Chamber and committees

The following table outlines how many homes are proposed to be built as part of successful applications for the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP). The VDLIP provides funding to cover capital costs associated with remediating and unblocking long-term vacant and derelict land sites. Additional funding to support the delivery of new homes, where this is part of the project proposals, is considered as a part of the application process by the independent investment panel. Funding also supports place making, infrastructure and public realm as part of wider of housing developments.

The provision of air services is a matter for individual airlines. However the Scottish Government understand the importance of aviation to the Highlands and Islands. The continued provision of the Air Discount Scheme provides significant support to residents of Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles, Islay, Jura, Colonsay, Caithness and north-west Sutherland with a 50% discount on the core air fare on eligible services. We currently expect the scheme to provide support to registered scheme members of around £15 million in 2026-27.

This is why we provide funding to support the operations of Highlands and Islands Airport Limited (HIAL). In order to ensure that HIAL can continue to operate safe and regulatory compliant airports, supporting connectivity in the Highlands and Islands, we’re making a budget available to HIAL of £52.3 million in 2026-27. HIAL’s strategic plan includes a priority to deliver a safe and sustainable airport operating model to meet the needs of customers, communities and colleagues. HIAL regularly engages with the communities it serves through a variety of fora adapting the engagement to the needs and formats best suited to the wide range of communities it serves.

Audit Scotland’s follow-up report recognises significant progress in reducing the court backlog since its peak in 2022. This reflects targeted investment from the Scottish Government and positive collaboration across justice partners.

On body worn video, decisions on operational deployment are rightly for the Chief Constable, based on policing priorities and operational need.

However, it is important to be clear that body worn video is not new or untested technology. Its benefits are already well established across policing in other parts of the UK and internationally. It can improve the quality of evidence, support earlier guilty pleas, reduce demands on officer time, and enhance transparency and public confidence in policing.

It also has clear benefits for officer and public safety, helping to de-escalate incidents and provide an accurate record of interactions, which is of particular value to victims and witnesses.

Police Scotland has now completed the rollout to the first planned tranche of 10,500 devices and is considering next steps. This has been made possible through record Scottish Government investment of over £1.7 billion in policing for 2026–27.

The Scottish Government will continue to support Police Scotland and justice partners to ensure that this technology delivers its full potential, including contributing to a more efficient justice system and improved outcomes for victims.

The Scottish Government supports bowling clubs and local authority bowling greens through sportscotland by providing access to a range of funding streams, national programmes, and investment in the sport’s governing body, all of which help to increase participation, including among young people.

Sportscotland are providing up to £691,704 in 2026-27 to Bowls Scotland, the sport’s national governing body, to support the development of lawn bowls.

Sportscotland also provides funding opportunities that clubs, community groups and local authorities can apply for, including through the Sport Facilities Fund. This fund supports capital projects to develop new or improved facilities, helping to create more accessible and welcoming environments for participation in bowls. Alongside this, programmes such as Active Schools introduce children and young people to a variety of sports, including lawn bowls, by strengthening links between schools and local clubs.

In addition, as part of the Summer of Sport investment, the Scottish Government have provided funding of £1 million to enable a live site at Kelvingrove Park for families to enjoy the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. Children and young people will be able to take part in a range of free and accessible activities, including opportunities to try different sports such as lawn bowls.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the transition to EVs by ensuring that charging infrastructure is comprehensive, convenient and accessible.

The Road (Scotland) Act 1984 identifies that responsibility for the road network, including control of private installations sits with roads authorities. Under Section 109 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, local authorities already have the power to issue permits for the installation of private apparatus, such as EV home charging points, therefore decisions pertaining to cross-pavement charging are the responsibility of Scotland’s local authorities, not Scottish Ministers.

Current legislation does not provide a basis for the Scottish Government to develop national guidance. However, with support from Transport Scotland, on 22 May, the Scottish Collaboration of Transport Specialists (SCOTS) – a strategic collaborative body representing Scotland’s 32 local authorities and seven regional transport partnerships – published guidance on cross-pavement charging addressing the legal, safety and accessibility issues associated with its provision. This is a standard practice for roads authorities, who regularly collaborate in this way through SCOTS to produce national guidance.

Through the Scottish Government’s Cross-Pavement Charging Grant Fund, households can access grants of up to £3,500 to help meet the cost of installing cross-pavement charging solutions at domestic properties without off-street parking, subject to agreement from the relevant local authority.

