Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has been working closely with Heath Boards to ensure a wide range of actions are in place to reduce waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). This includes increasing funding over recent years to expand service capacity and provide over 320 additional staff, increasing capacity for cases by over 10,000. We are also continuing to support NHS Boards to redesign their services to improve efficiency and access.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of CAMHS teams across Scotland, we have now met the waiting times standard of Boards seeing 90% of those referred within 18 weeks for over a year and one in two children and young people referred to CAMHS start treatment within 5 weeks. The majority of Health Boards have now eliminated their longest waits of over a year and we are continuing to work with Boards to improve that further.

The Government is also investing in early intervention and community-based supports, such as school counselling and third-sector services, to support children and young people and their families to address mental health issues earlier in order to reduce demand for specialist CAMHS.

Trading standards officers are appointed by local authorities in order to deliver their statutory obligations. Scottish Government does not centrally record workforce data.

Whilst it is up to each local authority to manage its own day-to-day business, including decisions in relation to the delivery of statutory services locally, the Scottish Government has a strategic interest in the effective delivery of trading standards services across Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local government to meet their statutory obligations in relation to trading standards. Scottish Ministers have asked Consumer Scotland to develop recommendations that will inform the Scottish Government’s approach to supporting local authorities to deliver effective, well resourced, services.

The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the Scottish Assessors who are independent of central and local government and are accountable to the courts. Proposals (the first stage of the appeals system) against revaluation can be lodged with the Assessor until 31 July 2026 or four months after the valuation notice has been received, whichever is later. Proposals can then be appealed in given circumstances and timescales to the Scottish Tribunals.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor and consider a range of evidence in relation to the energy sector.

As part of this approach, we commissioned and published in 2023 a package of independent analysis on Scotland’s Energy System and Just Transition. This analysis considers the economic impact of Scotland’s oil and gas industry, including in terms of employment, during the transition to net zero. A partial update of the baseline data underpinning the analysis was published in 2025.

Decisions on licensing, consenting and the associated fiscal regime for offshore oil and gas are all matters currently reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government will continue to support the energy workforce with the powers available to us.

We are continuing to work with NHS Boards, local authorities, COSLA, the third sector and other delivery partners to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children, young people and adults.

For children and young people, this includes continuing our work with COSLA and the Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopment Taskforce to deliver on the actions set out in the implementation review of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People. Additional investment in 2025/26 is funding an ongoing project to supplement health board diagnostic assessment capacity throughout Scotland, particularly for young people approaching transition to adult services.

For adults, we will also ensure we work with partners across Scotland to take forward the proposals from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland’s 4-tier national pathway for neurodevelopmental conditions; ensuring anyone with or without a formal neurodevelopmental diagnosis can access the support they need when and where they need it. A timetable and route map for this work will be published in the first 100 days of this Government.

Information on how much money the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has spent on employment settlement agreements (taken to mean a contract entered into by employer and employee to resolve an employment dispute); associated legal advice; and settlements in relation to employment tribunals (which account for employment dispute costs) in each of the four financial years since 2022-23 can be found at the following link: FOI - Legal Counsel and Settlements | WICS

For financial year 2021-22, there were no employee settlement agreements paid by WICS. Information on costs relating to employment disputes and associated legal advice are not held centrally.

Undertaking river restoration and flood protection activities may require authorisation from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 (EASR). From November 2025, these regulations created a more streamlined and integrated system for environmental authorisations in Scotland.

There are four types of authorisation and which one is required depends on several factors, including the risk to the environment from the proposed activity. For example, some low-risk activities may be carried out without the need to apply to SEPA, provided the associated rules (General Binding Rules) are followed.

SEPA provides guidance on the types of EASR authorisation and for certain activities, like dredging. Early engagement with SEPA is advised to prevent any unnecessary delays to any activities being considered that may impact the water environment.

In addition, the Scottish Government supports Farming and Water Scotland, which provides a range of advice and guidance to helps farmers and land managers understand and comply with relevant regulations.

Local authorities participating in inquiries are required to provide all financial, legal and technical support required to support their participation. No additional funding is provided by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has reformed the consenting process for major electricity infrastructure through the Planning and Infrastructure (Scotland) Act 2025 by replacing the automatic requirement for a public inquiry with a reporter-led examination. This allows procedures such as written submissions, hearings or inquiries to be used only where appropriate, making participation more proportionate, and focussed on key issues relating to the case. By enabling reporters to scope examinations to the issues in dispute, the new approach allows authorities to participate effectively addressing cost and resourcing issues required for full inquiries.

Changes to the automatic Public Local Inquiry trigger for energy consent applications were consulted on by the UK Government in October and November 2024 as part of preparations for the then Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Details of the consultation outcome can be viewed at: Electricity infrastructure consenting in Scotland - GOV.UK. This included engagement with local authorities and opportunities for input from local communities through formal public consultation processes.

The Scottish Government intends to consult later this year on additional measures enabled by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 which are intended to further improve the efficiency of application processing and minimise resourcing challenges for local authorities. The Scottish Government has no plans at present to establish a dedicated funding mechanism to support local authorities.

Scotland’s food system is resilient but faces growing risks from global and domestic shocks. While Scotland benefits from diverse supply chains and strong domestic production, recent events in the Middle East have highlighted vulnerabilities to disruption.

Food resilience is a shared responsibility, and collaboration is essential. The Scottish Government monitors food security, including fertiliser, fuel and food supply, working with industry through our Food Sector Resilience Group to share intelligence, identify risks and support coordinated responses.

These arrangements are underpinned by established resilience structures, including the Scottish Government Resilience Room, which can be adapted to respond to specific disruptions, including those affecting food supply. In addition, we liaise with Local and Regional Resilience Partnerships to plan, prepare for and respond to emergencies in ways that reflect Scotland’s unique geography and supply chain challenges.

As the member will be aware, the Rail Enforcement Powers Working Group published its final report and recommendations on 11 February 2026. This contained an output which recommended that the Scottish Government explore whether primary or secondary legislation can be used to create greater protections for rail workers. Since the report was published, Transport Scotland officials have been conducting a feasibility assessment of each of the Working Group’s recommendations.

As part of this, the feasibility work regarding the proposals for specific legal protections against assaults and abuse towards rail workers has now been widened to include all public transport workers, following the manifesto commitment.

This work will inform any potential future approaches towards implementation.