Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41890 on 1 December 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I was the only Scottish Minister in attendance at COP30 in Belem, Brazil. I was supported by three Scottish Government officials. The delegation attended COP30 in Belem from 10 - 13 November 2025. No Special Advisors attended.

Details of all Ministerial engagements and expenses are proactively published by the Scottish Government, including the costs of travel and accommodation. The proactive release covering November 2025 will be published in due course.

However, the programme included meetings and events with the Under2 Coalition and Regions4 Climate Networks, where the Scottish Government is co-Chair and President respectively, Global South civil society partners and youth leaders, and Climate Justice Fund Partners and funding recipients.

The Scottish Government’s objectives for engagement at COP30 were to:

• Strengthen Scotland’s climate finance and justice leadership,
• Continue to position Scotland as a leader in just transition,
• Build recognition of, and strengthen the voice of, states, regions and devolved governments, and;
• Enhance Scotland’s diplomatic and economic standing.

I undertook a full programme of bilateral and multilateral meetings, roundtables and speaking engagements in support of Scotland's climate priorities, including:

• Strengthening the influence of devolved, state and regional governments within international climate discussions,
• Ensuring climate justice and debt justice is at the heart of international climate action; and
• Showcasing Scotland’s leadership in renewable energy as part of an equitable, just and inclusive transition to net zero.

In support of international efforts to address the impacts of climate change, the Scottish Government confirmed funding for loss and damage, human rights and adaptation projects, as part of the £36 million Climate Justice Fund. Recognising that communities in the Global South, who have contributed least to global warming, are being hit hardest by the impacts of the climate crisis, £540,000 Climate Justice funding will be awarded to nine Latin American organisations supporting indigenous groups.

The remaining funding will help communities prepare for the known impacts of climate change – such as flooding and drought. It includes:

• £150,000 grant funding through the Climate Justice Fund to support a UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights.
• £100,000 funding to Regions4 to deliver a pilot project aimed at helping a community in the Global South reduce its vulnerability against climate impacts, such as extreme weather or food and water insecurity, in a way that tackles existing inequalities.

More information on this can be found here: Supporting global climate action - gov.scot

Evaluation of COP30 engagement outcomes is a continuous process undertaken by Scottish Government Officials and Ministers. This evaluation takes place through the ongoing management of relationships with stakeholders that the Scottish Government engaged with at COP30. A full summary of the my activities at COP30 will be published in due course, in line with our standard transparency reporting on Ministerial international engagements.

The Scottish Government will draw on the discussions, learning and outcomes from COP30 to help guide Scotland’s approach to reaching net zero, including our Climate Change Plan, taking account of international perspectives and emerging global solutions. As always, officials will continue to engage directly with our international partners in a reciprocal programme of learning and capacity building to ensure that the Scottish Government’s domestic climate change policies are ambitious and effective.

My overseas travel for COP30 was approved in line with ministerial travel policy.

Associated costs for supporting officials in Belem, COP30, were:

• Flights x3 Officials - £19,060
• Accommodation x3 Officials - £18,698
• Subsistence and travel x3 Officials - £414
• Other associated costs (vaccinations) - £252

Any business flights taken by Scottish Government ministers and employees are offset by a carbon levy. The levy is used to fund carbon reduction projects that compensate for the carbon emissions generated.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41890 on 1 December 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41890 on 1 December 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

NHS Health Boards are required to provide the Scottish Government with Complaints and Feedback Annual reports and complaints statistics on an annual basis, and these are published by Public Health Scotland. There are specific indicators that Boards must use when reporting their statistics, including total numbers of complaints received and closed, outcomes and timescales for completion. Complaints and Feedback Annual reports must cover, learning from complaints, complaints process experience and staff awareness and training. However, these do not include the specific themes areas requested about which complaints are made.

The most recent publication, which also includes links to each Board’s Complaints and Feedback Annual reports, was in January 2025 for the reporting year 2023/24 and can be found at the following link: Annual report on NHS complaints - 2023 to 2024 - Annual report on NHS complaints - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

I refer the Member to the answer detail for question S6W-40762, which sets out the key objectives for participation and engagements undertaken during Scotland’s programme in Osaka and Tokyo across the 6 months and also confirms the intention to publish an evaluation of Scotland’s Expo Osaka programme. We are currently working on the evaluation, which we aim to publish in early 2026.

With regard to indicators used to evidence a deeper level of engagement, I once again refer the Member to the answer to S6W-40762, particularly the stated objectives identified for the Scottish Government’s attendance at Climate Week NYC. As an example of impact, opportunities at NYCW lead directly to Ms. Martin receiving invitations to a wider range of opportunities to engage, especially at UN-sponsored events at COP30. Detail on the Scottish Government programme at COP30 will be published in due course.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to reaching net zero by 2045 and Scotland’s new draft Climate Change Plan (CCP) is clear that climate action presents a real and growing economic opportunity to create green jobs and boost investment. The CCP describes how we will ensure that the opportunities of net zero – for cleaner air, better infrastructure and energy security, affordable heating and improved public services – are seized and fairly distributed as part of a just transition. Supporting people to take climate action has never been so important – particularly as we are witnessing a concerning rise in anti-climate rhetoric, despite the majority of people in Scotland recognising that climate change is an immediate and urgent problem.

Scotland’s share of global greenhouse gas emissions has decreased from 0.25% in 1990 to between 0.08%-0.09% in each of the last five years. Scotland has demonstrated how smaller countries can contribute to global change, decarbonising much faster than the EU27 average. Using comparable statistics published by the EU (which exclude emissions from land use), Scotland is 18 percentage points closer to net zero than the EU27 average. Through our positions as Regions4 president and Under2 Coalition European co-chair, Scotland is using its leadership to strengthen international cooperation and capacity building; strengthen states, regions and devolved governments’ influence within international climate discussions and drive global climate ambition. If the world is to deliver on our Paris Agreement commitments and the Glasgow Climate Pact, all nations need to continue to increase ambition and take credible action to reach net zero emissions, rather than rolling back on collective progress.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Whilst Scottish Government regularly review the financial positions of NHS Boards, data regarding spending on translation services is not collected.

Each Health Board is responsible for their own spending decisions and Scottish Government expects that Boards will ensure best use of available resources whilst prioritising patient safety and care.

Cost of translation services can be obtained from Health Boards individually.