Chamber and committees

The retention of staff is a matter for SFRS as the employer. There are challenges with both the recruitment and retention of on-call firefighters. A new more flexible structure for on-call periods was introduced in 2025 and SFRS is seeking to address the wider issue of on-call firefighter availability through its on-call improvement programme.

The Scottish Government policy is one of robustly supporting the livestock sector and there are no plans to reduce livestock numbers in Scotland. Livestock farmers will continue to be part of the solution and are working with the sector on reducing emissions through improved animal health, productivity, breeding, feed efficiency and innovation.

Food is a global commodity and as such, were Scotland to cease to produce meat and dairy products, production would simply take place elsewhere, effectively resulting in offshoring emissions.

The Climate Change Plan sets out Scottish Government’s policies and proposals for agriculture to contribute to meeting our carbon budgets in a way that works for rural Scotland and plays to our strengths. Unlike elsewhere in the UK we have maintained direct support to our farmers and crofters, providing more than £600 million in payments every year, including supporting beef numbers with £40 million through the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme and a further £21 million to help farmers invest in more climate friendly activity to make their business more efficient.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving life expectancy and tackling health inequalities across the whole population.

The latest published National Records of Scotland data on life expectancy at birth in Scotland (by council area) for the 5 year period covering 2020-2024, shows that life expectancy at birth for males was 77.9 years in City of Edinburgh, 78.7 in East Lothian and 77.6 in Midlothian, compared to 76.7 in Scotland as a whole.

Last year, the Scottish Government and COSLA published the Population Health Framework, which sets out a cross-government, cross-sector approach to improving

life expectancy while reducing the gap in life expectancy between the 20% most deprived areas and the national average, by 2035. The Framework sets out the actions the Scottish Government and its partners are taking forward within the first two years by: supporting healthy environments; good early years and education; good work and income; and equitable health and care.

In addition, Scottish Government’s Programme for Government places a strong emphasis on the need to shift towards prevention and early intervention. This includes action to address alcohol and drug-related harm and to encourage healthier lifestyles among men, helping to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and poor mental wellbeing.

Embedding prevention across public services is fundamental to improving population health outcomes for individuals and securing the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s health and care system.

The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework was published in March 2026 and sets out the vision, values, and principles of high quality veterans’ mental health support. A procurement exercise to establish a service provider for the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Pathway has now concluded. The new service provider will be announced imminently and the Pathway is expected to start to become operational on a phased basis from October 2026.

To support delivery of the Pathway, a full governance structure is being established to provide appropriate oversight, coordination and stakeholder engagement across national and local partners during the implementation phase. These arrangements will help ensure that any impacts arising from planned NHS reform are identified and managed appropriately, enabling progress towards delivery of the Pathway's key aims and outcomes.

A guiding principle is that the new national Pathway should continually evolve, supported by regular evaluation and feedback from key stakeholders.

The veteran community has been central to the development of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Pathway, with representation on the Pathway Advisory Group, and its associated sub-groups. This Advisory Group oversaw the development of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework, and included representation from the veteran community, the third sector, and statutory services which support veterans and their families. The Framework, published in March 2026, sets the strategic direction to ensure that veterans have equitable access to mental health services. The voices and experiences of the veteran community have informed the work from the outset.

We continue to work closely with veterans, as well as the wider service delivery landscape, ahead of the phased launch of the national Pathway from October 2026. This will to ensure that future mental health and wellbeing services for veterans remain informed by lived experience and are responsive to their needs.

Standards and funding criteria for heat networks do not prescribe specific technologies when designing a heat network. Each heat network project is unique and the design will take account of the variable factors to optimise the efficiency of the heat network.

As an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government, The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and has responsibility for operation of prisons including staffing.

The review of the end-to-end recruitment and selection process for Prison Officer roles is an internal research and engagement exercise. Its purpose is to inform proposals for potential improvements to the recruitment process, ensuring it remains relevant and effective in attracting individuals with the values, skills and behaviours required to support SPS’s vision and objectives.

The review will be completed in consultation with the Trade Union Side and SPS staff within 12 months and used to inform the implementation of any agreed changes, in line with SPS’s commitment to continuous improvement and organisational development.

The Scottish Government is supporting the development of heat networks across Scotland, including projects that may cross local authority boundaries. Through Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), local authorities are identifying opportunities for heat network development and are encouraged to collaborate where opportunities extend across administrative boundaries.

We are supportive of collaboration between local authorities and the wider public sector to identify and develop opportunities for heat networks at an appropriate scale. We continue to work with local authorities, delivery partners and developers to identify and address potential barriers relating to funding, governance and delivery arrangements. This includes supporting regional collaboration and ensuring that viable heat network projects can progress where this offers the most effective route to decarbonising heat.

Should further opportunities for cross-boundary projects emerge, the capital and pre-capital support available through Scotland's Heat Network Fund and the Heat Network Support Unit would be available to such projects, subject to a successful application.

I have placed a copy of the information requested in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (bib number 66922).

The Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme was launched within a matter of weeks in response to the spiralling prices caused by the Iran conflict and wider instability, such as Russia’s war in Ukraine, undermining energy security across Europe as well as other factors such as the increases to the cost of living due to the UK leaving the EU.

The scheme was put in place to ensure the most vulnerable households are supported during the cost of living crisis, which includes households on means-tested benefits but also those in financial hardship and at risk of self-rationing fuel who have unavoidable additional heating needs, with the first payment made within 24 hours of the scheme launching on 1 April 2026.

The scheme was originally scheduled to end on 30 September 2026 but will now be extended into winter, which was announced on 25 September 2026.

This extension will ensure that vulnerable households are supported through 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.