Chamber and committees

On 17 March, the Scottish Government published the guidance for Local Services Franchises on the Transport Scotland website, which is intended to provide technical support to all local authorities, including Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) in developing their franchising proposals. On 12 June 2026, the SPT Strategy and Programmes Committee approved an award of contract for services to undertake a Franchising Assessment.

We recognise that SPT is the only local transport authority in Scotland who has officially announced its intentions to pursue bus franchising, following the publication of its Regional Bus Strategy in September 2025. To support local transport authorities financially we are committed to investing £4 million in 2026-27 to support Local Transport Authorities to build business cases for local bus improvement through franchising.

The Scottish Government also provides revenue grant funding to support RTPs’ core operating costs and statutory functions, alongside contributions from constituent councils. In 2026/27, we awarded £3.468 million in revenue funding across all 7 RTPs, which included £617,025 to SPT. Decisions on the allocations of Scottish Government funding in future years is subject to the annual Budget Bill process.

Decisions regarding future repair works are operational matters for the Glasgow Science Centre. As identified in the question, the Science Centre is a subsidiary of Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government receives updates on its operations, as appropriate, from Scottish Enterprise.

The Scottish Parliament’s International Relations Office is responsible for coordinating the purchase of gifts for presentation on both outward and inward visits. Gifts usually include Scottish Parliament branded items though as yet these have not included a challenge coin. 

The International Relations Office is currently reviewing the gifts available for presentation. As part of this review, the Head of the International Relations Office would be happy to discuss the possibility of commissioning a Scottish Parliament challenge coin with the Member.

There are currently no plans to ring-fence regeneration capital funding specifically for façade improvements to commercial properties in town centres.

As part of our broader commitment to regeneration, in 2026-27 up to £40 million capital regeneration investment support the repurposing of vacant buildings, revitalise town centres and accelerate town centre living.

Since 2014, Glasgow City Council has received more than £96 million in regeneration capital investment from the Scottish Government. This funding has supported a wide range of projects, including façade improvements. For example, investment in Possilpark's Saracen Street enabled the restoration of 10 shopfronts, reinstating their original Victorian character and contributing to the wider regeneration of the area.

The Scottish Government does not currently provide funding specifically for retail improvement schemes and, as a result, there is no associated national guidance. Any grant schemes delivered by local authorities or other local bodies are likely to operate within their own frameworks and to be subject to locally determined eligibility criteria and funding conditions.

While the Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce a national grant scheme for the reinstatement of traditional shopfronts, we continue to support the regeneration of town centres through significant investment. In 2026-27, up to £40 million capital investment will support regeneration activity, including the repurposing of vacant buildings, revitalisation of town centres and initiatives to accelerate town centre living.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that Glasgow’s transport network supports sustainable economic growth, improves access to employment and essential services, and reduces the impacts of traffic on local communities.

Scotland is uniquely positioned to support delivery of the AI Hardware Plan, with globally competitive strengths in photonics, semiconductors, novel architectures, low-power and edge AI systems. These are areas specifically identified in the Scottish government’s AI Strategy (2026).

Scotland is home to a £4.4bn critical technologies supercluster, with over 160 companies, 11,500 jobs and >80% export revenue. The Scottish Government is directly supporting the industry ambition to grow to £10bn and 17,500 jobs by 2035.

The Scottish Government provides long-term core funding to Technology Scotland as the Cluster Management Organisation and industry body for these sectors, and to the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics, arguably the UK’s strongest translational assets in this field. Other assets include Glasgow’s James Watt Nanofabrication Centre, the National Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Integration Centre, and Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre.

The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport has written to the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to urge the UK government to ensure Scotland’s strengths are recognised and that opportunities are not solely flowing to elsewhere in the UK.

The Scottish Government’s Client Guide to Construction Projects provides detailed guidance for public bodies on the conduct of all construction projects including design and build. It reinforces the importance of embedding the delivery of quality in construction projects from the very start and recognises the critical role of clients in creating the systems and culture that underpin it. It is supplemented by construction policy notes which include guidance for oversight and site inspection in design and build projects. These are mandated for all projects which fall within the scope of the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM).

The Scottish Government also continue to encourage all public sector bodies to use the Client Guide and the associated Construction Capability Assessment Tool in order to ensure their organisation is prepared for and aligned with all the requirements of their chosen procurement route.

The Scottish Government will continue to review and develop the Client Guide to Construction Projects and strengthen its visibility and impact

The Scottish Government routinely publish data for Scotland on the number of social rented dwellings as a share of the total number of dwellings on an annual basis, and it is available Housing statistics: Stock by tenure tables. The latest data shows that 23% of the total housing stock are social housing (2024), it has been 23% since 2014.

The collation of equivalent data across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states can be found here on tab ’Figure PH4.2.1’. The data is available from 2022 or latest year available. The OECD average is 7% in 2022, further data is available for other countries/areas can be found in Table 1 below.

From the information provided by the OECD, there are differences in definitions of social housing, as well as country level differences in collecting data on social housing, and time periods to consider when making comparisons – all of which might make these comparisons not like for like. For example, the Netherlands included some private rented housing below market rent in their data return to the OECD, whereas the Scotland data only includes housing owned by a housing association or a local authority.

Table 1: Number of social rental dwellings as a share of the total number of dwellings, 2022 or latest year available, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development