Chamber and committees

Tax code matters such as allowances and reliefs are reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government has no plans currently to change the number of Income Tax bands

Projections for social security costs in the coming years are established in the recently published Medium-Term Financial Strategy. Our approach to taxation is established in the Tax Strategy, which has already set out that we will not introduce any new bands or increase the rates of Scottish Income Tax in this parliament.

I was informed of the publication of cancer waiting times, scheduled for 24 June 2025, and provided with pre-release access to the statistics on 19 June 2025.

The Scottish Government recently published the Tax Strategy for Scotland, which along with Scottish Budget 2025-26 and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy, sets out the next steps in our approach to tax, identifying priorities to support economic growth and Government objectives of eradicating child poverty, tackling the climate emergency and improving public services.

Westminster austerity does continue to impact on public services. For example, the increase to employers’ national insurance without fully funding the impact of this on public service delivery has the impact of reducing the actual funding for delivery of programmes and was taken forward by the UK Government irrespective of the impact of that reduction on the outcomes of those programmes and activity.

Public inquiries are independent of the Scottish Government. Publication of information on costs is a matter for each individual inquiry and its Chair, and is typically done via their website. For inquiries established under the Inquiries Act 2005 there is a statutory duty on the Chair to "act with regard to the need to avoid any unnecessary cost" (s. 17(3)).

The Finance and Public Affairs Committee is currently undertaking a review of the cost effectiveness of Scottish public inquiries. As part of that review, the Scottish Parliament Information Centre produced a document detailing the cost of Scottish Inquiries, which is published on the Committee's web page Cost-effectiveness of Scottish public inquiries - updated costs of 29 May 2025 (parliament.scot) The Committee also wrote to all current or ongoing inquiries asking for details of their costs. Responses were provided by the individual inquiries and have been published on the Committee's web page.

Scottish Enterprise continues to work at pace to triage enquiries and identify a route forward for viable proposals at Grangemouth, with a focus on how the public sector might be able to support the deployment of near term propositions. Ministers are receiving regular updates on the most viable proposals that have emerged from the triaging process, and ways in which they could be deployed, via the Grangemouth Investor Taskforce.

The decision to approve the donation of the surplus NHS Scotland medical supplies to Ukraine was made jointly by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and myself. The submission, dated 18 September 2024, was released under FOI/202500451642. The transport of the medical equipment was provided as Official Development Assistance which, according to The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD, cannot be spent on military aid and this is a rule that the UK as a whole, including Scotland, adheres to.

The shipbuilding sector plays a vital role in supporting jobs and driving economic growth across Scotland. We are committed to promoting manufacturing and innovation, and Ministers continue to engage with businesses in the sector as part of that commitment.

We are investing up to £2 million to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow City Region. This initiative has been designed by the Clyde Maritime Cluster in partnership with Skills Development Scotland.

In addition, Scottish Enterprise has recently provided a £7.4 million Research and Development grant and a £1.8 million Training Aid grant to BAE Systems to help them maximise skills development and support the establishment of a collegiate training facility which will provide access to the broader industry through the Applied Shipbuilding Academy, which is overseen by BAE Systems as custodians of the Glasgow shipyards.

The development of the National Treatment Centre programme is currently paused, therefore there are no revised costs for the five projects. As part of our Scottish Spending Review, the Scottish Government are undertaking a full review of our capital spending to prioritise the available funding towards projects that drive progress against our priorities.

We will provide clarity over which projects and programmes will receive funding in the medium term when we publish our new Infrastructure Pipeline, alongside the 2026-27 Budget and Scottish Spending Review.