Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government fully recognises the benefits of hedgerows and trees.

The Scottish Government will consider the advice of the Climate Change Committee before setting out its own proposals for taking necessary actions on climate change.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting our livestock farmers in playing a full part in Scotland’s journey to net zero, including by reducing methane emissions in ways that strengthen farm productivity and resilience. The Scottish Government has no policy to reduce the national herd, our approach focuses on reducing emissions intensity rather than livestock numbers, through improvements in genetics, low-methane breeding, and appropriate uptake of methane-suppressing feed products. We continue to support the sector through a range of schemes including the SSBSS and through reformed direct payments – in stark contrast to the policies of UKG.

We recognise that the meat processing industry is a vital part of the supply chain, and have supported the sector. This has included a Ministerial discount scheme which has been applied to Official Veterinarian charges since 2015, as well as resource funding through the Small Producers Pilot Fund to explore solutions to challenges surrounding abattoirs and small producers’ access to private kill services. The recently published Programme for Government commits to £5 million to support food processing and marketing.

We will continue working with the sector to ensure it thrives as part of a climate-smart food system, while recognising the importance of Scotland’s livestock products to UK and international markets.

The Bank makes commercial investments in businesses or projects in line with the three strategic missions set for it by Scottish Ministers:

• Achieving a Just Transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2045
• Extending equality of opportunity through improving places by 2040
• Harnessing Innovation to enable our people to flourish by 2040

The Bank has operational and administrative independence over its investment decisions, and is represented on the Grangemouth Investment Taskforce.

There are no data gathering or reporting requirements in relation to the number of medicines prescribed off-label, centrally. Health Boards are expected to collect this data as part of their local medicine governance processes.

As required under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011, the Charter must be reviewed at least once every 5 years. The Charter was last published in October 2022 and is scheduled to be reviewed in 2027.

Under the landing obligation all Scottish vessels are required to report all catch.

The number of vessels that have reported squid catch or bycatch in the five years up to 2024 are set out in the following table.

The £60 million play park renewal funding is allocated to local authorities to use across their whole play estate. It is the responsibility of the individual Local Authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them based on local needs and priorities. The Scottish Government recognise that the extent of renewal and refurbishment will be influenced by local plans and investment priorities and engagement with children and young people.

As agreed with COSLA at the start of the funding programme in 2021, Local Authorities report annually on the number of renewals undertaken in their area at the end of April. Local Authorities are not required to list details of each renewal or the names or locations of every play park that has been renewed. However, in accordance with the agreed national principles and as per the reporting template agreed with COSLA, renewal work can include introducing new equipment, replacing existing equipment, extra seating, suitable surfaces, toilet facilities, planting, improved access points and circulation routes, water fountains and other suitable measures to make parks more inclusive, welcoming and enjoyable.

The Scottish Government worked with COSLA on the national principles for the play park renewal programme, which is used to guide Local Authorities’ renewal programme. The national principles set out how Local Authorities should review their existing estate, prioritise renewal work, and design play parks that offer improved play opportunities for children and families. The national principles state that access to play should be as wide-reaching and inclusive as possible, ensuring all children have access to play spaces where they feel safe and comfortable to use them.

In Scottish waters, Loligo forbesi have a spawning period extending from January to May, with the most intensive period from February to March. Loligo vulgaris are a rare sight in Scottish waters, being more commonly found in southern North Sea and the English Channel, and they spawn during December to April (with a peak between December and February).

Sources:

Graham J. Pierce, Peter R. Boyle, Lee C. Hastie, Linda Key (1994) The life history of Loligo forbesi (Cephalopoda: Loliginidae) in Scottish waters. Fisheries Research, 21(1–2,) pp. 17-41, ISSN 0165-7836.

Vladimir Laptikhovsky, A Louise Allcock, Leigh Barnwall, Christopher Barrett, Gavan Cooke, Christian Drerup, Christopher Firmin, Sophie Lozach, Eleanor MacLeod, Daniel Oesterwind, Michael Petroni, Jean-Paul Robin, Edel Sheerin, Anne-Marie Power, Graham J Pierce (2022), Spatial and temporal variability of spawning and nursery grounds of Loligo forbesii and Loligo vulgaris squids in ecoregions of Celtic Seas and Greater North Sea, ICES Journal of Marine Science,79 (6), 1918–1930, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac128.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. This information would therefore need to be requested from the Health Boards. There have been no national tenders since the pandemic, during which time private hospitals supported with cancer treatment. Whilst the Scottish Government works with Health Boards through planning to make best use of existing NHS resources and capacity, it is for Health Boards locally to determine how they use the private sector and to agree any contractual arrangements. The Scottish Government no longer provides direct funding for planned care for private providers.

Health Boards are encouraged to improve waiting times through engaging with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, a national unit designed to sustainably improve and transform Scotland's health care system through innovation, collaboration and clinical leadership.

In total over 16,000 cataract procedures at National Treatment Centres (NTCs) have been allocated to health boards across Scotland in 2025-2026 (44.9% of the total NTC allocation). This is compared to over 13,500 cataract cases allotted to NTCs in 2024-2025 which made up 36.5% of total NTC capacity allocated last year. This activity is split between NTC Highland and the Eye Centre at the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital. Please note that some activity performed by NTC Highland is a re-provision of core activity for NHS Highland.

Health Boards are also delivering additional ophthalmology activity in 2025-26 as part of the £106M funding to reduce waiting times and improve capacity and the wider £21.7bn investment we are making in health and social care services this year.