developed and implemented, ensuring that equality considerations, including the experiences of women and families experiencing poverty, inform delivery.

Eradicating child poverty remains the Scottish Government’s foremost priority, and Public Service Reform has an important contribution to make through earlier intervention, more holistic support and public services designed around the needs of people and families.

Terms of Reference for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, (SFRS) in relation to operational matters, including its review of the Cairngorms wildfire are a matter for the SFRS and independent of Scottish Ministers. Matters relating to the completion of any reports and their publication are for the SFRS.

The multi-agency debrief of the response to the Cairngorms wildfire is sponsored by Police Scotland, the SFRS and the Highland Council. The Scottish Government remains independent of this debrief, with the sponsoring agencies retaining ownership of the process.

The Scottish Government has committed to providing financial support to allow an extension of pay protection from April 2028 to support Glasgow City Council employees. The council is fully funding pay protection until the end of March 2028.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the council to confirm costs and will make necessary provision in future budgets.

The multi-agency debrief into the Cairngorms wildfire response, sponsored by Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, (SFRS) and Highland Council, is scheduled for 15 October 2026. Following the debrief, further work may be needed to review the evidence, agree recommendations and finalise the report.

The independently facilitated debrief forms part of SFRS’s broader review and debrief process, providing organisational learning opportunities and additional assurance on the robustness of the review arrangements.

While the Scottish Government is not directly involved in the review, it is satisfied that SFRS is undertaking a comprehensive process with partner organisations involved in the wildfire response. It is expected that the planned review and debrief will capture lessons learned during the response.

Separately, the Scottish Government’s review of the Wildfire Strategic Action Plan will examine national arrangements for wildfire prevention, preparedness and response. Lessons identified through the operational review and debrief process will help inform this strategic review.

Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and Highland Council are sponsoring the multi-agency debrief of the Cairngorms wildfire response, which is scheduled for 15 October.

To support independent facilitation of the process the Scottish Multi-Agency Resilience Training & Exercise Unit, (SMARTEU) has been commissioned to lead the debrief, supported by Scottish Government resilience officials. It is for Highland Council to determine and coordinate how local people and organisations can contribute to the process.

The Scottish Government remains independent of this debrief with sponsors retaining ownership of the process, which includes provision of a suitable mechanism for the submission of evidence.

Accessibility considerations are central to the drafting and design of the Programme for Government, and the final web publication meets the Government Communication Service Accessibility Standards and Web Content Accessibility Guideline requirements.

While there is not an easy read version of the Programme for Government 2026-31, these standards mean that digital content and services are available to more people in Scotland through, for example, Alt Text on images and content that supports assistive technology like screen readers.

Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, (SFRS) and Highland Council are sponsoring the multi-agency debrief of the Cairngorms wildfire response, which is scheduled for 15 October.

To support independent facilitation of the process the Scottish Multi-Agency Resilience Training & Exercise Unit, (SMARTEU) has been commissioned to lead the debrief, supported by Scottish Government resilience officials. It is for Highland Council to coordinate how local people and organisations can contribute to the process.

The Scottish Government remains independent of this debrief. Ownership of he process, findings and any resulting actions rests with the sponsor agencies. Ministers will however, consider its findings and recommendations carefully.

The Scottish Government published national statutory guidance to Licensing Boards under section 142 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 https://www.gov.scot/publications/licensing-scotland-act-2005-section-142-guidance-licensing-boards/

The purpose of the statutory guidance is to assist Licensing Boards in carrying out their functions under the 2005 Act. There are 5 licensing objectives in the 2005 Act:

• Preventing crime and disorder;
• Securing public safety;
• Preventing public nuisance;
• Protecting and improving public health; and
• Protecting children and young persons from harm.

Licensing Boards are required to have regard to these 5 objectives when carrying out their functions under the 2005 Act. The statutory guidance does not provide detail of how licensing boards should approach consideration of the protection and improving public health objective in determining applications for premise licences for the sale of alcohol at football grounds.

There is specific law relating to alcohol at football matches in Part 2 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995. This is separate from licensing law under the 2005 Act and whilst all premises including in football grounds that wish to sell alcohol require a premises licence, it is for Police Scotland to enforce the specific law relating to alcohol being sold at football grounds under the 1995 Act provisions and licensing boards have no direct role in this area.

Ownership and control of land is a powerful tool for communities to drive change and can help to develop local economies, provide activities and services, and boost community identity. The Scottish Government provides support for communities through the Scottish Land Fund, which offers grants of up to £1 million to help communities take ownership of land and assets that matter to them, as well as practical support to develop projects. Over 1.6 million people across Scotland now live in communities where assets have been acquired with funding from the Scottish Land Fund.

In addition, the Scottish Government funds the Community Ownership Support Service, who provide expert advice and support for communities and relevant authorities. This specialised assistance includes support to community bodies with feasibility, business planning, financial planning and obtaining funding.

Community bodies are required to demonstrate relevant information about their ability to deliver within their application. This includes identifying costs and appropriate and realistic sources of funding post-transfer. These elements must be considered by relevant authorities when making their decision. This provides assurance that the initial and ongoing costs of asset ownership have been identified and can be appropriately supported before the asset transfer is agreed.

Ongoing support is available to groups via the Community Ownership Support Service and Scottish Land Fund even after that the asset is transferred.

The Scottish Government hosted a ‘Responsible Dog Ownership’ Summit in September 2024. The summit was an opportunity to bring together experts from a range of organisations, including Police Scotland, local authorities, animal welfare organisations, public health and third sector organisations to consider how dog control and public safety can be improved upon.

The Summit Report is available on the Scottish Government website: Responsible dog ownership summit: report - gov.scot

The Scottish Government subsequently established an Expert Advisory Group to look at the various issues raised at the Summit to help determine what steps can be progressed in the short, medium, and long term. For example, this includes what positive action can be taken that does not require legislation through, say, improvement to how laws are enforced.

Members of the expert advisory group include bodies such as Police Scotland, COSLA, Scottish SPCA, Dogs Trust and the National Dog Warden Association.

A number of sub-groups of the Expert Advisory Group have also been set up. The sub-groups are currently looking at specific areas of work, covering issues such as enforcement of dog control laws and dog welfare.

That work is ongoing, and the Scottish Government looks forward to seeing the recommendations of the Expert Advisory Group in due course.

General laws in relation to dog control are also kept under review to help ensure they continue to help keep communities safe.