Chamber and committees

Fees will be reviewed as part of a wider review of court fees within this Parliamentary term.

Responsibility for service delivery rests with NHS boards which configure services based on local circumstances and the needs of their populations.

While awaiting specialist assessment, patients may receive ongoing support within secondary care, including investigation and management of symptoms where clinically indicated.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards to provide high-quality, safe and effective person-centred care and support for everyone, including people with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).

Alongside the increased waiting-times investment of £17.6bn to territorial health boards for 2026/27, we have provided £4.5 million in recurring funding to strengthen services for long COVID and ME/CFS, conditions often linked with PoTS.

The Scottish Government does not hold funding information for Walking Scotland (formerly Paths for All) on a monthly basis, as funding is awarded and managed on an annual programme basis. The following table sets out the Transport Scotland programmes and annual funding allocations by financial year:

The regulation of public EV charging is a matter reserved to the UK Government.

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 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, and 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 the A9.

Part one of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 requires local authorities and National Park Authorities (“access authorities”) to take the lead role in delivery of non-motorised outdoor access, and in relation to core paths. Access authorities have a range of duties and powers to publicise, maintain, and keep core paths free from obstruction.

We have committed to explore with the Ordnance Survey the potential for core paths to be recognised in their mapping; and to work with the Scottish Outdoor Recreation Alliance and others to develop a Scottish Paths Fund; as well as to produce new guidance for access authorities on how to fulfil their responsibilities. Scoping of these commitments is currently under way.

We are continuing to deliver Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls (VAWG), through a comprehensive and coordinated approach across prevention, protection and justice.

A new Equally Safe Delivery Plan will be published later this year, setting out the next steps for the Scottish Government and our partners to tackle VAWG. The new Delivery Plan will remain aligned with Equally Safe’s core priorities, including taking a public health approach to prevention, strengthening the capacity and capability of services to prevent harm, ensuring sustained and improved support for victim-survivors - alongside future funding for VAWG services - and delivering effective, trauma-informed justice responses. This includes progressing key justice measures, such as the development of misogyny legislation, to strengthen protections and improve outcomes for victims.

The Delivery Plan will be informed by the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and the recommendations of the 2025 UK GREVIO baseline evaluation report, which provides a coherent framework for action. We will continue to work closely with operational partners and our stakeholders to translate these recommendations into meaningful, system-wide change for women and girls across Scotland.

While the subject matter of the Equality Act 2010 is reserved to the UK Government, we are undertaking a detailed analysis of the Code to fully understand its implications and to ensure our approach remains aligned with the law.

Responsibility for interpreting and complying with the Act remains with service providers and those providing a public function, with the Equality and Human Rights Commission continuing its role as regulator and enforcer.

Scottish public bodies are therefore expected to consider the Code carefully and to undertake their own assessment of its impact on their policies, services and functions, and to take all necessary steps to ensure compliance with their legal obligations.

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges facing graduates from changes in technology. Our 2026-27 Budget invests over £2.4bn in post school education and skills and reinforces our steadfast commitment to free education. The Scottish Government seeks to ensure Scotland has a strong, responsive skills system, as this is key to Scotland’s future.

Our investments in apprenticeships, careers support, Developing the Young Workforce and adult learning will strengthen pathways into and through employment. This budget supports learners to progress into and through work, helping address poverty and cost of living pressures.

This support is reflected in the statistics for positive destinations for graduates with 89% of 2023-24 UK graduates from Scottish universities in work or further study 15 months after graduation and 85.4% of 2023-24 College qualifiers went on to work or further study.

We want this close alignment with the skills employers to continue. The Scottish Government has introduced a new skills planning model, being developed with partners, to ensure the post-school education and skills system is more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills priorities. Digital has been identified as an early area of focus within this model, reflecting current and emerging skills needs and its alignment with national policy priorities.

In parallel Scotland’s AI Strategy published in 2026, sets out the Scottish Government’s five-year plan to harness the potential of AI to drive responsible and inclusive growth across our economy and make a positive difference at every level of society. In the Strategy’s first year, the Scottish Government will establish a Future Jobs panel to assess AI’s impact on workforce and to help guide national skills planning.

The Scottish Government has a long established relationship with Petroineos, and our engagement has centred on progressing transition options for the asset and site, in particular following the onset of Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions which further intensified challenges associated with the refinery’s operational efficiency and commercial performance. These challenges were explained publicly by the refinery’s owner in the lead up to and following its closure. This engagement has resulted in a number of Scottish Government co-funded feasibility studies from 2021 onwards, culminating in the Project Willow study.

It is regrettable that, with the exception of the Project Willow study, the UK Government did not come to the table alongside the Scottish Government and the company to consider transition options for the asset in the years leading up to its closure.

The closure of the Grangemouth refinery is a matter of deep regret for the Scottish Government, despite Labour promising during the 2024 General Election campaign to save it from closure. I am also disappointed that, to date, not a penny of the National Wealth Fund’s £200 million Grangemouth allocation has been spent despite numerous pleas from this Government to do so.

PSD(Scotland) has been commissioned by Scottish Government to deliver a Managed Service contract for GP IT Reprovisioning.