Chamber and committees

Local authorities hold statutory responsibility for managing and maintaining their school estate, and we expect them to provide safe environments for all school users.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of schools with panic alarm or emergency alert systems centrally. Local authorities may hold this information.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing support to the City of Glasgow to complete the refurbishment of the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens to see them reopened to the public. We are currently awaiting an update regarding the restoration project which will inform a decision on what support is needed, as well as a revised timescales for reopening.

Data on vacancy rates for medical and dental consultants, nursing and midwifery, and allied health professionals are collected quarterly and made publicly available through Turas Data Intelligence on the Official workforce statistics website - NHS Scotland Workforce Data. Data on vacancy rates for other groups are not held centrally.

Information about the responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Justice is publicly available online and can be found on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/about/who-runs-government/cabinet-and-ministers/cabinet-secretary-for-justice/.

The 2025-26 budget and Programme for Government set out current infrastructure investment commitments for acute sites, and this was reconfirmed in the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline published on 13 January.

The financial position is expected to remain challenging and to ensure that available capital funding can be directed to best effect, we are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan for Scotland. This will support continued safe and effective use of existing facilities as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate to support service continuity. Boards have already completed their risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government.

The second phase is focussed on the longer-term development of the estate to meet national, regional and local needs. All health boards have been asked to undertake strategic needs assessments for three local investment priorities. Returns will then be considered on a whole of Scotland basis.

This approach aligns with the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework, which was published in June. You may also find DL(2025) 15 helpful, which provides further information on NHS whole system infrastructure planning (DL 2025-15).

In addition, NHS Boards have full delegated authority to allocate funding from within their annual capital allocation budget towards maintenance, equipment and other items of capital outlay. Any requests for capital funding outwith their annual capital allocation must follow the governance process and be approved by the appropriate Scottish Government official as outlined in the Annex to DL (2025) 15.

The Scottish Government takes seriously the contribution the whisky sector makes to our national economy and its strategic importance as the provider of high paid, skilled employment in many rural communities. This is particularly true of Speyside with the concentration of some of the most renowned distilleries in Scotland situated in the Speyside area. The previous Deputy First Minister saw first hand when opening the Cabrach distillery just how the whisky sector can provide the catalyst for local regeneration and bringing employment and tourism to some of our most rural communities.

Most recently, the First Minister was thanked by President Trump for making the case of the symbiotic partnership between the Scotch and US whisky industries. This helped in securing the commitment by the US President to remove whisky tariffs, in a significant boost for the Scottish whisky sector, helping to safeguard exports to this vital market. The US is the single most valuable country for Scotch whisky exports worth nearly £933m last year.

The Scottish Government has invested over £20 million to the “Sustaining Scotland Supplying the World” food and drink industry strategy since 2023 to drive growth across the entire food and drink sector, including whisky. This is supporting innovation, expanding market opportunities, and helping the industry accelerate progress towards our net-zero ambitions. In March 2026, we also launched the Food and Drink Processing Scheme Scotland as a key part of a £9 million package of capital funding to strengthen production and resilience across the country’s food and drink businesses.

The Six-Point Export Plan, delivered through the 2025-26 Programme for Government, strengthened support for businesses to access international markets, diversify their export destinations, and build global partnerships. These improvements now sit firmly within our export growth plan, A Trading Nation, as we continue to deliver and invest in the practical support that underpins export growth.

For the food and drink sector specifically, we have also provided over £7m since 2014 towards delivering the Scotland Food & Drink Export Plan, an SDI-led plan to help the industry exploit the most significant opportunities for Scotland with a team of food and drink specialists situated in our key markets around the globe.

Ministers and officials will continue to meet with the sector to understand the issues facing the industry and opportunities the sector can better leverage, in Speyside and across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has submitted a research access request to the Lord Justice General and awaits a decision.

Storage requirements for offshore wind are project-specific and vary depending on a wide-range of factors such as: the type of foundations, whether floating or fixed; project location; infrastructure availability; and deployment timelines. Each offshore wind developer will determine specific construction and storage solutions specific to their project.

Scottish Ministers are clear that island communities must have a strong and meaningful voice in the governance of Scotland’s ferry services. They have taken active steps to support this, including through representation on the boards of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) and CalMac Ferries Ltd. As a result, there are currently two island residents serving on the Board of CalMac Ferries Ltd.

Ministers will continue to use the public appointments process to actively encourage applications from individuals with lived experience of island communities, while ensuring that all appointments are made on merit and that boards have the skills required to deliver high-quality ferry services.

Work is ongoing with CMAL and CalMac Ferries Ltd to promote board opportunities within island communities and to support applications from individuals with direct experience of island life. Future appointment rounds, including the forthcoming CMAL campaign, will provide further opportunities to strengthen island representation on these boards.

The Scottish Government intend to deliver four further new major vessels, in addition to the two already deployed. These six major vessels in total along with the seven new small vessels will mean that this government has invested to renew over a third of CalMac’s entire fleet.

To improve services in the short term we have also extended the charter of MV Alfred to the end of the summer timetable.