Chamber and committees

(a) Funding requests totalling £21.691m were received from 81 Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) for general adaptations. Of these 82, 15 RSLs also made funding requests totalling £1.901m for 32 major adaptations.

(b) The total value of funding requested for the 2026-27 RSL Adaptations Programme is £23.592m.

(a) The Scottish Government approved funding for all 82 Registered Social Landlords that applied for funding to the Registered Social Landlord Adaptations Programme in 2026-27.

(b) 100% of Registered Social Landlords that have requested funding have been awarded funding.

Prior to 2021, international recruitment was not widely utilised across NHS Scotland, and no direct funding was available to health boards to support these activities. Between 2021 and 2026, the Scottish Government invested more than £21.5 million to develop international recruitment capacity across NHS Scotland. This included funding for dedicated international recruitment leads and support for overseas recruitment costs, such as visa and sponsorship fees. This investment enabled the recruitment of more than 1,200 overseas professionals into roles across NHS Scotland.

Although no direct funding has been provided since 2024 to meet international recruitment costs, the infrastructure established through this investment remains in place. With the continued funding of an international recruitment lead in each health board, international recruitment can continue to be considered as a means of filling hard-to-recruit vacancies where appropriate.

Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) are invited to submit an application for the amount of funding required to deliver a programme of general adaptations across the financial year based on their understanding of need among their tenants and for any major adaptations required by their tenants.

For the 2026-27 financial year, funding requests from 82 RSLs were received for general adaptations funding with 32 requests for major adaptations funding. Every RSL which requested funding has received and accepted its funding offer.

The estimate of 8,500 general adaptations contained in the 2025 Programme for Government was for the 2025-26 financial year. This was calculated by dividing the funding available in 2025-26 by the average cost of a general adaptation delivered in 2024-25 to estimate how many general adaptations could be delivered. As the average cost of adaptions delivered in 2025-26 has increased, these calculations have been revised for 2026-27. It is estimated that the £20.9m budget for 2026-27 could deliver 6,935 general adaptations and 32 major adaptations.

As set out in the debate on Expanding Childcare on 27 May 2026, the Scottish Government has committed to expanding funded childcare to children from 9 months to the end of primary school, in this parliamentary term. As we shape our approach to expansion, we are committed to working in partnership with the childcare sector, parents, carers and children to ensure any future developments create a system that responds to the needs of families across Scotland and helps build a strong, sustainable and resilient childcare sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02261 on 26 August 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 does not provide funding to promote chestfeeding. It has provided more than £12m additional investment since 2018 to support new mothers to achieve their breastfeeding goals, with more babies in Scotland now being breastfed for longer than ever before.

We are aware of media reporting that has incorrectly characterised a voluntary-led community group, Queer Milk, as a service that trains people to breastfeed or supports medical interventions. The Scottish Government has received clear and unambiguous assurance that the group is not training men to lactate and feed infants. Any claim to the contrary is untrue.

The Scottish Government does not provide funding for Queer Milk.

The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening Scotland’s international presence, in line with commitments set out in the manifesto, with the number of Scotland Houses expanded to over forty by the end of the Parliament.

An expanded Scotland House network will play an important role in attracting investment, supporting jobs and economic growth, and promoting Scottish Government priorities while helping Scottish businesses and key sectors access international opportunities.

Work is underway to develop options for delivery of these commitments, including consideration of future Scotland House locations. Decisions will be announced, and projected costs will be published, in due course.

The delivery of police services, including call handling arrangements and the use of technology to support operational policing, are matters for Police Scotland with oversight from the Scottish Police Authority which is responsible for holding the Chief Constable to account.

During the previous Parliament the Scottish Government brought forward regulations which exempt mid-market rent and build-to-rent properties from any rent control restrictions introduced using powers in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025. Laying these regulations demonstrates our commitment to ensure Scotland benefits from continued investment in the supply of new rented homes.

The exemption applies to properties offered at mid-market levels, reflecting our aim to grow the provision of mid-market rent as part of the supply of affordable housing. Properties are only eligible for exemption while rents are maintained below mid-market levels, meaning tenants will benefit from knowing their rent cannot rise above the median market rent in that area.

The exemption also applies to build to rent properties and to be exempt properties must remain continuously in the rental market. This approach is designed to promote future investment in new purpose-built homes for rent and to secure the retention of those existing purpose built rental homes in the private rented sector.

Tenants in Build to Rent and Mid-Market Rent properties in a rent control area will still be able to challenge rent increases by using the existing rent adjudication process – which gives rent officers powers to set rents at market rates.