Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to working collaboratively with stakeholders across the public, third, and independent sectors to support individuals affected by hearing loss and cognitive decline.

The Scottish Government’s 2023 Dementia Strategy for Scotland was developed in collaboration with people with sensory loss including from the deaf community, and commits to improving people's experience through timely diagnosis, access to high-quality support and how we can communicate risk factors around cognitive decline and dementia. Since 2020, the Scottish Government has invested around £1.5m to:

• Support the establishment of Brain Health Scotland to promote brain health and dementia risk awareness (in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland)
• Develop and evaluate a Brain Health Service & Clinic test site in Aberdeen, to learn about what such a service can contribute to people's health and wellbeing.

As part of our commitments to deliver the national Dementia Strategy, we will publish an independent evaluation of the Brain Health Service & Clinic test site this year, as well as establish a working group across Scottish Government focused on understanding the implications of the test site, and brain health overall, for how we provide health and social care.

Scottish Government is committed to support active farming and food production that is why we continue to deliver direct payments – to provide certainty to the industry, in stark contrast to the policy approaches taken by the current and previous UKG.

We note the results of the Scottish Farm Business Income report which demonstrates the volatility of the sector and reinforces the importance of support to provide much needed stability.

Our £40 million per annum support to suckler beef farmers is committed until at least 2028. This together with key support such as the Basic Payment Scheme, Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme and Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme show our unstinting commitment in ensuring a prosperous future for the sector.

Support for Animal Health and Welfare (AHW) interventions, offering up to £1,250 per farm over two years to assist farmers in reviewing and improving the health and welfare of their cattle and sheep has been provided in recent years. This funding supports interventions that enhance livestock performance and reduce emissions.

The Scottish Government has also been supporting the provision of MyHerdStats to cattle keepers. MyHerdStats is a free online tool to help cattle farmers access key herd performance data, such as calving intervals. Using existing traceability information, it supports better herd management, improves productivity, and contributes to animal welfare and emission reduction goals.

The Scottish Government is supporting the financial sustainability of cereal and milk producers through payments via the Basic Payment Scheme and related support schemes, including nearly £34 million for dairy farmers in 2023–24. We have funded the Scottish Dairy Growth Board and the Dairy Hub, helping boost Scottish cheese exports. Looking ahead, our £4 million investment in the Dairy Nexus project will create a new research centre at SRUC in Dumfries and Galloway to drive innovation, decarbonise the sector, and support a more sustainable dairy economy.

This year we will introduce the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) providing at least £14m in the first year to our farmers and crofter to investment for efficient food production in ways that benefit nature and climate.

The results in the report re-emphasise the importance of continuing to provide support to our key sectors – to provide much needed stability which is poles apart from the bad trade deals being made in a Brexit we did not vote for. This is why we will continue to provide Scotland’s farmers, crofters and land managers with the most generous package of direct support in the UK, investing around £660 million in support to agriculture.

Proposals for funding via the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme are reviewed by a panel of technical experts to assess eligibility and value for money. The fund operates on a competitive basis and funding is offered only to projects that clearly meet the scheme’s objectives and have potential to progress to deployment, driving value for money from our investment.

When assessing value for money the panel consider how projects support key Scottish Government net zero priorities. Prior to receiving funding, projects must demonstrate that they have potential to deliver a significant reduction in energy consumption or meet clean heat objectives, provide savings for public bodies and show that the requested support amount is reasonable for the work being completed. In addition to this assessment process, all funding awarded is subject to public procurement regulations.

While the Scottish Government did award funding for the Edinburgh Crown Office project, it was the decision of the COPFS to take this project forward. The Scottish Government does not routinely publish panel appraisals of applications submitted to the scheme; however, a case study containing lessons learned will be published following completion of the project.

The policy direction is that public bodies should retrofit and maintain existing buildings, rather than building new ones, wherever possible. The options of building new and exploring a private lease were therefore not considered as an alternative to retrofitting the Edinburgh Crown Office. There are challenges with availability of public sector space at the required scale and location, along with constraints on taking out new private sector leases in line with the Scottish Government’s Property Controls Guidance for Public Bodies.

