Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has no immediate plans to reform inheritance law in Scotland. The most recent consultations on testate and intestate succession took place in 2015 and 2019. The analysis of the consultation findings concluded that there was no clear consensus on substantive reforms to the law. Research into aspects of succession has also been commissioned and we await the findings. The Scottish Law Commission is considering reforms to executry law as part of their current programme of law reform.

Scottish Government officials engage regularly with all Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs), including Highland, as part of the oversight of the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) Programme. Ongoing engagement combined with annual reporting supports our understanding of how funding is being used locally, and the progress being made towards delivering transformational change for children, young people and families.

The National Bus Travel Concession Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Order 2026 enables Scottish Ministers to suspend or withdraw concessionary travel from any cardholder who breaches a national Code of Conduct. It applies to every user of the National Concessionary Travel Schemes, irrespective of age. Transport Scotland is working with bus operators, Police Scotland and local authorities to finalise the Code and the processes that will sit behind it.

We are separately reviewing the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 in order to establish whether the wider statutory framework remains fit for purpose.

The Scottish Government works with HM Revenue & Customs and other partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, including the National Crime Agency and Border Force, to disrupt all aspects of organised criminality including the production, distribution and sale of counterfeit and illicit goods.

The Scottish Government also supports the Scottish Anti Illicit Trade Group which was re-launched in March 2025 bringing together a wide range of agencies, including HMRC, and brand representatives to identify and develop interventions and tactics that improve the combined effectiveness of enforcement activity.

Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) report on their Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) activity via annual Children’s Services Reports, annual WFWF reports, and Children’s Services Plans.

Annual WFWF reports include data on the use of the funding, including the activities being delivered, the outcomes achieved and the funding allocated to each activity. This information supports our ongoing oversight of how funding is being used and the progress being made towards delivering transformational change for children, young people and families.

The Scottish Government does not operate an application process for Element 1 of the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) Programme. Funding is allocated annually to all Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) via local authorities.

Recognising that local needs and circumstances vary across Scotland, the Programme does not prescribe a specific delivery model. Instead, CSPPs assess their local family support system, identify gaps and opportunities, and determine how funding should be deployed to improve local delivery of holistic whole family support. Any local commissioning and procurement, application processes, or distribution arrangements are therefore determined by individual CSPPs in line with local priorities and needs.

The Scottish Government previously considered this issue through the work of the Land Reform Review Group, an independent group established by the Scottish Government to review land reform in Scotland. Section 6 of the Group's 2014 Report to Ministers considers previous recommendations by the Scottish Law Commission to remove the distinction between heritable and moveable property in succession law. The Group concluded that they were unlikely to have a significant influence on Scotland's concentrated pattern of land ownership.

The Scottish Government subsequently consulted on the Scottish Law Commission recommendations on succession law, including proposals relating to the distinction between heritable and moveable property. Concerns were expressed by a number of respondents about issues that might be encountered by land based businesses, such as farms. These issues could have an impact on their viability and, ultimately, on the rural economy. The Scottish Government decided not to proceed with those recommendations.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of people diagnosed annually with dementia, but Public Health Scotland (PHS) does publish information on the number of people in different health settings with a diagnosis of dementia. This doesn’t necessarily reflect when a person would have been first diagnosed with dementia.

Table 1 shows the number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by police, where information was known, showed that the incident involved a male victim and female suspected perpetrator broken down by local authority from
2020-21 to 2024-25.

Table 1: Number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by police involving a male victim and female suspected perpetrator, where information was known, by local authority 2020-21 to 2024-25

As previously stated in the Scottish Government's response to the Freedom of Information request FOI/202400419507, the then-Deputy First Minister did not engage with or accept the offer of a donation to a charity of his choice from the CEO of the WAVE Trust: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400419507/ The meeting was arranged entirely independently of this offer.

The Scottish Ministerial Code already clearly sets out the standards expected of all members of the Scottish Ministerial team. Paragraph 3.22 of the Code notes that ‘…Ministers should not accept gifts, hospitality or services which would, or might appear to, compromise their judgement or place them under an obligation to people or organisations that might try to influence their work in government.’ It is the personal responsibility of each Minister to determine how any activity would engage with the terms of the Code, based on the circumstances around any specific event or interaction.