Chamber and committees

When procuring and managing contracts Procurement Services ensures compliance with all legal requirements and the procurement principles including non-discrimination and equal treatment. Procurement Services will continue to monitor and comply with Scottish Procurement Policy notes from the Scottish Government and with UK Government advice relating to international embargos and sanctions.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) designates all green data centres of a major scale as part of National Development 12: Digital Fibre Network. What constitutes a major development is defined within the The Town and Country Planning (Hierarchy of Developments) (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

Local authorities receive money through the general revenue grant, and it is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available, including on support for bus services, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled its statutory obligations. In 2025-26 the Scottish Government provided record funding of over £15.1 billion to local authorities, a real terms increase of 5.5%.

The Scottish Government continues to provide financial support for bus services, including subsidised bus services, with £49.5m allocated in 2025-26 for the Network Support Grant.

The Scottish Government delivered all the powers within the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, which enables each local transport authority to determine the options that are available to them to improve bus provision in their area.

The Scottish Government’s National Innovation Strategy sets out an ambitious programme of actions which aim to use innovation as a key driver of productivity and economic growth.

Since 2007 productivity has grown at an average rate of 0.9% per year compared to the UK average of 0.3%. We continue to work with partners to build upon this and maximise opportunities for sustainable productivity growth.

The Scottish Government has allocated almost £228 million to Scottish Enterprise to support its activity in 2025-26. Scottish Enterprise is delivering on the actions set out by the Innovation Strategy’s Productivity Programme through its two missions aligned to innovation and productivity. These missions aim to:

1. Scale innovation strengths into high-growth industries, strengthen competitive sectors, support scaling companies, create high-value jobs and enhance global competitiveness.
2. Drive capital investment to boost productivity, by increasing business investment, raising productivity, and supporting higher-value employment opportunities that contribute to inclusive economic growth.

The Scottish Government is also working with the Productivity Institute and the University of Glasgow on an Innovation-Driven Productivity Study, which will deliver a productivity framework tailored to Scotland’s high-value sectors, supported by regional and sectoral case studies to inform future policy and practice.

The National Innovation Strategy sets a clear ten-year vision (2023–2033) for Scotland’s innovation and productivity ambitions. It provides a long-term direction for government and partners — a compass setting the course for our innovation journey. While the priorities established in 2023 remain fixed, the delivery of these priorities is designed to be adaptive, allowing programmes and actions to respond effectively to evolving economic conditions, technologies, and business needs, while maintaining alignment with the Strategy’s overarching objectives.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Local authorities are responsible for paying foster carers’ allowances. Prior to the introduction of the Scottish Recommended Allowance in August 2023, the Scottish Government had no role in setting allowance rates.

We have made substantial progress in establishing remediation pathways for buildings over 18 metres in height that were included in the High-Rise Inventory and highlighted through other data sources, irrespective of tenure.

We continue to work closely with partners to determine, prioritise and drive the necessary action on assessment and mitigation, on which the Scottish Government is offering substantial financial support to the sector.

We expect to conclude the work to establish remediation pathways for high-rise buildings with known cladding by the end of October 2025.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40861 on 28 October 2025. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41180 on 28 October 2025. 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.

At the UK Spending Review the Scottish Government received a Barnett share of the net changes to UK departmental budget allocations, which ultimately fed into our total block grant settlement.

Any new or additional spending allocations in 2025-26 associated with this UK policy will be included in the overall budget calculation for the Scottish Government. However, spending changes related to Barnett funding arising from UK policy decisions are not allocated to any specific programme of work in Scotland.

All budget allocation decisions are taken as part of the Scottish Budget process.

In 2023-24 the Scottish Government permanently provided funding for smoking cessation and prevention services to Health Boards as part of the Outcomes Framework funding, which also covered a wider range of outcomes. In 2025-26 territorial Health Boards received an overall funding uplift of 3%.

Improving uptake in this group is a key focus for Ministers and for the Scottish Vaccination & Immunisation Programme (SVIP). By improving vaccination in this group, staff are protected, onward transmission to colleagues and patients is reduced, all of which contributes to the resilience of Scotland’s health care services.

A range of steps are being taken this winter to encourage Health and Social Care staff to take up the offer of the flu vaccine. Public Health Scotland’s campaign “For some, flu hits harder” is being highly targeted at lower uptake groups including health and social care workers. Health Boards are running specific staff engagement sessions and actively promoting vaccination eligibility and information on how to receive the vaccine via staff intranet sites and social media channels. Boards are also championing vaccination uptake through senior leadership forums and staff briefings across the health care sector. Most Boards are also using dedicated flu champions to promote vaccination locally and case study videos, using health care workers, are in development, aimed at sharing their personal and/or professional experience on the importance of the flu vaccination programme. Digital prompts have been sent to health and social care workers via SMS and email to encourage them to book appointments, and most Health Boards plan to hold drop-in clinics for health and social care workers at convenient, flexible and easy to access locations. An expansion of peer-to-peer vaccination programmes is taking place across different health and social care sites within Health Boards.