Chamber and committees

We are working at pace to develop the systems needed to effectively mitigate the two-child cap in 2026. We recently carried out an online consultation to inform policy development and are engaging with the Department for Work and Pensions to develop the necessary systems and data sharing arrangements needed to deliver the payments effectively. Impact assessments will be published in due course to inform Parliament’s consideration of the required legislation.

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. We will continue to take forward our strategy for doing this, which will be updated in the next Medium Term Financial Strategy due to be published later this year, alongside the fiscal sustainability delivery plan.

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.

No one should have to compromise on food or other essentials. Food insecurity is driven by insufficient and insecure household income

State Pensions remain reserved to the UK Government, and it is crucial that they remain committed to retaining the Triple Lock, in its current form, to ensure that basic State Pensions keeps up with the cost of living and allows pensioners to live with dignity.

The Scottish Government knows that the cost-of-living crisis hits pensioners hard and that women, especially those who are divorced or single parents, people from BAME backgrounds, disabled people and carers are at greater risk of hardship during their retirement. The UK Government must take responsibility for this inequality, and do more to encourage people to take up benefits they are entitled to including Pension Credit which continues to have one of the lowest take-up rates of all UK benefits.

Our “Cash-First: Towards Ending the Need for Food Banks in Scotland” Plan sets out the nine actions we are taking to achieve our ambition to improve the response to financial hardship and to reduce the need for emergency food parcels. The actions include the Cash-First Programme, which provides ready access to emergency income when someone had no money for food delivered alongside welfare rights and income maximisation advice and support to prevent future hardship. This Cash-First approach enables people to choose the essentials they need whilst maintaining dignity.

For anyone struggling financially, support is available through a number of resources. This includes the Scottish Welfare Fund, which is administered by local authorities, and provides assistance to help meet people’s emergency and immediate short-term needs. The Scottish Government’s cost of living website also provides information on support available.

The Scottish Government will allocate at least £15 million in 2025-26, for the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice. This includes expanding provision of advice within services that people already go to, such as community centres and hospitals, in order to increase the accessibility and awareness of advice.

Between April 2024-September 2024, investment from the Equalities and Human Rights Fund resulted in a total of 16,087 individuals helped directly with the provision of support, information and advice, with the Age Scotland Helpline providing £1,184,367 of income maximisation with a further 1,039 organisations have also been supported via capacity building and information sharing.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency monitors 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 assessed by SEPA as having a high or good classification for water quality, up from 82% in 2014, and for rivers the figure is 85%.

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.

Scotland is renowned worldwide for the quality of our rivers, lochs and seas, supporting our tourism economy with our natural environment attracting millions of visitors every year with a total of 109 million tourism visits to Scotland in 2023.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water has already published this data at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Your-Waste-Water/Overflows/Live-Overflow-Map.

Currently, data from around 1,100 overflow monitor locations is included on the overflow map. As additional monitors are installed and data from these is checked, more monitor locations are added to the overflow map.

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.

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.

Full details of the Bank’s investment portfolio can be found on its website, including the level of investment committed by the Bank.

Our investment portfolio supports businesses, projects and communities that align with our missions | Scottish National Investment Bank.

The Bank also publishes its Annual Report and Accounts detailing financial performance and financial statements, and an annual Impact Report which illustrates the Bank’s progress against its three missions. The Bank’s investments are made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a commercial return.

Our key publications feature insights reports and blogs relating to out core missions | Scottish National Investment Bank.

The Scottish Government estate is under review to allow us to plan for affordable, inclusive, accessible, modern, secure, energy efficient buildings of the right size to meet our changing needs and net zero ambitions, as well as to ensure best value for taxpayers’ money.

The Scottish Government is aware of concerns that have been raised on this important matter. We ran a consultation between December 2024 and February 2025, to seek views on how best to further regulate non-surgical cosmetics procedures. Over 2200 responses were received which the Scottish Government is carefully analysing.

We have also already engaged with, and will continue to engage with, a range of stakeholders including healthcare professionals as we consider the evidence gathered to date.

Our proposals aim to be both robust and proportionate, protecting the public and our precious NHS whilst supporting reputable business to operate safely.

We will publish the analysis and announce next steps which I have committed to doing before the Scottish Parliament’s summer recess in late June.