Chamber and committees

Transport Scotland continues to engage with colleagues across the Scottish Government, including Criminal Justice and Community Safety policy officials, regarding the recommendation of the Rail Enforcement Powers Working Group on enhanced legal protections for rail workers.

Community input is supported through the GFIB Community Workstream, which is chaired by CVS Falkirk and receives Scottish Government funding to support community engagement and help ensure that local views are represented. Grangemouth Community Council is represented on the Community Workstream, while both CVS Falkirk and Grangemouth Community Council are represented on the GFIB Plenary Group. These arrangements provide a route for local issues and priorities to be raised and for community perspectives to inform the delivery of the Grangemouth Industrial Just Transition Plan. No separate formal mechanism for community participation in the decision-making of the Grangemouth Future Industry Board (GFIB) has been established.

All legal advice is confidential and it is a very long-established convention that legal advice provided to the Scottish Government is not disclosed.

The Scottish Government has recently announced that the Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme is to be extended into winter, ensuring the most vulnerable households are supported throughout winter as prices remain volatile.

Alongside the extension of the scheme, I would encourage households that use heating oil or LPG to contact Home Energy Scotland for free and impartial advice on reducing energy bills, improving energy efficiency and exploring clean heating options. Advisers can help households identify the support available to them and navigate funding schemes for home energy improvements.

No other adaptations/amendments have been made to the scheme. Officials continuously monitor the scheme ensuring it is targeted at those most in need; any decisions on adaptations/amendments will be made by Scottish Ministers and communicated accordingly.

I am pleased to announce that I have published the latest edition of the Scottish Ministerial Code today. It is normal practice to update the Ministerial Code following a Scottish Parliament election and I have taken this opportunity to make a small number of minor, technical updates. In addition to writing a new Foreword to the Code, I have made the following minor changes:

• Paragraph 3.8 has been updated to amend the frequency of assurance reviews carried out by my independent advisers of the support provided by the Cabinet Secretariat to Ministers to help them declare their private interests. The Code now requires such reviews to be carried out every three years rather than annually. This change was suggested by my independent advisers and I agree with them that this offers a more proportionate approach. The Terms of Reference of my independent advisers have also been updated to reflect this change;
• Paragraph 9.15 has been updated to add the Minister for Parliamentary Business to the list of Ministers who should be consulted on plans for publishing a policy statement or consultation paper;
• Paragraph 10.8 has been updated to clarify the process that should be followed by Ministers when supplying advance copies of publications before the item of parliamentary business at which they are due to be discussed;
• Paragraphs 8.6, 11.7, 11.8, 11.14, 11.15 and 11.18 have been updated to clarify the clearance process for Ministers wishing to travel overseas for official or personal reasons. The previous version of the Ministerial Code required Ministers to seek authorisation for overseas trips from the Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for External Affairs. However, as there is currently no Cabinet Secretary with such responsibility and it would not be appropriate for approval to rest solely on a junior Minister, this element of the code has been amended.

Prior to this latest version, new editions of the Code were published in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The 2023 edition introduced the proactive publication of Ministers’ private interests and in 2024 I introduced the most significant changes to the Code since independent advisers were introduced in 2008. This included changes to allow my independent advisers to launch Ministerial Code investigations on their own initiative, without a referral from me as First Minister.

The Open Market Shared Equity Scheme (OMSE), which is a part of LIFT, is a demand led scheme which provides support for first time buyers and priority access groups, including veterans who have left the armed forces within the past two years, to purchase a property on the open market.

The administering agent for OMSE, Link Housing, market the scheme on behalf of the Scottish Government. Marketing was paused while the scheme was closed during 2024-25 and the end of 2025-26.

An insert on OMSE was included in Pathfinder magazine (Armed Forces resettlement magazine) for the reopening in June 2025 and another is planned for October’s edition.

More information on OMSE is also available on the Scottish Government’s help to buy your home website (Open Market Shared Equity scheme - mygov.scot) as well as the UK Government’s finding a civilian home as a veteran website (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/finding-a-civilian-home-as-a-veteran).

We have laid before Parliament today an annual progress report against our Heat in Buildings Strategy, the fifth since its publication in 2021: [https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781807755898].

The report highlights that over 2,600 heat pumps were installed between 2025 and 2026 through the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme – the highest since the scheme began.

We also installed over 2,500 clean heating and renewables systems through Warmer Homes Scotland, also the highest number since the scheme began.

The progress report also confirms £3.9 million of investment in heat networks through our Heat Network Fund in 2025.

The Scottish Welfare Fund records the number of applications received rather than the number of individual people applying. In:

• 2023-24, 260,015 applications were received for a Crisis Grant.
• 2024-25, 244,945 applications were received for a Crisis Grant.
• 2025-26, 258,490 applications were received for a Crisis Grant.

Scottish Ministers must determine the section 36 application before them, having regard to the proposed development for which consent is sought.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-03437 on 2 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.