Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has worked closely with Trading Standards and COSLA during the development of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (2026 Act) and will continue to do so during its implementation.

On 30 July 2026, the Scottish Government published statutory guidance for retailers of tobacco, vaping, nicotine or herbal smoking products on creating an age verification policy for their store, found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/selling-tobacco-products-vaping-products-nicotine-products-cigarette-papers-herbal-smoking-products-age-verification-guidance-age-verification-policies-retailers/ .

In addition, on 11 August the UK Government published UK-wide guidance on implementation of the 2026 Act which covers the following topics:

• Selling tobacco, herbal smoking and cigarette papers: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-tobacco-herbal-smoking-products-and-cigarette-papers
• Selling vaping and nicotine products: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-vaping-and-nicotine-products
• Tobacco, vaping and nicotine products: fixed penalty notices: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tobacco-vaping-and-nicotine-products-fixed-penalty-notices#nations-in-scope
• Tobacco and vaping product vending machine ban: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tobacco-and-vaping-product-vending-machine-ban .

A series of speed management measures were introduced in Springholm including the erection of vehicle activated speed limit reminder signs and speed indicator devices. In December 2017, this was further supported by the introduction of a trial of innovative technology comprising two sets of Reverse Speed Discrimination Traffic Signals through the village to manage driver behaviour.

In 2023, an evaluation was undertaken of the effectiveness of these signals by Amey, Transport Scotland’s Operating Company for the South West Unit. This focussed on the impact on vehicle speeds through Springholm using data from permanent traffic loop sites installed prior to the signals being introduced and personal injury collisions.

In the 6-year period prior to the installation of the signals (1 December 2012 to 30 November 2017) there were 3 personal injury collisions recorded. Since the installation of the signals in December 2017 to the date of the evaluation report (November 2023) there were no personal injury collisions recorded.

Monitoring of the average speed of vehicles through the village also indicated that the signals were mostly effective in reducing vehicle speeds, with the exception of one site, which recorded a slight increase in the speed of eastbound vehicles exiting the village.

Patients’ needs following mesh removal surgery can be varied and complex, and may require input from a number of specialties, and so there is no single referral pathway that applies to every patient. Care and onward referral are determined by individual clinical need.

Following mesh removal surgery, patients are expected to receive two follow-up appointments with their surgeon or a specialist nurse from the provider. Independent providers are also expected to share relevant clinical, operative and pathology information with the patient’s local NHS Board to support continuity of care. If patients have immediate concerns following surgery, they should contact their GP or local clinical team so that appropriate advice and care can be arranged.

Responsibility for a patient’s ongoing care rests with their local NHS Board, regardless of where mesh removal surgery is undertaken.

Further treatment may be provided locally, regionally or nationally within the NHS, depending on the procedure required and the individual patient’s needs. Where a local NHS Board is unable to provide the required care, processes are in place to access appropriate treatment elsewhere within the NHS.

Before undergoing mesh removal surgery, patients are expected to be advised that symptoms of incontinence or prolapse may recur. Where further care is required for recurrence or reconstruction, conservative treatment may be considered while healing and recovery take place, with further surgical intervention considered where clinically appropriate.

The 45 Recommendations that make up the outcome of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) form the evidence base for the long term investment plans for Scotland’s strategic transport network.

The final set of recommendations consolidated over 2,500 individual projects, schemes and associated interventions. As many STPR2 recommendations comprise multiple interventions, often delivered through separate programmes and on different timescales, many elements of a recommendation may progress at different rates.

Consequently, it is difficult to assign a single implementation status to each recommendation. However, in summary:

None have been fully implemented, however given the nature of some they may require continuous investment, for example #31

41 of the 45 recommendations are classed as having commenced work. And partially implemented for example #10 and #38.

4 of the recommendations are awaiting full mobilisation of their implementation for example #22, #36, #40 and #41. None of the recommendations have been rejected.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-03549 on 6 October 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government recognises the valuable contribution that Scotland’s civil nuclear workforce has made and continues to make. The figure cited is published by the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) and the Scottish Government has not made a separate assessment of it.

Decommissioning at former sites, including Hunterston, is expected to continue for decades to come. This work will continue to require a highly skilled workforce.

As set out in the answer to S7W-02223, The Scottish Government has worked closely with Trading Standards and COSLA during the development of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (2026 Act) and will continue to do so during its implementation.

As part of the development of the 2026 Act, a UK wide impact assessment was published by UK Government, including an assessment of enforcement costs for Trading Standards. Scottish Government contributed to the development of this impact assessment. This can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-impact-assessment.

All Scottish Statutory Instruments resulting from the 2026 Act will be supported by the appropriate impact assessments as part of our usual policy development process.

The Scottish Government has published a partial Business Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) on Display, alongside the "Tobacco and Vapes - Packaging, Appearance and Display consultation", for Scotland. This can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/display-restrictions-products-prices-herbal-smoking-products-heated-tobacco-devices-vaping-nicotine-products-scotland-partial-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/.

A final BRIA was also published to inform the approach taken to the commencement of provisions relating to the extension of the retailer register. This can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/tobacco-vapes-act-2026-commencement-no-1-transitional-saving-provisions-scotland-regulations-2026-business-regulatory-impact-assessment.

The 2026-27 Scottish Budget provides a further real-terms increase in the Local Government Settlement, delivering record funding of almost £15.7 billion, including a quarter of a billion pounds of unrestricted General Revenue Grant.

Local Authorities have responsibility to ensure local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities including enforcement of existing legislation around sales, illicit tobacco and vapes, and the single use vape ban.

Taxis and Private Hire Cars (PHCs) are licensed under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (“the 1982 Act”).

Section 22 of the 1982 Act currently provides that Taxi/ PHC licensing does not apply to any vehicle while it is being used for carrying passengers for its exclusive hire for a period of not less than 24 hours. This is commonly referred to as the ‘contract exemption’ and allows drivers and vehicles being used exclusively for contract work to fall out with the Taxi/ PHC licensing regime.

The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 made provisions that can be used for the removal of the contract exemption. When brought into force this will bring vehicles being used in such a manner into the Taxi/ PHC licensing regime as set out in the 1982 Act. However, the contract exemption remains in place at present.

There have been discussions with stakeholders in relation to the contract exemption over a period of time and these discussions have raised a number of practical issues to assess before the contract exemption is removed.

Further information is available in Chapter 5 of the Taxi and PHC licensing best practice guidance document published by the Scottish Government in 2023.

In 2025, the Scottish Government convened a Task Force on Civic Licensing to review a range of existing licensing provisions of the 1982 Act. One of the licensing policy areas being looked at is the legislation in relation to Taxi and PHC Licensing, and this includes the contract exemption issue.

It is expected that a report setting out any proposed reform, recommendations and potential changes to the 1982 Act, including in relation to the current Taxi/PHC licensing regime, will be presented to the Scottish Ministers for consideration in the next few months.

The report will be considered carefully by the Scottish Government before any next steps are taken.

In 2025 there were 5 National Entitlement Cards suspended, all within the Older and Disabled Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme.

No cardholders have been suspended so far in 2026.

The Scottish Government is carefully considering the recommendations of the report. Officials are actively engaging with the Competitions and Markets Authority as well as key stakeholders including Consumer Scotland, the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association, the UK and Northern Ireland Governments and consumer advice organisations on how these can be progressed within our devolved powers, including the feasibility of developing a permanent heating oil price checker tool for Scotland.

We continue to make the case to the UK Government that it is critical that it makes urgent progress on implementing the report recommendations.