Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government published the Allied Health Professions (AHP) Education and Workforce Policy Review on 23 February 2023. A link to the report can be found below.

Allied Health Professions - education and workforce policy review: recommendations

An advisory board with representatives from a broad range of partners is overseeing the effective implementation of these recommendations.

The information requested on how much each NHS board has spent on temporary staff engaged through staff banks in each of the last 10 years can be found on the TURAS Public Services Delivery Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Bank and agency tab).

Data held by the Scottish Government on the number of NHS apprenticeships has been provided in the following tables. While this Management Information provides an indication of apprenticeship activity within NHS Scotland, the figures across years should be treated with caution because of the changes in collection method, coverage and definitions. The data records the number of individuals who have been recruited or started on an apprenticeship programme in the reporting year, rather than the total number of apprenticeships delivered.

Data for the total number of apprenticeships recruited is not held by the Scottish Government for 2016-2017 and there is no data for 2019-2020 to 2021-2022, as no annual Staff Governance Monitoring return was undertaken during COVID. Apprenticeship data is not yet available for 2024-25 or 2025-26 but will be collected via NHS Anchors Metrics.

The Scottish Government continue to prioritise delivery of the Promise by 2030.

The Promise Implementation Plan, published in March 2022, set out the Government’s approach to fulfilling these commitments. A comprehensive update on progress was provided in the Implementation Plan Update, published in September 2024, which outlined the actions taken and the ongoing work required.

Progress is being assessed through the Promise Story of Progress, a joint approach co-authored by the Scottish Government, COSLA and The Promise Scotland. The Story of Progress was update and published in December 2025. One component of this is the Promise Progress Framework, which builds on a theory of change to identify the outcomes for care-experienced children, young people and families that need to improve by 2030, alongside national-level data to help understand where change is happening.

At the end of the last parliamentary session, a significant package of legislative change through the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act was unanimously approved in Parliament.

The Act will help improve the lives of people across Scotland with care experience, as well as those who care for them. This legislation represents a significant step forward in delivering our commitment to The Promise by 2030, by placing the needs and rights of care-experienced children and young people at the centre of the care system, and responding directly to what people with care experience have said they need to thrive.

The Scottish Government has invested over £70 million in public EV charging since 2011, as a direct result of this funding and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has over 12,700 public chargers, including over 3,200 rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers.

There are already 221 rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers in 54 locations along the route of the A9 with a further 104 that are known to be in development across 12 locations.

The Scottish Government’s £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund has supported all of Scotland’s local authorities to develop local EV Infrastructure Strategy and Expansion Plans identifying local infrastructure requirements. The HITRANS Strategy and Expansion Plan is available on their website.

Advancing human rights is central to every mission of Government. This ambition will underpin our work to deliver prosperity, fairness and security for the people of Scotland.

Since 2020, the Scottish Government has made a sustained and significant financial commitment to keeping The Promise, with investment delivered annually through the Children and Families Directorate and across wider portfolios.

Keeping the Promise is not funded through a single programme. It is a whole-system commitment, with investment spanning multiple directorates and public services, including social work, education, health, housing and justice, alongside local government funding. The Scottish Government does not assign a single fixed annual cost to keeping The Promise, reflecting its scope as a cross-government, system-wide reform programme. Key investments include support for The Promise Scotland, the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF), and measures such as the Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster and kinship carers. These are designed to transform how families are supported, with a focus on early intervention and prevention.

The Whole Family Wellbeing Funding is central to this approach. Between 2022 and March 2026, over £154.5 million has been invested to transform family support. This includes multi-year funding for Children’s Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs), which deliver support locally. We will continue to invest £50m in 2026-27 in a programme of work aimed at transforming family support services, by strengthening holistic and preventative approaches that improve family wellbeing. This includes funding for CSPPs which has increased from £32 million to £38.1 million in 2025–26 and 2026–27 to strengthen locally-led provision.

Progress is also supported by legislative change through the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act, with a Financial Memorandum published in February 2026 setting out indicative costs at introduction. These estimates will continue to be refined as implementation progresses.

The Scottish Government continues to work with partners, including COSLA, to ensure delivery is aligned with available resources while maintaining the long-term commitment to keep The Promise by 2030.

I have asked Linda Pollock, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

HMP Castle Huntly accommodates adult males serving short and long-term sentences who are assessed as suitable for less secure conditions and testing in the community.

Based on design capacity, the table below shows the average daily population and the percentage occupancy rates. It should be noted that the design capacity for HMP Castle Huntly was reduced from 284 to 184 in May 2025 in order to realise single cell accommodation for individuals who are preparing to return to their communities.

The Scottish Government respects the Court’s judgement of 3 June and will consider its implications in detail.

It should be noted that the material required to be released under the Commissioner’s Decision Notice was published on 24 February. The release consisted of over 700 documents, totalling over 4500 pages and can be accessed on the Scottish Government website.

There were a number of challenges which were specific to the context of this case. Ministers have previously set out to Parliament the requirement to balance our obligations under Freedom of Information legislation with the need to prevent identification of alleged victims in cases of sexual assault.

Ministers do not believe that the challenges experienced in this particular case are indicative of wider issues in the Scottish Government’s ability to meet its FOISA obligations within required timescales. As the Scottish Information Commissioner has recognised, the Scottish Government is a high performing authority in relation to the discharge of its FOI obligations generally. We will consider whether there are specific lessons that can be learned from this case, and from the detail of the Court’s judgement.

The Scottish Government has invested over £70 million in public EV charging since 2011, as a direct result of this funding and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has over 12,700 public charge points, including over 3,200 rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers.

The private sector has invested over £100 million in public EV charging infrastructure in Scotland over the last three years, predominantly in new rapid and ultra-rapid EV charging.

In April 2026, the Scottish Government introduced a 10 year relief from non-domestic rates for properties wholly or mainly used for EV charging to support continued private sector investment across Scotland, including Scotland’s trunk road network.

The Scottish Government also continues to support the expansion of public EV charging through its £10 million Rural and Island Infrastructure Fund and its £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund, which has supported all of Scotland’s local authorities to develop local EV Infrastructure Strategy and Expansion Plans.