The Scottish Government is publishing its updated Offshore Wind Policy Statement later today. Significantly, this statement updates the Scottish Government’s offshore wind ambition to up to 40GW by 2040, which will further reaffirm Scotland’s leading position in the offshore wind development globally.

Offshore wind presents an era-defining opportunity to grow our green economy for the benefit of communities across Scotland, while supporting our energy security and journey towards net zero.

The updated offshore wind ambition reflects and firmly underlines our commitment to delivering our existing pipeline of offshore wind projects at scale, including ScotWind and INTOG projects, and capitalise on the truly transformational economic opportunities they offer.

In determining the updated ambition, we have considered consultation feedback, potential strategic benefits for Scotland, measures to address issues raised, and the rapid growth in power demand expected over the 2030s and 2040s.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32369 on 8 January 2025. The Aberdeen to Central Belt Service Improvement Project arose from an agreement between Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeen City Council, and the Scottish Government which committed to invest an initial £200 million additional funding to help improve journey times and increase capacity on key rail links between Aberdeen and the Central Belt.

A timetable reference group was then established with stakeholders to agree the outputs and scope of the project thereafter.

Cost estimates will be developed through further design and subsequent agreement of the final scope of infrastructure enhancement works selected.

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 Parliament’s catering service partner has recently reviewed its beverage range and is expanding its Scottish offering. This includes introducing Scottish wines alongside a wider selection of Scottish-produced alcoholic and alcohol-free beverages.

With regard to retail, the Scottish Parliament Shop product range is currently under review, and the suggestion to consider Scottish wines will be taken under consideration.

The Scottish Government works through established national and regional governance structures to ensure that freight-related infrastructure investment aligns with wider economic and industrial priorities. Regional Economic Partnerships and City Region and Growth Deals provide coordinated engagement between local authorities, industry, and national agencies, supporting investment in freight corridors, ports, and logistics assets. This approach is guided by National Planning Framework 4, which sets clear spatial priorities for development, including regeneration areas and energy transition zones where improved freight connectivity is essential to unlock economic opportunity. Local Development Plans are also required to align with these national and regional strategies.

The draft Infrastructure Strategy, published for consultation on 13 January 2026, further strengthens this alignment, highlighting the role of national developments such as Green Freeports, where public and private investment in transport and enabling infrastructure is coordinated. As part of the Green Freeports Programme bidders were required to show how seed capital proposals aligned with regional and local transport plans, regional Economic Strategies, Local Development Plans, and skills plans.

In addition, the second Strategic Transport Projects Review(STPR2), published in 2022, provides the evidence base for future transport infrastructure investment. It highlights the economic importance of safe, efficient, and resilient movement of goods to Scotland’s economy and the predominance of road freight. It also notes the need for the freight sector to support Scotland’s 2045 net zero ambitions, identifying opportunities to increase rail freight and reduce dependence on road haulage alongside advances in low-maritime, rail and road technologies.

MyCare.scot remains on track for whole-population rollout from April 2026, with the national plan (published September 2025) setting the strategic direction. Timelines may adjust based on evidence from the initial NHS Lanarkshire launch, with further details on national scaling to follow in Spring 2026.

Details of the sources of evidence used by, and related advice provided to, the Scottish Government’s Executive Team during an internal review of its hybrid working policy have been available on the Scottish Government website since July 2025 at: Scottish Government hybrid working policy evidence and findings: FOI release - gov.scot. In particular, the sources of evidence considered are set out at annex 6 and advice in annexes 1 to 5 of that publication.

The largest part of the ending homelessness together fund goes to local authorities to support the transition to rapid rehousing, including the roll out of housing first. The Scottish Government carries out monitoring to understand from local authorities how that investment is helping them to prioritise settled housing and reduce the use of temporary accommodation. We report to parliament annually on progress against actions in our homelessness strategy – most recently in December 2025 - and this captures the impact of our continued investment in prevention, rapid rehousing and housing first and other initiatives.

The Scottish Government is committed to full and successful implementation of the new homelessness prevention duties. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 includes a provision that Part 5 (homelessness prevention, including ask and act) should be commenced no later than three years from Royal Assent (given November 2025). However, we are clear that relevant bodies named in the Act do not have to wait for the duties to come into force to adopt the ask and act approach.

We provided targeted funding of £4 million this financial year for 15 homelessness prevention pilots, which will run until December 2026. Learning from the pilots will help inform the development of guidance and secondary legislation on ask and act and support smooth implementation of the new duties.

A further £4 million is included in the 2026-27 homelessness budget and we are working with stakeholders to identify the most effective use of this funding.

The UK Forest Standard (UKFS) defines the requirements and guidelines on how to practice Sustainable Forest Management in the UK, and ensures the protection of water, soil and biodiversity. It also promotes the benefit of low-impact harvesting to protect sensitive sites. Approval for a felling permission from Scottish Forestry is subject to planned operations being UKFS compliant on the specific site.

Those applying for a felling permission can decide which UKFS compliant harvesting option they use. They may choose to use horse logging, where it supports their management objectives, and contributes to the delivery of the approved grant scheme option. There is no financial support offered for different harvesting methods in the grant scheme. Scottish Government have not specifically assessed the benefits of an expansion in use of horse logging.

The Forestry Grant Scheme has committed the following sums, in each complete financial year since 2021-22, for the natural regeneration of native woodlands and invasive species control.

The Forestry Grant Scheme has committed £69.8 million of support, in the period 2021-22 to 2024-25, for native woodland creation and native woodland management. £64.6 million of this funding has been provided to create new native woodland, with £5.2 million provided for the management of native woodland. The annual breakdown of this funding is show in the following table.