Chamber and committees

The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme is an important mechanism to support new low-carbon electricity generation. Administrative strike prices are determined by the UK Government through the competitive CfD auction round process. Information regarding the most recent CfD Allocation Round 7 including strike prices can be found here: Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 7: results - GOV.UK.

We are not currently in a position to provide a timescale for when the Community Low Vision Service will be fully rolled out across Scotland. However, this is a critical priority and I can confirm that work has resumed on the design and development phases of the service.

This is a significant programme of work and will require extensive collaboration with a range of partners including NHS Scotland, the community optometry and dispensing optician professions and the visual impairment sector.

At the Retail Industry Leadership Group (RILG) meeting on Tuesday 19 May, a commitment was made to engage meaningfully at the appropriate stage of the process.

To support preparation of National Planning Framework 4, the then Scottish Government commissioned independent research on the Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of NPF4 proposed National Developments. This was first published in 2021 and updated in October 2022.

The conflict in the Middle East has had a significant impact on rural communities who rely on heating oil, including in Moray. That is why we established the Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme, enabling eligible households to apply for £300 towards their bills. Former Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Miri McAllan, engaged with UK Government on this issue prior to the election and official level engagement is ongoing.

We have repeatedly urged the UK Government to take their responsibility for energy pricing and market regulation seriously. This means putting in place robust and effective consumer protection and support in the heating oil sector as a matter of urgency.

In order to make use of Scotland’s abundant homegrown renewable resources, and ensure communities like Moray are not reliant on volatile global markets, we have formally requested the devolution of energy powers to the Scottish Parliament. This will allow us to take decisive action to bring down energy bills.

The Scottish Government supports strong alliances to tackle the availability of illicit vapes. This includes working with The Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) and across the 4-nations as part of the Cross Government Vape Enforcement Committee, which is led by the UK Department of Business and Trade.

Local Government have a responsibility to ensure local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities, including enforcement of existing legislation sales, illicit tobacco and vapes, and the single use vape ban.

In 2025-2026, Scottish Government made available an additional £300,000 to local authorities to support implementation of the ban on single use vapes, including storage and responsible disposal of any single use vapes seized. Local authorities now also have powers to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £800 for anyone found to be selling or supplying single-use vapes.

The Scottish Government is working in close partnership with COSLA and Scottish Swimming to deliver a national programme of free swimming lessons for all primary school children. A School Swimming Working Group, chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, has now been established to support both the development of the initiative and its subsequent implementation. Focused on the Primary 5 cohort predominantly, this three year phased approach will ultimately result in every primary-aged child in Scotland receiving access to high-quality swimming lessons.

Strong progress has already been made, particularly in advancing the delivery model and refining cost arrangements, to ensure that the programme being developed is robust and sustainable.

The foundations for a national programme are firmly in place, and partners are well positioned to move into implementation, working towards delivery of free swimming lessons for primary school children across Scotland.

We want women and girls in Scotland to experience the best possible health, throughout their lives. However, it remains an unwelcome reality that communities across Scotland experience health, quality of life and even life expectancy differently depending on their circumstances.

In order to tackle this challenge, the Scottish Government and COSLA, in collaboration with our wider partners, published Scotland’s Population Health Framework in June 2025. This takes a cross-government and cross-sector approach to improving the key building blocks of health and addressing the broad, interrelated issues that shape health outcomes across the population. These building blocks include a focus on: good early years and education; good work and income; healthy places; and equitable health care.

To further augment this approach, Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan has a renewed focus on Optimising Future Health, supporting improvement in women’s healthy life expectancy, so they can enjoy longer healthier lives with better health, in later years.

The Scottish Government introduced Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation to support the public sector in transitioning their current heating systems to low carbon alternatives, and to reduce energy use by utilising a wide range of energy efficiency measures. A breakdown of funding received by public bodies in the Highlands & Islands electoral region in 2025-26, per public body, is set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government recognises that one of the most effective ways of tackling child poverty is by enabling parents and carers to enter sustainable work, supporting them to increase their income from employment.

We have therefore committed to investing £90 million in devolved employability services for each year of the Scottish Spending Review, running to 2028-29. In 2026-27, this includes over £40 million for Parental Employability Support, and £5 million for the delivery of Specialist Employability Support, ensuring parents continue to receive targeted, person-centred help to move towards, enter and progress in employment.

Delivered through the No One Left Behind approach, our Parental Employability Support offer is in place across all 32 Local Authority areas with support available to low-income parents. Key-workers provide tailored, one-to-one support to help reduce barriers to employment, identifying flexible work opportunities and linking to wrap-around services.

Of the 101,943 people who started to receive support from April 2020, 32,005 (31%) were parents. 29% of parents who have started receiving support have entered employment. Additionally, 9% have been supported to enter further or higher education or training, 19% gained a qualification, 4% started work experience and 3% started volunteering.

Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2026-2031 sets out our commitment to drive further progress by investing up to £19 million in 2026-27 to develop a new Transport to Employment offer. This support aims to reduce costs for low-income parents and enhance pathways into work at a local level by addressing challenges of accessibility, availability and affordability of transport.