Chamber and committees

Headteachers are empowered to take the decisions they judge will have the greatest impact for their pupils. They know their school communities best and are best placed to identify the approaches most likely to reduce barriers to learning.

The Scottish Government does not hold central records on individual schools’ expenditure decisions, and therefore does not record whether PEF has been used to meet ferry costs. However, funding can be used flexibly to remove barriers that prevent pupils from fully engaging in their education, where this can be evidenced as supporting equity of access and improved outcomes.

In island and rural communities, schools have used PEF in a variety of ways to address the particular challenges of geography and cost - for example, by supporting digital connectivity, access to school trips and extra-curricular activities, and targeted wellbeing interventions that help ensure pupils can participate fully in learning.

As announced by the First Minister of 3 November 2025, health boards have been allocated an additional £25.5 million this year to allow them to deliver more planned activity for the longest waiting patients.

We have already allocated £110 million of additional funding this year, targeted at the speciality areas where it can have the biggest impact against the longest waits. Now we are providing a further boost to deliver more appointments and procedures, taking the total additional funding to £135.5 million for 2025-26.

The following tables set out the allocation of this funding in the Highlands and Islands region, broken down by health board and Planned Care speciality.

Table 1. NHS Highland

Scotland’s Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccination programme for older adults and an RSV vaccination programme for pregnant women, providing protection to newborn babies, launched on 12 August 2024.

RSV Vaccination is currently offered every year to those turning 75 years of age:

• In 2024-25 this included invites for all those turning 75 between 1 August 24 – 31 July 25.
• In 2025-26 this includes invites for all those turning 75 between 1 August 25 – 31 July 26.

In 2024-25 there was also a catch-up programme and all those aged 75 to 80 years (i.e. 79 years + 364 days) as of 1 August 24 were invited forward.

Those eligible in previous years of the programme, who did not come forward at the time, remain eligible indefinitely and can come forward at any point in the future, should they request vaccination.

The Public Health Scotland Vaccination Surveillance Dashboard includes data on the number of RSV vaccinations administered for both the pregnancy and older adult programmes. The dashboard can be found at https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-vaccination-surveillance/.

The data for older adults does not display how many people have been eligible to receive the vaccine, but it does include a percentage uptake figure and the number of vaccinations administered. The data published is available at national and Health Board level, for both 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The data published for the maternal programme is only available at a national level.

Three projects supported through the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme have requested no cost time extensions in order to fulfil their project outcomes. These requests have been granted by the Scottish Government and those projects currently remain active. The Scheme will come to a close in March 2026.

The Charitable Bonds programme provides loan finance to Registered Social Landlords to support the delivery of new affordable homes. To date, all repayment obligations have been met and no enforcement action has been required.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41337 on 7 November 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.

Planning Circular 1/2022: Local Place Plans (LPPs), provides advice to community bodies on preparing Local Place Plans (LPPs). Our Local Development Plan Guidance (May 2023) clarifies the role and requirements of a LPP in the preparation of the local development plan.

The Place Standard Tool is an easy to use method for communities to engage on issues and assess the quality of their local place, including physical and social aspects, which can inform LPPs. The Scottish Government also provides grant funding to Planning Aid Scotland to support community engagement and participation in planning across Scotland, including preparation of LPPs. Wider sources of support are also available for example through the Strengthening Communities Programme.

Online resources and guides to support communities to prepare local place plans are available at Community-led Plans - Planning Aid Scotland.

CMAL, as vessel owner, sought competitive quotes on the open market for the recycling of the MV Hebridean Isles. Quotes were received from UK based suppliers which would have seen CMAL pay significant costs for the vessel to be recycled domestically.

Two notes of interest and one firm offer were received from EU bidders. CMAL confirmed the specialist knowledge, sustainable approach to recycling and track record of Smedegaarden A/S which is a dedicated recycling yard in Denmark. CMAL signed the contract with Smedegaarden A/S who have bought the vessel from CMAL ahead of recycling activity, providing guaranteed decommissioning work to the highest standards and better value to the public purse.

As required by the legislation, we will embark on a review of local place plans and lay the report before the Scottish Parliament.

The Act states the review is to be carried out as soon as practicable after the end of the seven-year period, which is seven years on from the Act receiving Royal Assent (after 26 July 2026).

We are in the early stages of considering the scope and delivery of the review, and will engage with community groups and local authorities.

Since 2021 there have been two occasions where Accountable Officers for parts of the Scottish Administration have formally sought written authority (often referred to as ministerial direction). Both were regarding Fergusson Marine (Port Glasgow) and written authority was sought in relation to value for money.

The details of these, and all written authorities since devolution, are published on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/collections/written-authorities-from-scottish-ministers/