Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government intend to deliver four further new major vessels, in addition to the two already deployed. These six major vessels in total along with the seven new small vessels will mean that this government has invested to renew over a third of CalMac’s entire fleet.

To improve services in the short term we have also extended the charter of MV Alfred to the end of the summer timetable.

Scottish Ministers are clear that island communities must have a strong and meaningful voice in the governance of Scotland’s ferry services. They have taken active steps to support this, including through representation on the boards of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) and CalMac Ferries Ltd. As a result, there are currently two island residents serving on the Board of CalMac Ferries Ltd.

Ministers will continue to use the public appointments process to actively encourage applications from individuals with lived experience of island communities, while ensuring that all appointments are made on merit and that boards have the skills required to deliver high-quality ferry services.

Work is ongoing with CMAL and CalMac Ferries Ltd to promote board opportunities within island communities and to support applications from individuals with direct experience of island life. Future appointment rounds, including the forthcoming CMAL campaign, will provide further opportunities to strengthen island representation on these boards.

Data on vacancy rates for medical and dental consultants, nursing and midwifery, and allied health professionals are collected quarterly and made publicly available through Turas Data Intelligence on the Official workforce statistics website - NHS Scotland Workforce Data. Data on vacancy rates for other groups are not held centrally.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing support to the City of Glasgow to complete the refurbishment of the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens to see them reopened to the public. We are currently awaiting an update regarding the restoration project which will inform a decision on what support is needed, as well as a revised timescales for reopening.

Since the demand-led Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund was announced in April 2023, of the 43 homes approved 30 homes have been reported as completed through the scheme.

As required by section 111 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, Scottish Ministers will undertake a review of the operation of the Act, which will include reviewing the operation of the provisions that abolished the not proven verdict and changed the jury majority required for conviction. That is separate to the Jury Deliberation Research.

Since the fund's launch in April 2023 to 21 May 2026, a total of £4.489 million has been spent through the Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund. The Fund is demand-led, with expenditure dependent on project progress and delivery milestones. 

The Scottish Government continues to work with local authorities to encourage further applications and ensure the fund is used effectively to meet local housing needs for key workers. The fund is in addition to our core Affordable Housing Supply Programme and our demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund. From April 2016 to March 2025 through all these funding routes we have supported delivery of more than 13,000 affordable homes in rural and island areas many of which will have provided homes for key workers.

The Scottish Bracken Working Group will next meet on the 22 June 2026. The frequency of the meetings varies; it is dependent on the actions being pursued and the need for input from the group as well as availability of members.

Minutes from the Scottish Bracken Working Group meetings are available at the following link: Bracken: Scottish Working Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

We welcome the fact that in Scotland we have tough legislation in place to deal with livestock worrying. The Scottish Government supported Emma Harper’s member’s bill when it was introduced, to provide Police Scotland and the courts with greater powers to deal with those who allow their dogs to worry, attack, or kill livestock in Scotland’s countryside. Under this law owners of dogs that attack or worry livestock can be fined up to £40,000 or face a prison sentence of up to 12 months.

Please find the following tables with information about the highest fine (table 1) and custodial sentence imposed (table 2) in each of the last two years under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Scotland) Act 1953 or the amendment, and how many people received these. This information has been extracted from the management information data used to prepare the Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Criminal Disposals Dashboard

Table 1: The highest fine imposed each year and number of accused who received it.

The Scottish Government has pursued two approaches to assess Scottish bracken area since the HSE decision not to authorise the emergency use of Asulox in 2023. The first was to commission the creation of a Scottish bracken map to provide a baseline from which future changes in coverage can be assessed. The second was to conduct a survey of upland hill farmers, gathering information on current bracken coverage and impact, change over time and treatment. Both outputs are due to be published in summer 2026.