Chamber and committees

We want all local transport authorities to be able to improve all of the bus services within their areas. That is why, through the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, we have given local authorities powers on partnership working, franchising and the ability to run their own bus services. This provides the opportunity for services that are reliable, frequent and tailored to local demand.

The Scottish Government provided £1.7 million of funding to extend platforms on the West Highland Line. This now allows ScotRail to run longer trains which will reduce overcrowding and lead to increased capacity for residents, tourists and cyclists with their bikes.

ScotRail has a programme of works which are being delivered specifically to improve the reliability of the diesel train fleet which operate on the Highland routes and these improvements are expected to be completed later this year.

ScotRail is considering options to recast the Inverness to Central Belt and Inverness to Aberdeen timetable. ScotRail will consult with passengers prior to any changes being determined.

The Scottish Government have committed to investing around £700m in ports and vessels. This includes 6 new major vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) fleet before the end of this Parliament session, and the delivery of a further seven electric vessels as part of the Small Vessels Replacement Programme by 2029, while work to deliver two new Freight Flex vessels for the Northern Isles Ferry Service is progressing.

We continue to fund the Managed Alcohol Programme pilot in Glasgow being run by Simon Community Scotland. We await the evaluation of the pilot being undertaken by the University of Stirling before reaching a position on future expansion.

The MAP pilot itself does not contribute directly to work being done to address alcohol-related brain damage, as those impacted by ARBD are referred elsewhere. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde does offer ARBD supported accommodation through Penumbra.

The Scottish Government’s Agriculture and Rural Economy (ARE) Directorate relies on several IT systems, integrations and infrastructure to conduct its business with appropriate cyber security and supporting applications to protect and operate these systems and infrastructure effectively.

In addition to rural payment systems, we maintain and rely on a number of other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services and the data within them support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT/Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

The IT costs are those costs (not including the Scottish Government’s employees) required to operate and maintain the reliability and resilience of rural payments and are made up of many aspects such as recurring maintenance charges for software and hardware, licence charges, major upgrades in infrastructure that are needed from time to time, and charges under the Maintenance and Modernisation service contracts which includes the cost of service providers. It is also essential that we continue to make proportionate investment in our cyber capabilities to protect these systems and customers’ data. There is an on-going programme of modernising or decommissioning of older IT systems to reduce costs and obtain the efficiencies possible from more modern technology. The costs do not include those associated with the design and development of completely new services.

Many of these IT systems also rely on the Scottish Government’s Shared IT infrastructure and services that are maintained as a common service to deliver economies of scale. These costs are not included in the following table.

Due to sharing of common services and the integration of IT systems, it is not possible to separately identify the cost elements that relate specifically to rural payments systems from the overall cost for all systems.

The IT staff in the Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate (including those in Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)) are involved in a range of digital activities from maintaining and supporting current services to developing the future services.

In addition to rural payments systems, we maintain and rely on other IT systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), Estate Management Database (EMA), Drawing Office, Plant Health, Livestock Inspection System (LIS). These systems collectively assure eligibility for payments, support of inspections, responding to legislative requirements and supporting corporate systems.

ARE IT/Digital services and the data within them support a range of other government departments, functions and agencies including NatureScot, Forestry, Estates Management, Plant Health and Livestock Inspections meaning our IT / Digital services support a wider range of stakeholders.

IT staff in the Scottish Government’s Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate (ARE) are members of the Government Digital and Data Profession covering an array of professional IT roles.

Many of these IT systems also rely on aspects of the shared Scottish Government IT infrastructure supported by other SG IT staff. The staff supporting these corporate systems are not included in the following table.

Due to the flexible deployment of IT staff based on skills and knowledge to where they provide the greatest benefit at a point in time aligned with priorities it is not possible to separately identify the staff costs solely associated with rural payments IT systems.

The salary cost (including overtime) of all directly employed IT staff in ARE for the four years 2021-2025 is as follows:

In July 2023, Scottish Forestry launched the Woodlands for Riparian Benefits Forestry Grant Scheme, targeting specific areas to enhance Scotland’s riparian woodlands. The scheme offers increased grant rates for areas along watercourses. Around 175,000 hectares have been identified where planting riparian woodland can be prioritised to deliver and maximise multiple benefits.

