Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will work with RNID to agree a deliverable timetable to rollout the ‘Near You’ service nationally and further details will be set out in due course, ensuring that this accounts for any existing local service provision.

We will review the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline (2026-27 to 2029-30) at each Spending Review. It is a live document and new projects and programmes will be added to the pipeline at future updates as investment plans are agreed.

Development of the training package for internationally-qualified dentists is being delivered by Public Services Delivery Scotland and we anticipate this will be introduced in the current financial year.

All territorial Health Boards, with the exception of NHS Orkney that does not currently have a suitably qualified optometrist working in its area, will have an operational Community Glaucoma Service by the end of 2026-27.

The Scottish Government routinely engages with a broad range of stakeholders and is committed to sustaining meaningful and constructive engagement throughout the policy making process.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a separate national assessment of emissions associated with gas and diesel back up generation for hyperscale data centres. An assessment of environmental impacts is undertaken aspart of the planning process for individual developments.

Following the close of the public consultation on 10 June 2026, the Scottish Government will develop and bring forward the commencement and secondary legislation required to implement section 18 of the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2025.

Further information on the consultation is available on the Scottish Government website https://www.gov.scot/publications/estimating-fraud-error-scottish-social-security-system-consultation/.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold a risk register of care facilities at risk of failure. The statutory responsibility for providing appropriate social care capacity lies with local authorities, integrated joint boards, and integrated health and social care partnerships. It would therefore be the responsibility of these bodies to assess local population needs and consider where investment needs to be targeted to improve the social care infrastructure within their area.

The Scottish Government is not routinely sighted on applications for gas connections, but we are aware there are emerging data centre proposals that may have a gas component. The Scottish Government policy position is that new AI infrastructure developments should minimise reliance on fossil fuel solutions and we encourage developers to explore renewable and sustainable alternatives to gas fired generation wherever possible.

There is a longstanding convention, observed by Scottish, UK and other governments, that government does not disclose legal advice except in exceptional circumstances. This convention, which is reflected in the Scottish Ministerial Code, is intended to ensure that full and frank legal advice can be taken by governments, just as other organisations and individuals can take legal advice in confidence and subject to legal professional privilege.