Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold records of how many GP practices have opened or closed since 1999.

Arrangements with GP contractors are a matter for health boards.

VisitScotland works closely with cruise industry partners, including Cruise Scotland, port authorities, local authorities and destination organisations, to understand the opportunities and challenges facing individual cruise destinations across Scotland.

VisitScotland promotes Scotland's cruise offering through its international consumer and travel trade activity in key markets, including the United States and Germany, highlighting the range of destinations, attractions and experiences available to cruise visitors. It also works closely with VisitBritain to ensure Scottish destinations, tourism products and visitor experiences are represented in international marketing and travel trade activity, and collaborates on market insight, research and knowledge sharing to support the growth of Scotland's visitor economy.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting specialist services that provide vital support to victims and survivors of gender based violence.

Our Programme for Government 2026 to 2031, sets out our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls and the significant action we will take, including that we will act to support rape crisis centres providing justice advocacy who have closed their waiting lists for that form of support.

We will also enhance arrangements for the Delivering Equally Safe Fund, which benefited from a 5% increase in 2026-27 and a two-year funding agreement, and will develop a new multi-year fund to ensure vital services are sustainable and can respond flexibly to need.

Officials will be progressing conversations with organisations soon to ensure delivery of these commitments.

The pilot for Scotland’s Places of Worship Fund will run until March 2027 and will provide evidence on demand, impact and delivery arrangements to inform future support for the sector.

The Scottish Government has not identified any Barnett consequential funding specifically linked to the introduction of the Places of Worship Renewal Fund in England.

Under the Barnett formula, changes to the Scottish Government’s funding are calculated at the level of overall UK Government departmental spending, rather than individual programmes or schemes. UK Government ministers have confirmed that the funding for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund is included within the wider Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) settlement, and that Barnett consequentials are applied to the total departmental allocation rather than to specific funding lines.

Any additional funding associated with wider Department for Culture, Media and Sport spending changes were very small. The impact on the Scottish Government's capital block grant in 2026-27 was less than £10,000, and it is not possible to attribute that minor increase to any specific UK Government programme.

The then Minister for Public Finance, Ivan McKee MSP, met with Jeff Kabel, Chief Transformation Officer, GFG Alliance on 26 January 2026 to discuss matters including the plans for the restart of operations at Dalzell.

I met with Blair McDougall MP, UK Government Minister for Reindustrialisation on 4 September 2026 to discuss Liberty Steel.

Liberty Steel Dalzell is a privately owned business and existence of any historic contamination or other environmental liabilities at Clydebridge is a matter for the company.

Scottish Government recognises the unique challenges faced by off-grid communities and we are committed to supporting them to develop sustainable, resilient and locally appropriate energy solutions that can improve energy security and help address energy costs.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of skills development across the tourism and hospitality sector, including skills needed to support international visitors.

Skills Development Scotland has developed the Tourism and Hospitality Toolkit, Tourism & Hospitality Toolkit | Home, which encourages employers and employees to engage with training and development opportunities across the sector. These resources are available to tourism businesses across Scotland, including in the Highland and Islands.

More broadly, the Scottish Government continues to work with industry and skill partners to address workforce and skills challenges across the tourism and hospitality sector.

These matters fall within the responsibility of train operators in their capacity as employers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-03424 on 29 September 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.