£1,116.7m was allocated to General Medical Services in Scotland for the financial year 2025-26, an increase of 7.1% on the previous year.

We will continue to focus on reform and improvement of the performance of our services by deploying existing resources more efficiently and effectively and working to identify funding to support actions that deliver against our reform vision. This will include measures to improve population health, to intervene earlier with preventative measures delivered through effective primary and community care services and making changes to how we deliver services that will improve quality and access.

The First Minister has committed to a greater proportion of new NHS funding going to primary and community care so that GPs and services in the community will have the resources they need for their essential role in our health system. This increased investment will result in GP services that are easier for people to access.

We will continue to invest in, strengthen and improve the performance of our NHS. The 2025-26 budget supports the expansion of primary care, including new core funding to General Medical Services to deliver enhanced frailty, cardiovascular disease and other essential services in General Practice.

There are robust measures in place in Scotland to help all social and private sector tenants in rent arrears, including those with children, to sustain their tenancy. Pre-action requirements/protocols for tenants facing eviction for rent arrears are in place in both the social and private rented sectors. This ensures that social landlords have exhausted all attempts to resolve rent arrears with the tenant before taking action to evict and that tenants in rent arrears in the private rented sector are provided with information and sign-posted to support to sustain their tenancy wherever possible.

Tenancy sustainment is also a key outcome which social landlords must aim to achieve for their tenants and other customers as part of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. This includes tenants who may be in, or at risk of falling into, arrears with their rent and who may need support to maintain their tenancy. The Scottish Housing Regulator monitors social landlord performance against the standards and outcomes in the Social Housing Charter on an annual basis to help drive up performance.

We have strengthened the protection against eviction for tenants in the private rented sector. In line with the social rented sector, all grounds for eviction are now discretionary. This enables the First-tier Tribunal to consider the specific circumstances of each individual case, including how an eviction order would affect both the tenant and the landlord, before making a decision on whether an eviction order should be issued.

We have also committed to further rented sector reform and the Housing (Scotland) Bill 2024 includes provisions to further strengthen eviction protections in both the private and social rented sectors by placing a duty on the Court and Tribunal to always consider whether there should be a delay to the enforcement of an eviction order granted on rent arrears grounds based on the circumstances of the individual case.

The Scottish Government recognises the disruption a homeless household can experience when placed in temporary accommodation and is aware of the issues that can arise if accommodation is located too far from the household’s employment, education and support services.

The Unsuitable Accommodation Order states that accommodation is unsuitable if it is not in the locality of facilities and services for the purposes of education which are being used, or might reasonably be expected to be used, by members of the household. The exception to this is if those facilities are reasonably accessible from the accommodation, taking into account the distance of travel by public transport or transport provided by a local authority.

It can be challenging for local authorities to place homeless households close to existing family and social networks due to the location of available properties and the high demand in particular areas. The risk assessment conducted as part of the housing support service and allocation process informs the offers of accommodation made. While it is preferable for households to continue to access the same facilities as they have previously, this is not always possible. The Scottish Government’s code of guidance on homelessness makes clear that it is acceptable for local authorities to offer households access to similar facilities.

A new temporary accommodation standards framework, which built on the 2019 advisory standards, was published by the Scottish Government in 2023. Local authorities and social landlords are expected to work towards meeting the framework before it becomes legally enforceable. The framework requires accommodation to be in a location that allows access to school either by foot, by public transport or by transport provided.

There have been 35 public bodies established since 2013 which are included below. Further information on their core functions is publicly available on the National Public Bodies Directory: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/.

Local authorities must ensure that school meals, free or paid for, meet the nutrient standards set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. The nutrient standards are based on scientific evidence and dietary advice and designed to ensure that children and young people are provided with meals that contain an appropriate amount of energy and key nutrients to support their healthy growth and development. Operational decisions such as what food and drink to include on menus and what portion sizes should be provided are a matter for local authorities. The statutory Healthy Eating in Schools guidance contains practical advice on portion sizes recognising that needs are likely to be different across the school age ranges and notes that local policies should be in place to address that.

Table 1 presents the estimated gross cost of setting the Higher Property Rate equal to the Standard Multiplier in England, from 2016-2017 until 2020-2021.

The Higher Property Rate in Scotland was 1.3p higher than the Standard Multiplier in England from 2016-2017 until 2018-2019, and 1.2p higher in 2019-2020 and
2021-2022. The Higher Property Rate and the Standard Multiplier in each year are shown in Table 2.

Figures for years from 2021-2022 until 2025-2026 are available in answers to questions S6W-25972 on 18 March 2024, S6W-25588 on 1 March 2024 and
S6W-32778 on 7 January 2025.

In 2016-2017, the threshold for the Standard Multiplier was £18,000, while the threshold for the Higher Property Rate was £51,000. Both thresholds were set to £51,000 from 2017-2018 until 2019-2020. From 2020-2021, the threshold for the Higher Property Rate was increased to £95,000, while the threshold for the Standard Multiplier remained at £51,000.

All figures are gross estimates, and are not adjusted for any relief. Figures are broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

This table is based on the valuation roll as at 1 October 2016, 1 October 2017, 1 October 2018, 1 October 2019, and 1 October 2020.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated gross cost of reducing the Higher Property Rate to the level of the English Standard Multiplier (£), broken down by property class

The Scottish Ministers keep the law that sits within the powers of the Scottish Parliament under review to ensure it is fit for purpose.

The Scottish Law Commission’s aspects of family law project is focusing on a review of the civil remedies available for domestic abuse as part of the 11th Programme of Law Reform. We will consider the outcomes of this work when the Commission’s report is published.

In terms of safe accommodation, local authorities have the legal duty to provide advice and assistance to people who are at risk of homelessness or experiencing homelessness. This includes providing temporary accommodation in the short term if someone has nowhere safe to stay, and permanent accommodation if someone is found unintentionally homeless. Therefore, anyone at risk of homelessness following court proceedings should contact their local authority. They are best placed to provide advice on the housing options available and what further support they can offer.

NHS Boards are separate entities with their own local governance and performance management arrangements in place, in line with national guidance, such as the ‘NHS Scotland Blueprint for Good Governance.’ This can be accessed at: www.gov.scot/publications/blueprint-good-governance-nhs-scotland-second-edition/.

There is also an ongoing cycle of routine engagement, scrutiny and support between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards. This helps ensure the latter are delivering on local and national priorities, and are being held to account for the significant public investment in the NHS. This evidence-based approach to monitoring performance and managing risk across the NHS in Scotland is underpinned by the ‘NHS Scotland Support and Intervention Framework’, which consists of five stages in a ladder of escalation that provides a model for support and intervention by the Scottish Government. NHS Boards can be escalated on the Framework as a result of significant and persistent performance issues; informing further scrutiny, support and intervention, as required. Further details can be accessed at: www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-support-and-intervention-framework/.

The information requested is not held or collected centrally by Scottish Government. However, Police Scotland may be able to provide some data obtained from their National Missing Persons Application which was introduced in April 2019.

The Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) requires that all land or property not needed are declared as surplus and should be disposed of as quickly as possible. The SPFM sets out a number of ways disposals can achieve best value for money and wider public benefit.

As recent examples, Scottish Government officials discussed Knocknagael Farm, Inverness with Highland Council. As part of the local development plan, some land at the farm was zoned for housing which was sold to Knocknagael Ltd via community asset transfer.

Dumfries and Galloway Council is updating its local development plan and have issued a call for sites. Scottish Government officials submitted an application in March 2025 and have suggested that land at Crichton Farm, Dumfries could be zoned for residential development or economic development.