Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will continue to promote trade union recognition and collective bargaining, at both local and sectoral levels, to achieve improved conditions and enhance effective voice. However, while collective bargaining can improve working conditions, a good standard of workplace health and safety should not be dependent upon this. The Scottish Government promotes strong, constructive relationships between employers and trade unions, particularly where they are recognised, or where it is clear workers are seeking this collective representation.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42861 on 21 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.

Meetings between Scottish Government and SEPA officials focusing on measures to minimise and mitigate water scarcity take place regularly.

Over the summer, the Scottish Government officials met weekly with SEPA, Scottish Water, and key stakeholders for 28 consecutive weeks to monitor and manage water availability.

SEPA has taken several key actions recently to minimise and mitigate impacts of water scarcity, including improving its website for accessibility, providing clearer guidance, strengthening communications with abstractors, and reviewing abstraction licences to support sustainable water use. Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan is available on the SEPA website. This sets out how water resources will be managed prior to, and during, periods of prolonged dry weather.

Officials most recently met SEPA officials in December 2025 to review SEPA’s Autumn Water Situation report, potential implications for 2026 as well as discuss water scarcity mitigation more broadly.

Neither Scottish Government or NatureScot provide funding for the maintenance or improvement of the four statutory long distance routes. The respective local authorities and national park authorities lead on maintenance and improvements using a variety of approaches.

Scottish Government provides funding to the local authorities for “land access” as part of the Grant Aided Expenditure settlement. Scottish Government also provides funding to the National Park Authorities, and this has included capital for Long Distance Routes related projects such as Conic Hill on the West Highland Way in Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.

The Scottish Government does not collect this data. En route HGV charging facilities and most depot charging for HGVs are privately owned and operated.

In September 2024 the Scottish Government published research on the locations required for charging or hydrogen fuelling HGVs on long journeys, based on real world telematics data, to inform investment decisions by the electricity networks, chargepoint operators and others.

A second report refining the detail for charging and covering 2% of Scottish HGVs was published in July 2025. It found that the charging infrastructure needed for all HGVs in Scotland will comprise at least 63 en-route charger locations, of which 26 are already built or under development – meaning approximately 37 additional sites are required.

The next iteration, to be published in summer 2026, will use data from around 10% of Scottish truck miles.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of modal shift to help achieve transport emission reduction targets and to assist companies to move goods by rail or water instead of by road. We have shown leadership in setting out positive policies that work for the rail freight industry through our rail freight strategy, our regulatory growth targets for rail freight and our mode shift grants.

Since 1997, mode shifts grants have funded over 50 projects with a total spend of over £74 million which has resulted in the removal of over 50 million lorry miles from the road.

The Scottish Government is committed to full and successful implementation of the new homelessness prevention duties.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 includes a provision that Part 5 (homelessness prevention, including ask and act) should be commenced no later than three years from Royal Assent (given November 2025). However, we are clear that relevant bodies do not have to wait for the duties to come into force to adopt the ask and act approach, based on shared responsibility and earlier intervention to prevent homelessness.

We are funding and currently commissioning learning from prevention pilots and independent research to assess the impact of the duties on the relevant bodies named in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, including health bodies.

This will help inform the development of guidance and secondary legislation in the coming period and support a smooth and effective rollout, ensuring that individuals are not discharged from hospital or other institutions into homelessness.

We are committed to exploring options to reduce the use of microplastics and reducing plastic pollution in general by supporting the growth of the circular economy.

The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 bans certain single-use plastic items including plastic cutlery, plastic plates, and plastic straws, which will reduce the amount of microplastics formed in the environment due to plastic degradation.

In addition, we are committed to helping address microplastic pollution from pellets, flakes and powders that are used to make plastic products. Our work has been key to informing international policy that aims to reduce pellet loss from across the entire supply chain, and led to the first standard for pellet handling and management. We are learning from the application of best practice in industry and considering how best to progress this issue following the introduction of regulations in the EU.

The draft Circular Economy Strategy provides a high-level framework for Scotland’s transition to a circular economy, setting out a broad vision and outcomes as well as priorities across policy mechanisms, priority sectors, product stewardship and a monitoring and indicator framework to help us continue to cut waste levels, create consistent and easy to use waste services across Scotland, and drive the sustainable use of plastic and other resources.

The draft Strategy takes a sector-led, not a materials-led, approach which allows consideration of interventions that can tackle the impact of material use, including plastics, along supply chains via multiple mechanisms.

It is important that plastics are considered alongside the broader issues and impacts relating to material use and that the full impact of a product’s design, use and disposal can be considered within the system within which it will be used.

All consultation responses will be considered when finalising the Strategy.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collate information on how often if meets with individual sectors and so is unable to provide an accurate and comprehensive response. The details of all Ministerial engagements are proactively published by the Scottish Government and can be accessed here: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot

However, the following information released in response to requests for information under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, and which relate to meetings between Ministers or officials and the Scottish salmon sector may be of interest.

• 52 Ministerial-sector meetings, plus five meetings of the Scottish Aquaculture Council took place between 11 September 2019 and 12 December 2024.
• 13 meetings took place between the Head of the Fish Health Inspectorate and Salmon aquaculture companies between 1 January 2022 to 26 July 2025.

Meetings are reflective of the need for Scottish Government to engage with industries and organisations which are subject to government policy and regulation.

The principle fund for Local Authorities to develop Active Travel routes, including routes to schools, is the Active Travel Fund Infrastructure Fund (ATIF), in particular Tier 1 formerly known as Cycling Walking and Safe Routes. Since 2021 North Lanarkshire Council have received £10,866,076 and South Lanarkshire Council have received £9,937,001 from this funding route.

Additional awards have been granted to both Lanarkshire Local Authorities from other tiers of funding which have contributed to improving active travel routes to schools, these are set out below;

In 2023-24 £1,230,000 was awarded to North Lanarkshire Council to deliver active travel links that improved school active travel connections in Airdrie and Wishaw through the Active Travel Transformation Fund.

In 2024-25 £420,000 was provided to North Lanarkshire Council through ATIF Tier 2 for pedestrians improvements around Motherwell Train Station with cycling and walking improvements on Oakfield Road, Watsonville Park, Camp Street and West Hamilton Street, creating safer corridors to schools.

In 2025-26 £1,074,898 has been awarded to North Lanarkshire Council for two additional projects. The first in Orbiston on key school routes that will upgrade crossings, lighting and drainage, with improvements to bus stops and cycle by-passes. The second in Wishaw aims to create high quality accessibility links between the train station, sports centre and hospital, benefits the whole community, including pupils journeying to school.

Design funding has been award for 2025-26 for South Lanarkshire Council, partnering with Strathclyde Passenger Transport. £65,2220 will be used to plan a safer route from Glespin to Douglas.