Any new schools or hospitals must comply with current building standards, which include a requirement for non-combustible cladding material at a storey height of over 11m. High risk MAC-PE cladding material is banned on buildings of all height. It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities and Health Boards to manage their estate, and we expect them to provide safe environments for all school and healthcare estate users.

With specific reference to Hospitals the NHS Scotland Firecode, Scottish Health Technical Memorandum (SHTM 81) Fire Safety in the design of healthcare premises stipulates that external wall systems, including cladding and insulation, on all hospitals with a total floor area of more than 200m2, should be constructed of products achieving European Classification A1 (non-combustible) or A2 (will not significantly contribute to fire load and fire growth).

In June 2017, following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower in London, the Scottish Government requested information regarding the NHSScotland estate, owned or otherwise, in respect of external cladding systems. Health Facilities Scotland issued an email to all Boards that stated - Provide a list of all buildings within your Board area that have external cladding fitted to the original structure other than concrete, render, brick or blockwork

Two hospitals were identified as having combustible cladding:

• The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow
• The Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh

Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding was subsequently removed from areas of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital as a precautionary measure and replaced with non-combustible cladding and insulation.

The Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh was constructed with sandwich panels that contain insulation treated with fire retardancy. Health Facilities Scotland commissioned Glasgow Caledonian University to carry out an assessment of the cladding including fire engineering computer modelling. The report concluded that the cladding would be very difficult to ignite, the cladding would not continue to burn unless there was an external and sustained heat source, therefore it was considered that the cladding system does not present a hazard in terms of life safety.

Since 2018, the Scottish Government has provided over £6 million to Health Boards to support specialist services for veterans, including the Veterans First Point service. Over £9 million has also been awarded to Combat Stress since 2018 to provide complex clinical mental health care to veterans across Scotland.

In 2022, the Scottish Government provided £20,000 of funding to See Me to develop a bespoke veterans campaign which promoted the importance of mental health services, and challenged stigma around the issue.

Through the Scottish Veterans Fund, we have provided over £450,000 to projects which have made a positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of ex-service personnel and their families. The latest round of funding is for £500,000, and the Fund is open for applications until 5 December 2025. More information is available here .

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of Child Winter Heating Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of Carer's Allowance Supplement have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of Child Disability Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of Adult Disability Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

As the member will be aware, defence is a reserved matter. Scottish Government officials continue to engage closely with colleagues at the Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans to ensure that the needs of veterans living in Scotland are considered fully in all projects.

Work is ongoing by the Scottish Government to develop a Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing Pathway across Scotland. Working with veterans, the third sector and statutory services, the core aim of the pathway is to ensure that all veterans living in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support, including safe, effective and person-centred healthcare.

The intention to launch the Pathway on a phased basis during financial year 2026-2027.

The Scottish Government’s published mental health programme budget for 2025-26 remains as originally published at £270.5 million.

The vast majority of spending on Mental Health continues to be delivered through NHS Board budgets. Between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards, we expect spending on Mental Health to be around £1.5 billion in 2025-26.

With regard to veterans mental health care, we have maintained funding levels for NHS health boards providing bespoke veterans mental health services. Work is ongoing to develop a Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing Pathway across Scotland, with the intention to launch the Pathway on a phased basis during financial year 2026-2027.

Public procurement legislation provides that bidders may be excluded from a tender exercise in some circumstances.

Any decision to exclude a bidder must be evidenced-based and proportionate. It must also consider any evidence which the bidder provides of “self-cleansing” measures it has taken, such as co-operation with investigating authorities, payment of compensation, or appropriate organisational and personnel changes intended to prevent further misconduct.

Decisions about whether to exclude a bidder from any given procurement process must be made on a case-by-case basis, and are for the contracting authority carrying out that process.

The Scottish Government does not hold a record of companies which have been excluded.