Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government proposes that Scotland would seek to join the EU as soon as possible after independence. The EU is a full member of the G20, and represents it’s member states at G20 summits, alongside the leaders of G20 member countries.

The Scottish Government’s position on share of UK debt following a vote for independence is set out in the publication Building a New Scotland: A stronger economy with independence - gov.scot.

The 2025-26 Scottish Budget, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 25 February, has funding allocated to provide free bus travel for people seeking asylum. My officials have reconvened the Working Group with Third Sector representatives and other interested parties to work through delivery options for a pilot scheme this financial year.

The pilot will provide free bus travel for those people seeking asylum who are not eligible for the existing statutory free bus travel schemes. It is anticipated that the pilot will commence in the Autumn. Delivery of the pilot will be monitored and an evaluation carried out to determine demand, costs and potential benefits of free bus travel to people seeking asylum in Scotland.

People seeking asylum in Scotland who are aged under 22, aged 60 or over or have an eligible disability are already entitled to concessionary travel through the existing National Concessionary Travel schemes.

The annual assessment and reporting of air quality and Low Emission Zone (LEZ) performance is a statutory responsibility of the relevant local authorities.

Glasgow City Council published their most recent annual air quality report in August 2025. The report found that when comparing 2024 with 2022, the last full year before enforcement of the LEZ, locations within the zone experienced an average reduction of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2) of 34% whilst locations outside of the zone observed an annual reduction of 21%.

More generally, in 2024, the first full year of Glasgow’s LEZ enforcement, air quality within the whole of the city met all applicable statutory objectives. This is the first time full compliance has been recorded since the Local Air Quality Management process was established under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995.

In addition, in June 2025 an LEZ Update Report produced by Scottish Environment Protection Agency considered air quality in the zone since the introduction of Phase 1 of Glasgow’s LEZ (which applied only to buses from December 2018). This report found that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels on Hope Street (historically the most polluted street in Scotland) fell from 61 µg/m³ in 2018—above the legal limit of 40 µg/m³—to 34 µg/m³ in 2024. Furthermore, tailpipe emissions of particulate matter (PM10) had reduced by over 80%, with CO2 emissions also declining.

The City Council’s for Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh will publish their annual air quality reports in the coming months. However, as enforcement of LEZs in these cities only began in mid-2024, the 2024 air quality data will not fully reflect the impact of LEZs in these cities.

While it is therefore too early to assess the impact of the LEZs in all four of Scotland’s cities, Glasgow’s LEZ demonstrates a clear and direct link between a specific policy intervention and air quality benefits.

The amount paid to polling companies in each of the last five years for which data is available is set out in the following table. Spend information for 2024-25 is currently not held and will be available later this year. Data on which topics the polls were held could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Scottish Government has shown leadership in setting out positive policies that work for the rail freight industry through our rail freight strategy (published in 2016), our first of a kind regulatory growth targets for rail freight as part of our High Level Output Specification for Control Period 7 funding, and our mode shift grants. Scotland was the first UK nation to have a rail freight growth target and this focus is being retained with a target of 8.7% for the period 2024 to 2029 and a requirement for a longer term growth plan to be delivered by 2027. These policies have encouraged positive behaviours and collaborative working with the industry to grow rail freight and have been supported with investment of over £40 million in recent years in rail freight specific projects and over £421 million in wider projects with rail freight benefits. We will continue to maximise benefits for freight in our future investment in the rail network.

Independence would give Scotland the opportunity to introduce new legislation for matters currently reserved to Westminster, such as surrogacy. Decisions on changes to laws on surrogacy in an independent Scotland would be a matter for the government of the time, elected by the people of Scotland.

The total drug costs and fees for dispensing methadone mixture and solution (1mg/ml) to the NHS in the last four years, broken down by NHS Board, are presented in the following table. Cost data are complete for all NHS Boards, whereas fees are incomplete as some payment elements are handled locally.

Table 1: Total drug costs and fees for dispensing methadone mixture1 Items dispensed in Scotland, by NHS Board – 2021-22 to 2024-25

Scottish Government officials reviewed the Trade & Investment Envoy network footprint in 2024 to help ensure we have the right people, in the right places, with appropriate knowledge of our priority sectors. The review noted there are significant opportunities in India and the Scottish Government recognises the recent conclusion of UK-India Free Trade Agreement negotiations. We plan to increase our engagement with India given its rapid economic growth and Scotland’s synergies with India, including: Renewable Energy; Information Technology & Innovation; Life Sciences & Healthcare; and Food & Beverage. We remain open to appointing an Envoy in India should an appropriate candidate be identified.