Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43104 on 26 January 2026. 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.

The “other arts and activity” budget line in the 2026-2027 draft budget is now confirmed as £16.044m. The Museums Future Programme, Non National Libraries and the Royal and Ceremonial lines have been moved to their own Level 4s. The "other arts and activity" funding will support a range of projects, with around £10 million going to Creative Scotland to support our world class festivals through the Expo Festivals Fund and our Culture Collective. Other funding has been indicatively allocated to a range of priorities including creative communities and our national collection bodies.

While we expect ScotRail to provide an environment which allows for a comfortable journey, this is a matter for ScotRail. ScotRail continues to consider solutions, which can be applied to improve the situation. ScotRail advises that due to its investment so far, the heating system improvements allowed ScotRail to achieve an ambient temperature on board of 156 class trains in half the time, as compared to Winter 2024-25.

In the longer term, the Scottish Government’s investment in its rolling stock replacement programme will bring more modern trains onto the network, which will benefit passengers travelling on West Highland Line.

The following figures show the total number of complaints received during each of the specified years. When calculating these figures, each complaint has been counted only once, regardless of whether it was processed at stage 1 only, stage 2 only, or at both stage 1 and stage 2.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) is responsible for ensuring that railway operators, including ScotRail comply with health and safety law. The Scottish Government expects that ScotRail follows appropriate regulations in place to ensure its passengers travel safely.

The 40.2% reduction compares the FY 25/26 budget, including Autumn Budget Revision (ABR) transfers with the FY 26/27 budget.

During the FY 2025-26, Forestry and Land Scotland received a £7.0m transfer for Peatland and Atlantic Rainforest restoration on Scotland’s national forests and land as part of the ABR. Allocation of funding for those activities in FY 2026-27 to delivery partners (including FLS) has yet to agreed.

If this transfer is removed to enable a like-for-like comparison, the reduction is 22% (£5.0m), which relates to funding for woodland creation on Scotland’s national forests and land.

There is a corresponding increase in the capital allocation to Scottish Forestry. The Scottish Government is placing a greater emphasis on supporting woodland creation through the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS).

Focusing woodland creation through the FGS offers improved value for money for the taxpayer, as the FGS only partially covers the cost of tree planting, requiring private investment to meet remaining costs and to purchase the land.

The vessel leasing costs for the current contract period (Oct '25 to March '26) payable by CalMac Ferries to Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), for vessels currently operating the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service are detailed in the following table.

To date, capital funding through the Just Transition Fund has been awarded through competitive processes, including open bidding rounds in 2022 and 2025. We have actively engaged with regional stakeholders, including Moray Council and local partners, throughout these bidding rounds.

The Scottish Government is investing £32.5m into Moray through the 10-year Moray Growth Deal. We welcome the council’s recent successful bid for an additional £40k from the Just Transition Fund to deliver a Strategic Outline Case for a refocussed skills and innovation project under the Moray Growth Deal.

A breakdown of funding provided to local authorities from the Just Transition Fund is given in the following table. This provides details of each project that has been awarded funding: