Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s Client Guide to Construction Projects provides guidance to the public sector on the conduct of construction projects. This includes guidance on how to ensure value for money through the planning, design, procurement and management of projects. It covers a range of topics including governance, risk management, change control, business case development and delivery of quality during project initiation and construction.

The Scottish Government has also rigorous processes to assure that all projects are technically feasible and commercially viable. These are mandated for all projects which fall within the scope of the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) and are conducted routinely at various set stages of projects. The Scottish Government also leads best practice guidance and capability for inviting, awarding and managing construction contracts, including dealing with external pricing and logistical shocks which could materially affect project delivery.

School counselling services are available to all pupils aged 10 and over, including primary and special school pupils, funded by our investment of £16 million per annum to local authorities.

The Scottish Government engaged with professional counselling bodies prior to establishing counselling services who advised that therapeutic counselling is not appropriate for younger pupils.

School counselling is just one part of a wider package of mental health and wellbeing support available to school-aged children and young people. We provide local authorities with baselined funding of £15 million per annum to deliver community-based mental health and wellbeing supports for children and young people aged 5 to 24 (or up to age 26 for care-experienced young people), including age-appropriate interventions for younger children such as play-based therapies and family support.

On 3 March 2026, the former Deputy First Minister and the former Cabinet Secretary for Transport informed Parliament of the Scottish Government’s proposal to directly award contracts for four new vessels Ferguson Marine. These contracts cover replacements for the research vessel Scotia, the fisheries protection vessel Minna, and two additional ferries to be delivered as part of Phase 2 of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme (SVRP2).

Fulfilment of the proposed programme, subject to due diligence processes to assess viability, would secure a pipeline of work and allow the shipyard to move ahead with its modernisation plans while pitching for additional orders on the open market.

The proposed contracts would also unlock the remainder of the £14.2m committed by the Scottish Government to upgrade the yard’s infrastructure, improve productivity and streamline production.

Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are licensed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Assessment of bathing water quality and the environmental impacts of CSOs are matters for SEPA.

SEPA monitors the quality of designated bathing water sites for the purpose of protecting human health during the bathing water season. When poor water quality is predicted or a pollution incident is detected, SEPA issues warnings against bathing, enabling beach users to make an informed choice about using the water or choosing shore-based activities.

Scottish Water has advised that it has found no evidence of operational issues affecting the four Portobello (Central) CSOs within the past three months. Discharges related to normal operations are highly diluted and do not necessarily result in pollution incidents. Any suspected Environmental Pollution Incidents should be reported to the SEPA.

Tackling racialised health inequalities is a priority for this government and we recognise the disparities in outcomes for black and ethnic minority women in Scotland.

This work is well underway, however it is complex and officials are working with Environmental Standards Scotland to take forward a full scope of work that is practical in advance of a full understanding of the emerging recast EU Urban Wastewater Directive As previously noted in the answers to S6W-40574 on 30 September 2025, S6W-38373 on 17 June 2025 and S6W-42837 on 16 January 2026, I will provide an update to Parliament once this work has reached an appropriate stage.

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.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that our health and social care system operates as efficiently and effectively as possible. Our National Flow Plan, which we will publish within the first 100 days of government, will aim to ensure our care system works more smoothly and supports better outcomes for individuals accessing services.

The requirement for individual social work assessments is set out in legislation. Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships have a duty to assess the social care support needs of individuals and, having given due regard to the results of those assessments, decide whether those needs call for the provision of any service. These assessments are an essential part of our health and care system, ensuring that the most vulnerable people can access the care and support they need.

The information requested on how many whole-time equivalent NHS podiatrists have been employed in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

Workforce planning for podiatry is taken forward as part of the wider Allied Health Professions workforce. The Allied Health Professions Education and Workforce Policy Review (2023) set out actions to ensure a sustainable workforce, and an advisory board is overseeing implementation. This includes expanding and diversifying routes into careers, such as “earn as you learn” models, and supporting initiatives like the PREPARE programme, which enables podiatrists to train while employed. These actions are designed to strengthen the training pipeline and support recruitment and retention.

In February we announced our intention to introduce a Rural and Islands Housing Grant Scheme to complement existing funds within the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, including the Rural and Islands Housing Fund and the Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund, both of which are open to application to March 2028.

The development of this new grant scheme will be taken forward with rural and housing partners. The scheme will be open to individuals to help meet the cost of securing a permanent home. It is expected it will provide support to first time buyers, families, rural returners and others to help them access affordable owner occupation in the rural and island communities of their choice.

Our intention is that the fund will be operational in 2026-2027 but will want to take time to develop the finer details in collaboration with rural and island housing partners to ensure that this scheme meets the needs of rural and island communities.

The Private Jet Tax will be implemented as higher rates of Air Departure Tax (ADT) which will apply to the carriage of passengers by air on private jet flights from Scottish airports.