Chamber and committees

Responsibility for service delivery rests with NHS boards which configure services based on local circumstances and the needs of their populations.

While awaiting specialist assessment, patients may receive ongoing support within secondary care, including investigation and management of symptoms where clinically indicated.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards to provide high-quality, safe and effective person-centred care and support for everyone, including people with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).

Alongside the increased waiting-times investment of £17.6bn to territorial health boards for 2026/27, we have provided £4.5 million in recurring funding to strengthen services for long COVID and ME/CFS, conditions often linked with PoTS.

The Scottish Government has invested over £70 million in public EV charging since 2011, as a direct result of this funding and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has over 12,700 public chargers, including over 3,200 rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers.

There are already 221 rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers in 54 locations along the route of the A9 with a further 104 that are known to be in development across 12 locations.

The Scottish Government’s £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund has supported all of Scotland’s local authorities to develop local EV Infrastructure Strategy and Expansion Plans identifying local infrastructure requirements. The HITRANS Strategy and Expansion Plan is available on their website.

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

HMP Castle Huntly accommodates adult males serving short and long-term sentences who are assessed as suitable for less secure conditions and testing in the community.

Based on design capacity, the table below shows the average daily population and the percentage occupancy rates. It should be noted that the design capacity for HMP Castle Huntly was reduced from 284 to 184 in May 2025 in order to realise single cell accommodation for individuals who are preparing to return to their communities.

Advancing human rights is central to every mission of Government. This ambition will underpin our work to deliver prosperity, fairness and security for the people of Scotland.

The Scottish Government expects all public bodies subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) to comply with their obligations as set out under the Equality Act 2010. The PSED should be factored into the exercise of all duty bearers’ functions, including policy development and implementation.

Responsibility for enforcement and compliance rests with the courts and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, as the regulator of the Act, and who operates independently and cannot be directed by Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government published proposals to enable better performance of PSED in Scotland over a four-year period in its Regulation 12 Report 2025-2029 in December 2025. This includes actions intended to increase understanding of PSED in the public sector. At the same time, we also launched the Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Toolkit an online resource to support duty bearers to integrate equality and human rights across their core functions.

The Scottish Government completely rejects UK Conservative Party proposals to scrap the Equality Duty. We are clear this would roll back rights and fail minority groups.

The regulation of public EV charging is a matter reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has invested over £70 million in public EV charging since 2011, as a direct result of this funding and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has over 12,700 public chargers, including over 3,200 rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers.

There are already 221 rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers in 54 locations along the route of the A9 with a further 104 that are known to be in development across 12 locations.

The private sector has invested over £100 million in public EV charging infrastructure in Scotland over the last three years, predominantly in new rapid and ultra-rapid EV charging, and In April 2026, the Scottish Government introduced a 10 year relief from non-domestic rates for properties wholly or mainly used for EV charging to support continued private sector investment across Scotland, including the A9.

We are continuing to work with NHS Boards, local authorities, COSLA, the third sector and other delivery partners to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children, young people and adults across Scotland.

For children and young people, this includes continuing our work with COSLA and the Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopment Taskforce to deliver on the actions set out in the implementation review of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People.

For adults, we will also ensure we work with partners across Scotland to take forward the proposals from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland’s 4-tier national pathway for neurodevelopmental conditions; ensuring anyone with or without a formal neurodevelopmental diagnosis can access the support they need when and where they need it.

In 2025 we launched the next phase of our £2.5m multi-year Autistic Adult Support Fund, which aims to help support autistic adults within communities and improve their wellbeing.

Additional funding in 2025/26 of over £2.9 million is also being used to deliver a range of projects aimed at improving access to neurodevelopmental support.

The Scottish Government has invested over £70 million in public EV charging since 2011, as a direct result of this funding and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has over 12,700 public chargers, including over 3,200 rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers.

The private sector has invested over £100 million in public EV charging infrastructure in Scotland over the last three years, predominantly in new rapid and ultra-rapid EV charging.

The Scottish Government’s priority is to continue to enable private sector investment and ensure Scotland has the right charge points in the right locations.

The Scottish Government’s £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund has supported all of Scotland’s local authorities to develop local EV Infrastructure Strategy and Expansion Plans identifying local infrastructure requirements and to partner with other local authorities and the private sector to continue to expand public EV charging across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has a long established relationship with Petroineos, and our engagement has centred on progressing transition options for the asset and site, in particular following the onset of Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions which further intensified challenges associated with the refinery’s operational efficiency and commercial performance. These challenges were explained publicly by the refinery’s owner in the lead up to and following its closure. This engagement has resulted in a number of Scottish Government co-funded feasibility studies from 2021 onwards, culminating in the Project Willow study.

It is regrettable that, with the exception of the Project Willow study, the UK Government did not come to the table alongside the Scottish Government and the company to consider transition options for the asset in the years leading up to its closure.

The closure of the Grangemouth refinery is a matter of deep regret for the Scottish Government, despite Labour promising during the 2024 General Election campaign to save it from closure. I am also disappointed that, to date, not a penny of the National Wealth Fund’s £200 million Grangemouth allocation has been spent despite numerous pleas from this Government to do so.

We are continuing to deliver Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls (VAWG), through a comprehensive and coordinated approach across prevention, protection and justice.

A new Equally Safe Delivery Plan will be published later this year, setting out the next steps for the Scottish Government and our partners to tackle VAWG. The new Delivery Plan will remain aligned with Equally Safe’s core priorities, including taking a public health approach to prevention, strengthening the capacity and capability of services to prevent harm, ensuring sustained and improved support for victim-survivors - alongside future funding for VAWG services - and delivering effective, trauma-informed justice responses. This includes progressing key justice measures, such as the development of misogyny legislation, to strengthen protections and improve outcomes for victims.

The Delivery Plan will be informed by the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and the recommendations of the 2025 UK GREVIO baseline evaluation report, which provides a coherent framework for action. We will continue to work closely with operational partners and our stakeholders to translate these recommendations into meaningful, system-wide change for women and girls across Scotland.