Chamber and committees

Transport Scotland’s Operating Company, Amey, has not yet had the opportunity to inspect the footpath to respond to this request. Footway inspections are undertaken every 12 months for this section of footway per the trunk road maintenance contract. The location has been referred for consideration within future maintenance programmes, and Amey’s Landscaping Team will assess the vegetation to determine any maintenance or improvement works required.

Active travel improvements are progressing elsewhere on the A726 in East Kilbride, with further A725 trunk road cycle infrastructure planned, subject to design development, programme coordination and available budgets.

The purpose of the £2 bus fare cap pilot in the Highlands and Islands is to test the impact on bus patronage and subsequent modal shift of such an intervention. The focus of the analysis of the pilot will include evaluation of the impact on bus patronage, car use, and rail passengers, and will be published following the conclusion of the pilot.

Work is underway to progress a £2 bus fare cap to Glasgow, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire and Inverclyde within the first 100 days of this government. We are also committed to bringing forward legislation for a £2 bus fare cap across Scotland by the end of this parliament, building on the evidence from the current pilot.

The Highlands and Islands pilot is providing us with valuable real-world evidence on customer behaviour, pricing impacts and operator engagement, which will directly inform how we design future schemes.

The Scottish Government condemns all forms of religiously motivated violence and is clear that communities affected by reported attacks targeting Muslims should feel safe, supported and resilient.

We have established strong working relationships with Muslim communities across Scotland, and we continue to engage with communities to ensure appropriate support and reassurance is in place.

We recognise the importance of ensuring that engagement reflects the diversity within affected communities. We continue to strengthen and build on these relationships and our networks to ensure these voices are heard.

Work is progressing on the next phase of Scotland’s Hate Crime Strategy, and we are taking steps to ensure that this is informed by these stakeholders. Alongside this, we will continue to consider how our engagement and resilience work can best support communities and respond to emerging issues.

We will continue to work closely with partners at both local and national level to ensure that our approach remains cohesive.

The Scottish Government condemns all forms of racially and religiously motivated violence. We recognise that incidents of this nature can cause fear well beyond those directly affected, and are committed to working alongside communities and partners to provide reassurance.

Following the reported incidents on 19 June, the First Minister met with faith leaders at Broomhouse and Annandale mosques on 22 June to hear directly from those affected and to understand how best to support communities.

Our work on ensuring inclusive, safe and cohesive societies is continually informed by faith communities and other stakeholders, including through established groups such as the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership and the Faith and Belief Representatives Group, and the wide range of partners we work with.

In relation to the long-term solution to the landslip challenges at the Rest and Be Thankful, an economic assessment has been undertaken in accordance with the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, which sets the standard for good practice for assessing and designing roads and is used throughout the UK. The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges Stage 3 Assessment Report, which includes the traffic and economic assessment, can be found on the Transport Scotland website.

The traffic and economic assessment considers the traffic and economic performance of the preferred route option, including consideration of the ways the option improves the resilience, safety and operation of the route. The A83 is considered key infrastructure in supporting the wider national economy through; connecting businesses and communities, facilitating access to essential services, and supporting jobs and activities in industries such as healthcare, education, aquaculture, forestry, tourism, energy and renewables. Therefore, consideration of the wider economic benefits also forms a key part of that assessment.

The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs met with the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator at the Royal Highland Show on 18 June. The Fair Dealings Obligations Regulations seek to ensure greater fairness and transparency in the supply chain by requiring there to be written purchase contracts between pig producers and their buyers and sets out a number of the provisions that should be in these contracts. Retailers are therefore unlikely to fall under the scope of the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator unless they are buying pigs directly from farms and instead fall under the scope of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

The Scottish Government worked closely with the UK and other devolved governments to develop the Fair Dealings Obligations Regulations in the milk and pig sectors. The pig regulations are in force for new contracts signed after 13 August 2025, and for existing contracts from 13 August 2026. The Scottish Government will continue to stay engaged with the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator, Defra and industry on the practical effects of the regulations.

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 places duties on Health Boards to ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent individuals are working in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, the provision of high-quality care and the wellbeing of staff.

Whilst the Government's role is to set the strategic policy direction, operational matters such as staffing, including recruitment of newly qualified nurses is a matter for the individual health boards as they are the employer. The Scottish Government expects Boards to make recruitment decisions in line with their duties under the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019.

We are fully engaging with health and care providers to understand their position in relation to posts for graduates. Whilst it is hoped that all nursing graduates secure a post in Scotland upon graduation, this is not always immediately possible as vacancies can, due to many factors, fluctuate significantly each year.

Strong industry led clusters are a proven means of delivering economic growth. The Scottish Government commissioned a report in 2025 to take views from industry and other stakeholders and inform the design of a cluster development function to augment and support existing engagement. (a) We will shortly be procuring the cluster development organisation. (b) Given that Life Sciences in Scotland is a mature landscape, with a number of existing sub-cluster entities, the structures and scale of the cluster development organisation can be expected to evolve over time. Its initial role and remit will be to provide a focal point to support sectoral growth and integration across the Life Sciences cluster; deliver the actions assigned to it within the first year delivery plan; and work with all stakeholders to develop a year 2/3 delivery plan. (c) We are working with the Life Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group to develop appropriate governance and oversight.

Personal imports of pork from ASF affected countries represent a high risk of bringing the disease to the UK. The Scottish Government recognises the urgent need for more stringent controls on personal imports of animal products from Europe, particularly in light of the spread of ASF in many European countries.

Scottish Ministers have written to previous Defra Secretaries of State on at least six occasions in the last five years, seeking urgent action, in particular calling for increased resources and investment to improve biosecurity standards at border posts.

In November 2019, Scottish Ministers agreed to the establishment of a dedicated detector dog service delivered by Border Force for the detection of products of animal origin (PoAO) in Scotland’s airports and ports. The dogs have been a great addition to the Border Force team and are highly efficient in the detection of PoAO, stopping these products from entering Scotland.

The Scottish Government has a strong track record of support for Scotland’s meat processing industry in general, including pig processing. The Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation (FPMC) Grant Scheme has previously provided support to pig processing; details of awards given under the Scheme can be found here: Food-Processing-Marketing-and-Co-operation---Funding-Awards-2014-20-and-2021-24-Nov-2025.pdf.

In addition, the Small Producers Pilot Fund has in recent years provided resource support to explore solutions to challenges surrounding abattoirs and small producers’ access to private kill services. Over £400,000 was invested in 2025-26, and support will continue for small producers with a budget of £1m in resource and £1.5m in capital this year.

The Scottish Government’s Food and Drink Processing Scheme Scotland was open between 17 March and 15 May this year. The competitive Scheme is aimed at supporting the food and drink processing industry through capital grants and is part of a £9 million capital investment package. Applications are currently being assessed.