Chamber and committees

This new pilot scheme is a unique chance for communities to take ownership of renewable energy projects which need upgrading and to extend their operational life, bringing long-term benefits to the local area.

The Community Asset Transfer Scheme (CATS) is well-established, utilising an existing legislative framework that provides consistency of approach, a structured time bound route, and a defined appeals mechanism, if required.

Community bodies applying through FLS’ CAT Scheme will not be subject to a competitive tender. However, communities will still be required to pay rent, just as any business or community body would need to if operating a commercial wind farm on public land. FLS is responsible for undertaking due diligence and evaluation of the community proposal before agreeing a long-term lease of public land and a commercial rent.

FLS will engage with communities at an early stage on the criteria and options available to them, and signpost them to support available from the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) managed by Local Energy Scotland. Further information on the CATS notification, evaluation and decision process for repowering will be available by Spring 2026, before the first sites are notified.

On 29 November 2024 Scottish Government announced an additional £13.6 million would be invested as part of the General Medical Services uplift in General Practice to support GPs to retain and recruit key staff. This additional funding was to address known financial pressures, support staff costs and enable GPs to take on partners and salaried GP staff.

The £13.6 million was allocated to Health Boards for distribution to Health Boards alongside the £59.6 million GMS uplift agreed following the DDRB’s recommendations with £66.89 million of the total put into the Global Sum, £2.31 million into uplifting Income & Expenses Guarantees and £4 million into increasing Enhanced Services funding.

As the £13.6 million was disbursed to GP practices as part of a wider uplift applied to three components of GP practice funding, it is not possible to say whether GPs were recruited as a direct result.

The £13.6 million was allocated to Health Boards for distribution to Health Boards alongside the £59.6 million GMS uplift agreed following the DDRB’s recommendations with £66.89 million of the total put into the Global Sum, £2.31 million into uplifting Income & Expenses Guarantees and £4 million into increasing Enhanced Services funding.

The Global Sum is shared among GP practices on the basis of their weighted patient lists.

Some practices receive Income & Expenses Guarantees to ensure no detriment to their funding following a revision of patient list weightings in 2018.

In addition to their core work, practices can also carry out enhanced services for additional funding. This is based on participation.

The Scottish Government partners with a relocation company to assist staff who are assigned to Scottish Government offices overseas.

The costs for the services provided, from financial year 2021-22 to date, are detailed in the following table:

The press release on 26 September 2024 reflected the Programme for Government long-term commitment to provide £100 million over a number of financial years to grow with institutional investment, to at least £500 million supporting the construction of around 2,800 mid-market rent homes. Since then, a market testing exercise has been commissioned and concluded – that will help inform the next steps to commission a fund manager.

Mid-market rent development continues to progress through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. The latest statistics are available at Housing statistics - gov.scot. The Scottish Government does not hold information on proposed housing developments which have only progressed to the point of receiving planning permission.

The Scottish Government Trade & Investment (T&I) Envoy for Space was appointed in September 2024 to play a key role in promoting Scotland’s space sector internationally. Activity undertaken by the envoy is agreed with the Scottish Government, and has helped build strategic relationships, attract inward investment, identify commercial opportunities and represent Scotland in key global space forums. The approach of appointing a sector-dedicated envoy was recently endorsed by the Director General of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs who stated to the House of Lords UK Engagement with Space Committee that “The UK’s position is also boosted by Scotland, which nominated a trade envoy for space by the Minister for Business and is really promoting the Scottish space industry and encouraging partnerships.”

The Space Envoy operates within the Scottish Government’s wider T&I Envoy network made up of appointees who work on a volunteer basis to provide Ministers with strategic business insights and connections. While there is no formal measure of the value of new business secured as a direct result of T&I Envoys’ actions, the network brings together sectoral expertise to support exports, inward investment and strategic economic growth. Envoys provide valuable business intelligence, introductions and advocacy, and have been instrumental in delivering Scotland’s Inward Investment Plan and export plan, A Trading Nation.

The requested figures are set out in the following table

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.