There are also measures in the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme for the management of water margins, management of wetlands and floodplains and capital items to support river restoration approaches. While these are not specific to beaver reintroduction, these schemes can be used to enhance riparian habitats in those circumstances.

NatureScot has published Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA for Tayside, Knapdale, the Forth catchment, Loch Lomond catchment, the River Spey and the Beauly catchments, as well as publishing a screening report for the Rivers Ness and Lochy catchments.

Given the body of work to date and the likelihood of assessing similar environmental effects in different catchments, NatureScot has proposed that it will adopt an SEA screening approach to new catchments to determine if there are novel interests and interactions that may require a more detailed assessment. This will streamline the approach to future SEA assessments. Prioritising assessments will depend on where there is interest from land managers and organisations in hosting beavers.

NHS GGC agreed in May 2024 that its PCANOS model and staff would be embedded into their specialist Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services in order to ensure long term sustainability. The realignment of PCANOS expertise into Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services ensures that staff are fully supported by the wider Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service team to provide a full range of clinical, medical and psychosocial support services to individuals.

Glasgow City ADP greatly value the variety of specialist alcohol services across the city in dealing with the public health crisis in relation to alcohol. The Managed Alcohol Programme, the Fibro scanner pilot and the community and residential Alcohol Related Brain Damage Services are just some examples of the innovative and impactful provision in the city.

The Scottish Government is fully supportive of the actions being taken by both NHS GGC and Glasgow City ADP.

High quality, accessible and affordable early learning and school age childcare is critical to keeping children in Scotland out of poverty. That is why we continue prioritise investment of around £1 billion per year in delivering funded ELC to all eligible children, despite the significant financial challenges facing the Scottish Government as a result of budget choices made at Westminster.

The Scottish Government has committed in our Cross Government Plan for tackling substance use harms to developing standards for alcohol and drug treatment and recovery.

In the development of those standards, ARBD is a particular condition that will be a focus of attention given the significant number of people it has affected. The standards will bring together a range of guidance, principles and other relevant standards to help ensure services are working together, which is particularly important for conditions such as ARBD which requires a range of support to be offered in one package.

The Scottish Government shared its response to the Shelter Scotland report, In Their Own Words: Children’s Experiences in Temporary Accommodation with the Scottish Parliament on 4 March 2025. Parliamentary Question S6T-02391 refers, which can be accessed via the following link: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6T-02391.

The legal duty to accommodate homeless households and the responsibility for ensuring that temporary accommodation is of a suitable standard lies with local authorities. When making their housing allocation decisions, local authorities are encouraged to take a children’s right approach and are expected to consider the Scottish Government’s statutory guidance on meeting the best interests of children facing homelessness: https://www.gov.scot/publications/best-interests-of-children-facing-homelessness/.

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2024 expects public authorities to do all they can to implement and uphold children’s rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Scottish Government is supporting public authorities to understand and fulfil their UNCRC duties and take a children’s human rights approach in the design and delivery of services.

We are also funding the Improvement Service to assist local authorities and their partners to successfully implement the UNCRC at a local level, and NHS Education Scotland to support health boards to fulfil their UNCRC duties.

The Scottish Government published the temporary accommodation standards framework in 2023. The framework sets out the physical, location, service and management standards to ensure that temporary accommodation is of good quality, is safe, warm and affordable, and provides the household with an adequate standard of living, including provision of space for children to play.

Most households with children are placed in suitable temporary accommodation in the social rented sector. However, the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO) was extended in 2020 to ensure that no homeless household has to stay in unsuitable accommodation, such as hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation, for more than seven days.

The service standards in the temporary accommodation standards framework states that local authorities should assess the needs of all members of the household to provide services. These should be followed up with referrals and support to enable the household to engage with the relevant housing, health, education, social care service and independent advice services.

The temporary accommodation standards framework also states that local authorities should offer support to enable households to access information and appropriate services, including counselling, substance use, mental health, domestic abuse, medical, dental, optical and money/welfare advice services.