Chamber and committees

In the calendar year to December 2025 the core Scottish Government made a reduction of 2.5% in its total workforce, including both directly employed FTE and contingent worker headcount, as a result of tighter recruitment controls being implemented and taking effect. The increase in the overall devolved civil service headcount has occurred in specific public bodies outside of core Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government will publish a Workforce Management Governance Framework in 2026, which will include guidance on governance arrangements and controls necessary to ensure consistent and accountable management of the public sector workforce.

As part of the Public Service Reform Strategy, we will continue to work in partnership with public bodies to review and restructure the public service delivery landscape. This includes commitments to significantly reduce the overall structural footprint across public bodies and core Scottish Government.

As these measures are rolled out across Public Bodies we will see headcount reductions there too to meet our targets going forward.

In the calendar year to December 2025 the core Scottish Government made a reduction of 2.5% in its total workforce, including both directly employed FTE and contingent worker headcount, as a result of tighter recruitment controls being implemented and taking effect.

The increases in the overall number has occurred in specific public bodies outside of core Scottish Government. As tighter recruitment controls are rolled out across Public Bodies we will see headcount reductions there too to meet our targets going forward.

In June 2025 we published the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and the Fiscal Sustainability Delivery plan.

The Medium-Term Financial Strategy provided our assessment of the scale of the fiscal challenge over the next five years. This was £2.6 billion for resource spending and £2.1 billion for capital spending by 2029-30.

The Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan set out clear actions we would take to close the resource deficit, through driving forward reform and efficiencies and having a robust focus on public spending, identifying up to £2.9 billion of resource budget savings within the MTFS period. The progress of the Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan is monitored through internal quarterly reporting, supported by a robust governance framework. Progress on the FSDP measures will be reported externally on alongside the next Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

Building on the actions set out in the FSDP, we published Portfolio Efficiency and Reform Plans alongside the 2026 Scottish Spending Review, which set out around £1.5 billion of savings by 2028-29. These will drive efficiencies through shared corporate platforms, consolidation of public bodies, estates rationalisation and accelerated digital delivery – for example, extending ScotAccount and the NHS Digital Front Door, and moving 25% of correspondence to digital by 2030 (saving at least £100 million a year).

To address the capital spending gap, we published the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline which is underpinned by prioritisation decisions and capital spending plans set out in the 2026 Scottish Spending Review. It sets out an affordable and deliverable pipeline of investment for the next four years.

The Scottish Government is working in close partnership with COSLA and Scottish Swimming to deliver a national programme of free swimming lessons for all primary school children. A School Swimming Working Group, chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, has now been established to support both the development of the initiative and its subsequent implementation. Focused on the Primary 5 cohort predominantly, this three year phased approach will ultimately result in every primary-aged child in Scotland receiving access to high-quality swimming lessons.

Strong progress has already been made, particularly in advancing the delivery model and refining cost arrangements, to ensure that the programme being developed is robust and sustainable.

The foundations for a national programme are firmly in place, and partners are well positioned to move into implementation, working towards delivery of free swimming lessons for primary school children across Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 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 Scottish Government routinely engages with a broad range of stakeholders and is committed to sustaining meaningful and constructive engagement throughout the policy making process.

Global events continue to reinforce the impact of high energy prices with the crisis in the Middle East significantly increasing the cost of heating oil and liquid petroleum gas ("LPG"). That is why the Scottish Government launched the Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme on 1 April, more than doubling the support made available from the UK Government. Eligible households can apply for support of £300 towards the cost of heating oil or LPG.

The Scottish Government also proactively supports vulnerable households through our energy efficiency schemes, winter heating benefits, investment in free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice. We have maintained investment in the Scottish Welfare Fund, providing vital support to those in crisis.

However, energy pricing and regulation is fully reserved to the UK Government, and that is why the Scottish Parliament recently passed a motion calling for energy powers to be immediately devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

The UK Government must take their responsibilities seriously by putting in place robust and effective consumer protections and introducing targeted energy bill discounts, available to all fuel users, to reduce the number of households in fuel poverty.

Our Portfolio Efficiency and Reform Plans published alongside the Scottish Spending Review, set out savings by portfolio, by year.

These plans incorporate savings arising from efficiency and reform activity, aligned with our savings targets as set out in the Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan and the Public Service Reform strategy. While these targets are not broken down annually, the recurring savings set out in these plans for 2026-27 are around £563 million.

The plans will be updated and published as further progress is made and will be subject to scrutiny from Audit Scotland, the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission, and also receive external scrutiny from stakeholders such as the Fraser of Allander Institute and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.