Chamber and committees

Ensuring the sustainability of NHS dental services is a priority for Scottish Government, which is why we introduced dental payment reform in November 2023 to make it more attractive for dentists to provide NHS services, by paying fees that better reflect the current market rates of providing dental services to patients. The 2025/26 Scottish Budget further reinforces our commitment to NHS dentistry, with an increase of almost 15% in funding for primary care dental services agreed. This takes total funding to over half a billion pounds for the first time and means that over the course of this Parliament, we will have increased investment in primary care dental services by 33%.

Scottish Government has also made provision in the 2025-26 budget for grant awards, such as the Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) grant, which pays out up to £100,000 for establishing, relocating or extending NHS dental practices in eligible areas; and the Recruitment and Retention allowance, which allows new trainee dentists to qualify for ‘golden hello’ payments of up to £37,500 in the first three years of practice.

The Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification will be updated following the release of the next Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland publication by National Records of Scotland. This is currently planned to be released in 2028, based on the 2026 mid-year population estimates. A revised version of the Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification will then be produced using the new settlement population figures.

The Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification 2022, based on the 2022 Census settlement population figures, was published in December 2024:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-urban-rural-classification-2022/

Scotland’s approach to supporting the integration of refugees and people seeking asylum within our communities is set out in the New Scots refugee integration strategy. The strategy is led jointly by the Scottish Government, COSLA (representing Scottish local authorities) and Scottish Refugee Council.

In 2025-2026 the Scottish Government is providing £3.4m funding to local authorities from the Refugees, Resettlement and Asylum Division budget. This funding is intended to support the integration of people displaced from Ukraine and the full closure of welcome accommodation except to new arrivals in 2025-26.

In addition to this direct funding, wider support is provided to local authorities across Scotland through various routes, including:

• Funding to support COSLA as a joint partner in delivering the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy, and progressing New Scots Delivery Plan actions.
• Funding for the Refugee Support Service (RSS), delivered by Scottish Refugee Council. The RSS supports refugees and people seeking asylum to settle into communities across Scotland through providing advice, information and resources, improving access to support services and facilitating social connections.
• Funding for British Red Cross to deliver a project aimed at increasing the support available to people who arrive in Scotland under Family Reunion visas. This project includes capacity building work to support local authorities to understand family reunion processes and empower them to support people who have recently arrived under family reunion routes.

The number of Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine (ScotGEM) students that graduated in the denoted years are as follows:

(a) 2023 – 46 students

(b) 2024 – 59 students

(c) 2025 – 49 students

A working group, convened by the Permanent Secretary, has been working at pace since April to review relevant policies, guidance and legislation impacted by the Supreme Court judgment. This Working Group is an internal group, comprising senior civil servants from across the Scottish Government. We have engaged at both Ministerial and official level with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as they have consulted on updates to their Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations and submitted a response to their public consultation. The EHRC code of practice will provide important guidance to organisations considering the implications of the judgment. However, work is already underway across the Scottish Government to actively consider the implications of the judgment, considering the legal framework in each area.

An interim update on the practical implications of the judgment was published by the EHRC on April 25, 2025. The EHRC is expected to submit it revised code of practice to the UK Government in the Autumn and we will engage further with the UK Government at that stage.

Section 298 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 establishes a legal obligation which applies at both at an organisational level to Police Scotland, and to the individual officer carrying out a place of safety removal. The constable who took the person to the place of safety is to, as soon as is practicable, inform the local authority in whose area the place of safety is situated and inform the nearest relative of the person who has been removed. They should also inform the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland within 14 days. Police Scotland, as a corporate body, has a duty to ensure policies, procedures and training enables officers to comply with the duties in Section 298.

The Mental Welfare Commission, as the body who monitor the use of the 2003 Act, are best placed to explore why this data may be missing and to work with Police Scotland to improve compliance. My officials meet regularly with the Commission and will work with them to resolve this issue.

In the event of Scotland becoming an independent country, decisions about membership of international organisations or groupings of countries would be a matter for the government of the time, elected by the people of Scotland.

Heating oil and liquified petroleum gas supply chains and energy price regulation are reserved matters. The Scottish Government continues to engage constructively with the UK Government on a regular basis, including on the need to ensure that all energy consumers are suitably considered and protected in matters of regulation and use of reserved policy powers.

High energy prices remain the single greatest driver of fuel poverty. The Social Tariff Working Group recommended that all fuel types should be covered by a social tariff mechanism. This should include support for those using alternative fuels with off-grid consumers treated equitably to those on-grid. This support may be more appropriately delivered via a separate scheme.

We have consistently offered to work with the UK Government to ensure that adequate support is provided to those that need it the most.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39506 on 8 August 2025. 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.

There are currently 80 Scottish registered fishing vessels and a further 21 vessels from other UK and Isle of Man administrations targeting scallops and fitted with Remote Electronic Monitoring equipment. Between 14 June 2024 and 13 August 2025 analysis has been carried out on approximately 1240 fishing voyages targeting Scallops and as a result of this analysis, two infringements are currently under investigation.