Chamber and committees

Should approval be received from the Lord Justice General, Scottish Ministers will publish a report on the findings as soon as reasonably practicable after the research is carried out, as required by section 68(2) of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025.

This would include details of the methodology used as well as reflection on the limitations of the research.

I have asked Linda Pollock, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00115 on 28 May 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 continues to monitor and consider a range of evidence in relation to the energy sector.

As part of this, we commissioned and published independent analysis on Scotland’s Energy System and Just Transition in 2023. An update, published in 2025, to the baseline data for this analysis found that the oil and gas sector supported an estimated 53,000 direct and indirect jobs in Scotland in 2022.

The research design and approach will only be finalised if approval from the Lord Justice General is provided.

Ensuring the research is undertaken in an ethically appropriate manner will of course be a key priority. Juror confidentiality, complainer anonymity, accused persons’ rights, data protection, appeals and the integrity of criminal proceedings in relation to the research have all been considered extensively during the drafting of the research specification, the evaluation of the bids received and, most recently, by the project’s Ethics Panel. Specific safeguards will be finalised when the research design is confirmed.

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.