Section 23 of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act) requires Scottish Ministers to make funding available, through legal aid or otherwise, to help individuals cover the costs of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in family law cases under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 or where such cases are likely to arise. This includes disputes about child contact and residence following parental separation and aims to help people resolve issues out of court, where possible.

In line with section 24 of the 2020 Act, our intention is to first set up a pilot of ADR meetings, which will inform the future details of such a funding scheme.

This pilot will not apply to proceedings in which there is a proven or alleged history of abuse, and it will not compel parties to attend an ADR service (it is a basic principle that it is designed as a voluntary process for those involved).Upon conclusion of the pilot, it is likely to take at least another 12 months to put the agreed funding scheme into place.

We have not been in a position to implement these provisions. However, they will be taken forward through a phased approach, alongside other 2020 Act priorities. For both of these ADR provisions, the Scottish Government provides update reports to Parliament on the progress of this work. The latest report is available here Introduction - Children (Scotland) Act 2020 - section 23(1) and section 24(1): fifth report on the Scottish Ministers' duties - gov.scot. We intend to resume production of these reports in the near future.

The Scottish Government monitors productivity trends in Scotland’s construction sector using a range of sources, including data published by the Office for National Statistics and Scottish Government publications.

• Information on output per job is available from the Scottish Annual Business Statistics (SABS), which includes estimates of Gross Value Added (GVA) per head for the construction sector. These provide a proxy for output per job, noting that they are not strictly measures of output per worker.
• The Scottish Government also publishes labour productivity estimates, including GVA per hour worked and GVA per job, at Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) section level, including construction. These statistics are currently designated as official statistics in development, reflecting data quality considerations relating to underlying labour market survey sources, and no construction-specific analysis has been undertaken using these measures.
• Information on the number of construction enterprises is available from the Businesses in Scotland publication. While this shows changes in the number of firms over time, the Scottish Government has not undertaken specific analysis of the relationship between the number of construction businesses and overall sector output, and a consistent measure of output per firm is not held.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the need to tackle drug supply and organised crime groups. Police Scotland works with agencies in Scotland, the UK and internationally to take illegal substances, including synthetic opioids, off Scotland’s streets, and to dismantle the groups responsible and hold them to account. They continue to have notable success with the number of senior organised crime group members in prison indicative of operational success.

Our Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan, Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery aims to prevent harm from alcohol and drugs, promote recovery and save lives. Grounded in human rights, the Plan sets out a clear long term direction for addressing alcohol and drug harms through a public health, evidence informed approach. The Plan builds on the progress made throughout the National Mission, and sets out a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention, whilst continuing to support vital harm reduction measures and improving treatment and care pathways to support long term recovery.

In light of the changing drug trends and emerging threats, the Plan commits to strengthening surveillance and early response measures, and expanding the approach of what has been achieved through the Medication Assisted Treatment standards (currently primarily for opioid use) to cover all substances including alcohol.

The Scottish Government does not centrally hold this information in a format that would allow it to be readily identified and categorised by type of respondent or by position (objection or support) for the full period requested.

Prior to 16 January 2026, representations were recorded within individual application records on the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) Portal and extracting this information would require a manual review of each case, which would incur disproportionate cost. The Scottish Government also does not hold information which distinguishes between representations made by members of the public and those made by organisations.

However, following the introduction of new functionality to the ECU Portal on 16 January 2026, representations relating to Section 36 wind farm applications can now be more readily categorised.

Details of representations received since 16 January 2026 are as follows, with Local Authority areas provided, as the closest available proxy for regional breakdown:

The Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline published on 13 January 2026, sets out the projects and programmes it expects to fund over the next four financial years.

We are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan for Scotland. This supports continued safe and effective use of existing facilities, through ongoing business continuity planning, as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate to support service continuity. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring by-exception reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

The second phase is focussed on the longer-term development of the estate to meet national, regional and local needs.

All Health Boards have been asked to undertake strategic needs assessments for three local investment priorities. In determining local investment priorities, Boards should also consider aspects of infrastructure resilience, capacity constraints and population-based service changes. Returns will be considered on a whole of Scotland basis. This approach aligns with the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework.

Further detail on NHS Whole System Infrastructure Planning is set out in Director of Health Finance.dot.