Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is taking a whole system approach to understanding the full implications of data centre developments.

We recognise that data centres are a rapidly evolving sector. In a response to Gillian MacKay MSP on Thursday 25 June, the First Minister set out that he is giving active consideration on whether the Scottish Government should provide planning guidance to balance the rapid expansion of hyperscale data centres with national energy and climate goals which are vital to our future prosperity.

British Transport Police (BTP) is funded principally by the rail industry, including Train Operating Companies. ScotRail has continuedly met its funding obligations towards BTP. BTP distribution of funding is a matter for British Transport Police Authority (BTPA). Both of these organisations operate under the UK Government’s Department for Transport.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop raised concerns with the BTPA about the impact of budget reductions in Scotland.

ScotRail has delivered a range of measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, including the expansion of its Travel Safe Team, which works closely with BTP to support staff and passengers on trains and at stations.

The Scottish Government established the Rail Enforcement Powers Working Group to consider further action to improve safety for passengers and staff. The Group published its final report and recommendations, which can be found here, and included a specific recommendation on preventing further reductions to BTP numbers in Scotland. The former Cabinet Secretary for Transport accepted these recommendations in full, with officials at Transport Scotland now considering the feasibility of these recommendations and how can they be delivered.

Data relating to incidents of antisocial behaviour and assaults on trains is held by the British Transport Police (BTP), who regularly share these statistics with Scottish Government officials.

BTP publishes some of the statistics and they can be found on its website: Stats and data | British Transport Police

The Scottish Government’s current policy on the use of bilingual signing provides an affordable and cost effective way of providing bilingual signs coverage on the network within available funds, and ensures that the Gaelic language is included on road signs where it is most relevant to communities.

The Scottish Languages Act, 2025 requires Scottish Ministers to prepare Gaelic Standards and Requirements. When prepared, these will shape the commitments which Scottish public authorities include in any Gaelic Language Plans they may produce. It is expected that the Standards and Requirements will cover Gaelic signage and visibility in certain areas.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that the property factor regime operates effectively for homeowners and consumers. In this parliamentary session, we are undertaking work to improve delivery of services by factoring organisations, starting with improving our understanding of the issues that have been raised and considering what action may be required.

The Scottish Budget for 2026-27 includes £9.4 million of investment to support independent hospices to provide pay parity with NHS levels for staff who deliver essential palliative care services.

We are working with the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group (SHLG) to gather relevant information from hospices to help ensure our governance and approval procedures are correctly followed prior to any allocation of funding being agreed.

This funding will be provided to hospices via allocations to NHS boards, with the clear expectation set that this funding should be immediately paid onward to the hospices.

We will continue to engage with SHLG and NHS boards to ensure that all independent hospices receive the funding as intended.

In April 2026, new wildfire prevention byelaws came into force in the Cairngorms National Park to help address the increasing risk of wildfires.

Relational care, or relational continuity aims to ensure the same healthcare professional provides treatment and care for a person over time, allowing development of trust and understanding.

Relational continuity is discussed in more detail in the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland's 2024-25 Annual Report Realistic Medicine: Critical Connections.

The Chief Medical Officer has again promoted the need for greater relational continuity of care in his latest annual report Our Path Ahead.

We are exploring options to increase the focus on relational continuity of care as part of this year's Frailty Directed Enhanced Service in general practice.

Our record investment package of £310 million over 3 years to expand the general practice workforce is supported by guidance which recognises the importance of relational continuity of care and advises practices to consider how best to assure GP capacity in ways that actively provide relational continuity of care for patients where this is in their interests.

The 20GW ambition was set out in the Onshore Wind Policy Statement in 2022. The Policy Statement was informed through extensive consultation with interested parties. The 20GW ambition is intended as a statement of Scotland’s potential rather than an allocation or mapping of specific sites.

All development proposals are individually assessed against our Fourth National Planning Framework which ensures that the impacts of proposals, including on communities and the natural environment are important considerations in the decision making process. All applications are subject to site specific assessments.

The Scottish Government does not have a single definition of collective advocacy, nor is there one set out in Scottish legislation. However, collective (or group) advocacy is commonly understood and described in guidance as a group with shared experience or interests working together to explore shared issues and campaign for their rights.