Chamber and committees

The 2026-27 budget has not yet been passed by Parliament and is at draft stage. Provisionally, some of the budget will cover the £18.180 million required for the ongoing cost of consumables for people who received diabetes technologies through our national roll-out programme in years 2024-25 and 2025-26.

There is a spending commitment of £4.5 million to NHS Boards to deliver specialist support for those living with Long COVID, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and other similar conditions. We have also committed a further £100,000 to continue to support the Rare Disease Action Plan.

The 2026-27 budget has not yet been passed by Parliament and is at draft stage. Spending plans are still being developed by policy leads but provisionally the budget will deliver £245.1 million for the Primary Care Fund which pays for various programmes and initiatives supporting general practice delivery e.g. the board employed multidisciplinary teams and GP walk-in service pilots among other measures.

The 2026-27 Budget provides a further real terms increase in the Local Government Settlement, delivering record funding of almost £15.7 billion including, a quarter of a billion pounds of unrestricted General Revenue Grant.

All NHS Boards are required to deliver at least 3% recurring savings against baseline funding each year to support long-term fiscal sustainability. It is for individual Boards to determine how best to deliver these efficiencies without impacting patient care.

The Scottish Government’s Finance Delivery Unit (FDU) carries out three-year financial planning with NHS Boards. Board financial plans are expected in March 2026 and will provide oversight of boards planned savings for 2026-27. Future year Boards’ savings plans will continue to develop and will be agreed on an annual basis.

The FDU provides Boards with the 15 Box Grid to identify priority areas for delivering savings and securing value for money across workforce, innovation, value-based healthcare and productivity.

The Scottish Government has no role in respect of country parks. Local authorities set up and manage most country parks using their powers under Section 48 of the Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967, though the National Trust for Scotland manages Brodick and Culzean. These parks are non-statutory designations that enable local authorities to establish areas for public access and enjoyment of the countryside, and as such, some private landowners also use the country park name. Local authorities can make by-laws to regulate inappropriate behaviour within these parks.

The following table lists 8 planning applications called in by Scottish Ministers and referred to the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeal (DPEA) for determination which were subject to hearing session/s being held and received over the last 5 years.

Local authorities set up and manage most country parks using their powers under Section 48 of the Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967. These parks are non-statutory designations that enable local authorities to establish areas for public access and enjoyment of the countryside.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on open spaces and countryside amenities, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities.

In July 2021 we launched the Nature Restoration Fund, which provides additional funding for nature restoration projects to deliver significant improvements in biodiversity. The Nature Restoration Fund makes grants available through two main strands, including the Edinburgh Process strand, which provides direct allocations to Local Authorities. The Edinburgh Process strand is delivered through the General Capital Grant scheme to Local Authorities and is monitored through reports direct to the Scottish Government.

The NRF has already provided over £33 million directly allocated to Local Authorities and the National Parks to develop and deliver projects locally. Some examples of projects funded through the Edinburgh Process strand are outlined in an interim evaluation of the NRF available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/interim-evaluation-nature-restoration-fund/documents/

There are 40 country parks in Scotland. Local authorities set up and manage most country parks using their powers under Section 48 of the Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967, though the National Trust for Scotland manages Brodick and Culzean. These parks are non-statutory designations that enable local authorities to establish areas for public access and enjoyment of the countryside, and as such, some private landowners also use the country park name. You can find out more about individual country parks using the NatureScot guide: Find a country park | NatureScot

The following table lists planning applications called in by the Scottish Ministers and appeals recalled by them that are yet to be determined. It also includes the dates on which the applications were first notified to the Scottish Ministers prior to being called in, or the date the appeal was recalled. Decisions on these cases will be issued by the Scottish Ministers in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the diagnosis and targeted treatment of breast cancer through our continued investment in genomics.

We continue to work with NHS National Service Division (NSD), as the national commissioners of genomic testing in Scotland, and stakeholders across Scotland to transform the laboratory service and ensure it can support the expansion of genomic testing needed in Scotland for patients with all forms of cancer.

This is part of our long-term approach to deliver bold and ambitious action to reform and renew our health and care systems in Scotland.