Chamber and committees

This year NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is being supported with an initial resource budget of £3,123.5 million, along with capital allocations of £41.26 million for maintaining the NHS estate and replacing and upgrading equipment.

Boards are expected to make the best use of these resources, to ensure that patients continue to receive a high standard of care.

In addition, we are supportive of NHS GG&C developing a design for the façade of Inverclyde Royal Hospital and Scottish Government will make a decision on funding when a design is complete and full costs are known.

We are currently working with all NHS Health Boards to develop a whole system NHS infrastructure plan to inform long-term investment priorities across Scotland – this includes NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The review of the carbon levy commenced in summer 2025. The review is being led by the Scottish Governments Travel Management Team in consultation with Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate, Directorate for People and the Office of the Chief Economic Advisor. External stakeholders include CTM North Ltd and Enterprise Rent-a-Car ltd.

The levy is a corporate policy which applies to travel undertaken by core Scottish Government staff. If the recommendations of the review are taken forward, they will be published internally. No external publication is planned.

The following table shows how many drug- related and alcohol-related hospital stays were recorded in Inverclyde in each of the last five years.

Number of drug-related and alcohol-related hospital stays, Inverclyde

As of 8 December 2025, the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund has received 818 applications since its launch in July 2025.

We continue to support the revitalisation of town centres through the Town Centre First Principle and delivery of the Town Centre Action Plan. National Planning Framework 4 further embeds this approach by recognising town centres as national assets, and promotes the reuse of empty buildings and town centre living to boost local economic activity.

We also support town centre regeneration through our regeneration capital investment programmes, as well as our support for Scotland’s Towns Partnership, Business Improvement Districts and the Scotland Loves Local programme.

Since 2014 Inverclyde Council has received over £13m regeneration capital investment from the Scottish Government, which has supported the transformation of empty properties into commercial, residential and enterprising activity. Examples include enhancement work in Port Glasgow’s Lower Town Quarter and improvements to Customhouse Square in Greenock.

We are also supporting local authorities to address vacant retail spaces in our high streets and town centres through a range of measures, using the levers available to us. This includes our competitive non-domestic rates regime, and supporting the re-use or repurposing of vacant units through the Fresh Start Relief and Business Growth Accelerator Relief.

Economic growth is a priority for this Government. We will continue supporting businesses through transformative national initiatives like the Scottish National Investment Bank and Techscaler.

We are committed to helping Inverclyde’s economy to thrive. Through the Glasgow City Region Deal, we have committed over £18m to projects in Inverclyde, including Inchgreen Marine Park, which aims to host new business and employment opportunities in the area.

Inverclyde has also benefited from significant investment over and above the City Deal, notably through Regeneration projects – the Place Based Investment Programme, the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme, the Investing in Communities Fund and the Town Centre Fund.

Scottish Enterprise maintains close relationships with major employers already in Inverclyde through their account management service. This helps retain and grow jobs locally and offers spillover benefits to the regional and national economy through increased supply chain engagement.

The Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund (TTF) was launched by the Scottish and UK Governments in July 2025. Financial year 2025-26 represents a pilot phase for the TTF.

In September, the Scottish Government confirmed further funding of up to £450,000 to process additional applications during the pilot phase.

As of 8 December, all applications on the waitlist are being processed and Skills Development Scotland are contacting further prospective applicants who have already registered their interest to invite them to proceed with an application. The TTF is not open to entirely new applications at this stage.

We expect the TTF to open again for entirely new applications early in the next financial year. The Scottish Government, in partnership with the UK Government, has also announced joint funding of up to £18 million to extend and expand the TTF over the next three financial years (2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29), subject to the outcome of the Scottish Budget and Spending Review.

The Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund (TTF) was launched by the Scottish and UK Governments in July 2025. Financial year 2025-26 represents a pilot phase for the TTF. The pilot phase has been supported by up to £1.35 million of combined funding from the UK and Scottish Governments. As of 8 December, Skills Development Scotland are continuing to process applications and have approved approximately £750,000 of training for successful applicants.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with the UK Government, has also announced future joint funding of up to £18 million (on a match funding basis between the two governments) to extend and expand the TTF over the next three financial years (2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29), subject to the outcome of the Scottish Budget and Spending Review.

This year we have increased the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) budget to £1.64 billion, an increase of £90 million compared to the published 2024-25 budget, to support police capacity and capability. It is for the Chief Constable, under the scrutiny of the SPA, to allocate resources to meet her priorities, as outlined in the Police Scotland three year plan.

The Scottish Government is working closely with the SPA and Police Scotland to understand their 2026-27 budget requirements. The 2026-27 Scottish Budget will be published on 13 January 2026.

Decisions on the deployment of police officers are a matter for the Chief Constable. As of 30 September 2025, K Division, which covers Renfrewshire and Inverclyde had 618 officers. This is 18 more than the previous quarter, and 17 more than the same point last year. A summary of the relevant statistics is shown in the following table.