Chamber and committees

Section 67 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 amended the Contempt of Court Act 1981 to allow for more detailed research into jury deliberations, where research has been approved by the Lord Justice General. During Stage 3, the former Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs committed to commission research into jury deliberations as a priority, highlighting the need to better understand the impact of rape myths on jurors’ decision making. The 2025 Act introduced landmark changes to the justice system and there are no current plans to introduce anything further.

The Scottish Government has supported the development of Men’s Sheds across Scotland for over a decade, recognising their important role in improving health, wellbeing and social connection. We have invested more than £1 million in the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) to support the growth and sustainability of the movement, which has helped expand the network from a small number of Sheds to over 200 groups across all 32 local authority areas, with new Sheds continuing to form.

As part of this overall investment, the SMSA received £72,264 from the Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund to support the development of Sheds in the Highland area.

The SMSA provides guidance, and advice on all governance and infrastructure matters to both new and existing Sheds. The SMSA also helps Sheds secure appropriate insurance, health and safety compliance, develop sustainable funding models, and access training, resources and peer support networks. In addition, it offers practical assistance to allow Sheds to operate effectively and remain viable over time.

Individual Sheds are however responsible for securing their own funding and, collectively, have received £452,819 through the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults in the first four years of the Fund.

The Scottish Government has confirmed funding of £75,000 for financial year 2026-27 to the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association in Scotland.

The 2025-26 budget and Programme for Government set out current infrastructure investment commitments for acute sites, and this was reconfirmed in the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline published on 13 January.

The financial position is expected to remain challenging and to ensure that available capital funding can be directed to best effect, we are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan for Scotland. This will support continued safe and effective use of existing facilities as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate to support service continuity. Boards have already completed their risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government.

The second phase is focussed on the longer-term development of the estate to meet national, regional and local needs. All health boards have been asked to undertake strategic needs assessments for three local investment priorities. Returns will then be considered on a whole of Scotland basis.

This approach aligns with the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework, which was published in June. You may also find DL(2025) 15 helpful, which provides further information on NHS whole system infrastructure planning (DL 2025-15).

In addition, NHS Boards have full delegated authority to allocate funding from within their annual capital allocation budget towards maintenance, equipment and other items of capital outlay. Any requests for capital funding outwith their annual capital allocation must follow the governance process and be approved by the appropriate Scottish Government official as outlined in the Annex to DL (2025) 15.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the lease arrangements for Shettleston Police Station.

The management of the Police Scotland estate is an operational matter, and is the responsibility of the Chief Constable under the scrutiny of the Scottish Police Authority.

The 2026-27 Scottish Police Authority budget is over £1.7 billion. This includes £86.3 million capital budget, an uplift of £16.3 million compared to the published 2025-26 Autumn Budget Revision budget, which will ensure that Police Scotland can continue to invest in essential infrastructure and to deliver its Estates Masterplan.

The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan makes clear that the Acorn Project is essential to meeting Scotland’s emissions targets, while our Green Industrial Strategy highlights the significant economic benefits CCUS can deliver for Scotland, particularly in the North East.

The UK Government pledged close to £22 billion for the HyNet and East Coast Cluster projects in 2024, last month the East Coast Cluster confirmed it has already awarded £1.5 billion to UK supply chain firms. This is the type of economic boost that Scotland should be experiencing, but the UK Government has yet to provide a timeline for the £200 million development support for the Acorn Project that was announced last year.

The failure by successive UK Governments to provide a full funding package for the Acorn project is risking emissions reductions and denying the North East the job creation and economic benefits that would be realised if Acorn were funded comparatively with the East Coast Cluster and HyNet Cluster projects.

It will be the defining mission of this Scottish Government to support families with the cost of living and eradicate child poverty.

Our third Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’ was published on 12 March and sets out a robust and enduring framework that will enable further progress against Scotland’s 2030 child poverty targets.

The Plan commits concrete action to drive continued progress. This includes investing £40 million in 2026-27 to deliver new support with transport and skills for families, increasing our Scottish Child Payment to £40 for families with a child under 1 during 2027-28, and investing to deliver a national breakfast club offer for primary school aged children with provision in all primary and special schools by August 2027.

Building on the actions we have taken to date, measures within the delivery plan are estimated to keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year.

We have committed to go even further to help people keep more money in their pockets and tackle child poverty. This includes introducing legal price caps on a range of essential food in big supermarkets, expanding support for childcare to all children from nine-months to the end of primary school, and introducing a £2 nationwide cap on bus fares to lower people’s travel costs.

Local authorities hold statutory responsibility for managing and maintaining their school estate, and we expect them to provide safe environments for all school users.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of schools with panic alarm or emergency alert systems centrally. Local authorities may hold this information.

Local authorities hold statutory responsibility for managing and maintaining their school estate, and have guidance and procedures in place to ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of children and young people.

In June 2025 the Scottish Government published guidance on risk assessments for violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviour. This supports schools to manage situations where there is considered to be a foreseeable risk of harm occurring or a pattern of behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause harm to self or others. Evidence-based risk assessments support the understanding of the behaviour and inform planning of appropriate control measures and mitigations. Decisions on specific risk-mitigation measures are matters for individual schools.

As the recruitment and deployment of police officers are matters for the Chief Constable, it for her to determine the minimum establishment number of police officers. The Chief Constable has indicated that the current establishment model is based around 16,500 police officers.

The Scottish Government is investing a record funding of over £1.7 billion in policing in 2026-27, a total increase of £81.5 million compared to the 2025-26 budget. The Chief Constable has confirmed that this allows her to maintain the establishment figure of around 16,500 police officers.