There are no devolved elements of the UK Government’s delivery plan on ME/CFS. It covers the population of England only.

We are unable to formally endorse the Plan due to differing healthcare systems and statutory structures.

However, the UK Government shared anonymised responses to its public consultation on the draft Plan from stakeholders living in Scotland with the Scottish Government. We are taking these views into account as we progress our ongoing work on ME/CFS.

The 2025-26 Scottish Budget includes an additional £4.5 million to deliver new specialist support across the country for long COVID, ME/CFS and other similar conditions. We want this money to have maximum impact and we are working closely and carefully with health boards across Scotland to allocate it as quickly and effectively as possible.

There are currently no plans to review the funding arrangements for Integration Joint Boards.

SEPA are continuing to provide regulatory oversight with respect to the Petroineos remediation of the oil spill in Glen Fruin. To date SEPA’s costs are in the region of £85K. In line with the polluter pays principle, cost recovery is being actively explored with Petroineos. SEPA expect to be in a position to provide an update once our investigation and the remediation concludes.

In 2025-26 the Scottish Government provided record funding of over £15.1 billion to local authorities, a real terms increase of 5.5%. It is, however, the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available, including on support for bus services, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled its statutory obligations. Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities.

Further information on the local government finance settlements, including allocations for each local authority is published annually on the Scottish Government website. The settlement for 2025-26 can be found at the following link - https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-government-finance-circular-10-2024-settlement-for-2025-to-2026/

The amount of funding local authorities provided for bus in Scotland is detailed in our annually published statistics that can be found at the following link - https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/ea2pp3vv/sts-chapter-02-bus-and-coach-travel-reference-tables-accessible.xls. Table 2.9 provides details of funding to Local Authority bus support, concessionary fares, Network Support Grant from 2004-05 onwards. We do not hold the level of detail required to break this down by local authority area.

Scotland’s valued and highly skilled oil and gas workers must be at the heart of a just energy transition, and the Scottish Government is supporting the workforce with the powers available to us.

In its first two years our Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray has allocated £9.7m to support a package of skills interventions, including development of the Energy Transition Skills Hub in Aberdeen, a pilot scheme with the National Energy Skills Accelerator to determine the skills required for an energy transition and support for the industry-led development of an Energy Skills Passport. More widely, we will invest a further £8.5m of capital funding through the Fund this year, on projects with a focus on jobs, skills and economic opportunities to continue to support our transition in the region.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with the UK Government, has recently launched a new Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund to help support offshore workers transition to roles in sustainable energy sectors.

We have also funded, alongside the UK Government, a targeted Skills intervention for workers facing redundancy as a result of the closure of the Grangemouth refinery. While the scheme is still ongoing, workers are already successfully progressing into good quality jobs, including in low-carbon industries.

In the unfortunate event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will also always offer and provide support through Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE. By providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals are affected by redundancy are out of work.

The Scottish Government is supporting work to encourage young people to develop good financial habits and increase engagement with credit unions. This includes collaboration with partners on initiatives aimed at improving financial education in schools and helping young people access suitable financial products.

Current work focuses on piloting approaches in selected areas to test how best to increase account ownership among school leavers and reduce financial exclusion, with progress being monitored to inform future policy and potential wider rollout.

While not appropriate for most homes, bioenergy, including renewable liquid biofuels, is a low carbon, renewable energy source which may prove the best solution to decarbonising heating in some rural communities. We intend to ensure that sustainable bioenergy and biofuels remain an option for these communities, Heat in Buildings policy takes a technology-neutral approach so that building owners are able to choose the technology which is right for them.

We are currently consulting on proposals for a Heat and Energy Efficiency Technical Suitability Assessment (HEETSA). The consultation will remain open until 29 August 2025. The HEETSA will include a technical suitability assessment methodology that allows for the comparative assessment of different clean heat options in a property and provide information on when the installation of a system would not be suitable.

Since 2008-09 we have published information on Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget and actual spend in our annual out-turn reports, available here: Affordable Housing Supply Programme - More homes - gov.scot. Reasons for variance in spend against budget can include lower activity in some demand-led programmes, project delays or, as seen from 2020-21 onwards, the impact of COVID and related construction supplies and workforce issues. We continue to work closely with partners to utilise our investment to help maximise the pace of delivery of affordable homes.

In 2007-08 Communities Scotland, an executive agency of the Scottish Government was responsible for housing throughout Scotland. Communities Scotland was disbanded on 1 April 2008, when most of its responsibilities transferred to the Scottish Government.

Decisions about the planning and delivery of NHS services, including specialist pain treatments, are the responsibility of individual Health Boards. Boards are expected to consider the available evidence, local population needs and clinical advice when making decisions.

The Scottish Health Technologies Group is currently undertaking an independent review of certain specialist interventions for chronic pain. Their findings, expected on 28 November 2025, will support informed decision-making across NHS Scotland.

On 24 June 2025, Scottish Ministers issued a Minute of Appointment, setting out their instructions to the independent Reporter, about how the appeal in respect of Lomond Banks should proceed.