An assessment of different options to reduce emissions at the site concluded that an electric variable refrigerant flow system and air source heat pump, along with building fabric upgrades, was the most suitable solution. This is due to a number of factors including cost, space, electrical infrastructure and the technology being in successful operation at other sites across Edinburgh.

The building is also listed, located in a UNESCO World Heritage Site and owned by the COPFS, within proximity to the Edinburgh Sheriff Court, High Court and the Scottish Parliament. It is the organisation’s headquarters, providing a strategic location from which its staff work to provide essential public services. It is therefore the intention for the building to remain in long-term public ownership which was part of the value for money considerations.

We recognise that staff are NHS Scotland’s greatest asset. We cannot provide the services that people need and deserve, and put in place improvements in performance without highly qualified, skilled and motivated healthcare staff. This pay offer represents an investment that recognises the value we continue to place on our NHS staff.

The £191 million quoted in the press is the estimated cost to NHS Scotland of the increase in national insurance contributions announced by the UK Government in October 2024. The estimated costs of the two year pay offer the Scottish Government recently made to Agenda for Change staff working in NHS Scotland is a £701 million investment.

It is recognised that workforce and pay costs driven by a period of prolonged high inflation are now contributing to significant budget pressures across health and social care, the wider Scottish Government budget and the whole of the public sector. This Government has been clear that the extent of challenges will not be addressed in a single year and we will continue to make the tough choices necessary to support sustainable public finances, whilst also seeking to minimise the impact on frontline services as far as possible.

To continue to provide the vital services that people need, our public bodies need premises located in our communities. Maintaining these buildings to modern standards – including, but not limited to, climate requirements – will mean ongoing investment in the public estate.

The Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme is a demand-led scheme. Project costs will vary on a case-by-case basis depending on the project scale, measures proposed and location of the public sector building. Details of projects that have received funding to date are included in the following reports on the Scottish Government website:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-central-government-energy-efficiency-grant-scheme-form-and-guidance/pages/quarterly-reports/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/central-government-energy-efficiency-grant-scheme-progress-report/

Scheme allocations are not routinely published, however, Ms. Martin wrote to the convener of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on the 28th of February 2025 detailing the 25-26 budget allocation across the Heat in Buildings Schemes, including an allocation for the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund. As many of our schemes, including the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, are demand-led, allocations may change within the financial year.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that finances remain on a sustainable trajectory and that we continue to reach a balanced position each year. The upcoming Medium Term Financial Strategy and Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plans will set out how we will progress work to achieve our financial aims over the next five years.

While the Scottish Government ensure devolved benefits are adequately and sustainably financed to provide meaningful support, we are deeply concerned about the cuts to sickness and disability benefits announced by the Labour Government. These changes will push 250,000 people, including 50,000 children into poverty by 2029-30, and will reduce the funding Scotland receives for devolved disability benefits.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is responsible for monitoring the water quality of Scotland’s rivers and designated bathing beaches and publishes its classification results annually.

87% of Scotland’s entire water environment is currently assessed by SEPA as having a high or good classification for water quality, up from 82% in 2014.

SEPA’s most recent Bathing Waters classification shows that 97% of Scotland’s bathing waters currently achieve the bathing water quality standards with 87% being rated good or excellent, up from 84% in 2023.

Rather than deploying permanent monitoring, which is the common approach for water companies in England, Scottish Water has taken an outcomes focussed approach by carrying out comprehensive Scotland-wide environmental modelling (in partnership with SEPA) to assess the impacts of its assets on water quality during the 2015 to 2021 investment period.

The models which Scottish Water developed allowed it to understand when CSOs will spill, under what rainfall conditions these spills occur and the impact these will have on the environment. This work has allowed Scottish Water and SEPA to prioritise environmental focus and Scottish Water to target its investments accordingly. Adopting this approach has seen consistent improvement in Scotland’s water quality with 87% of all waterbodies meeting Good Status or beyond and 97% of bathing waters meeting or exceeding minimum standards as assessed by SEPA.

In addition to the progress made in improving water quality, Scottish Water recognised the need for more transparency in overflow operation and set out the commitment to install more monitors and to publish the data from these in its Improving Urban Waters routemap.