Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to supporting active farming and sustainable food production through direct payments, regardless of choices made elsewhere. The 2026 payments strategy aims to maintain the recent years payment timings for Direct Payments and Scottish Rural Development Plan (SRDP) funding.

Scottish Ministers have committed in the Rural Support Plan to providing certainty, investment, and preparation through to 2030, delivering direct support to provide the industry with reassurance and boost confidence in long-term investment. Stability does not mean no change – we are committed to our ongoing programme of reform designed and delivered in partnership with our rural communities and valued stakeholders.

The Road Safety Framework to 2030 sets out Scotland’s ambition to reduce deaths and serious injuries by 50% and to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030.

To support this ambition, the Scottish Government is investing £41 million in road safety in 2026-27. This includes £750,000 to our established Road Safety Framework Fund in 2026-27. This fund enables local authorities and partners to develop and deliver targeted road safety initiatives, any applications for Community Speed Watch initiatives would be considered through this fund. These projects play an important role in promoting safer driving behaviours, supporting communities, and helping to reduce casualties across Scotland’s road network.

The Class 222 trains are expected to enter passenger service by late 2027, with a phased introduction continuing through 2028. The full fleet is expected to be in operation by the December 2028 timetable.

Following successful procurement, the Class 222 trains will undergo an extensive £80 million overhaul and refurbishment prior to delivery to ScotRail, supported by £67 million of investment from the Scottish Government.

They will provide a more consistent, reliable, comfortable, accessible and family-friendly experience for passengers, helping to encourage more people to travel by rail rather than by car, while also support the long-term sustainability of InterCity services by reducing emissions and lowering operating costs through improved energy efficiency.

The Scottish Government has raised this issue with the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) at both Ministerial and official level.

I recently wrote to the Foreign Secretary, welcoming the release of detainees and pressing the UK Government to seek reassurance from the Israeli Government regarding the safety and wellbeing of all UK nationals during their detention. I also urged the UK Government to make clear to the Israeli Government that the treatment evidenced is unacceptable, as well as raising concerns on the potential detention of those on the flotilla in international waters. Officials have been in regular contact with FCDO on this issue.

The Scottish Government is committed to an infrastructure solution to address the A83 Rest and Be Thankful landslip risks. Delivery of a permanent and resilient solution is a priority, and Transport Scotland continues to seek ways to achieve that as quickly as possible.

Following publication of draft Orders for both the long-term solution and future phases of the medium-term solution on 13 December 2024 Transport Scotland received a number of representations, including objections, to the published draft Orders and the project team are working to resolve these where possible.

If it is not possible to resolve the objections a Public Local Inquiry may be required to consider objections received and not withdrawn.

As with all infrastructure projects, procurement and construction of the long-term solution can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory authorisation process and thereafter a timetable for delivery can be determined.

Information on prostate cancer staging is available via Public Health Scotland Routes to Diagnosis publication. It is worth noting that survival rates, the most crucial measure for any patient, remain high in comparison to other tumours. Public Health Scotland’s Cancer Survival in Scotland data set confirms that Scotland’s five-year survival rate for prostate cancer is 88.6%, similar to that of the other UK nations.

The Scottish Government takes advice from the UK National Screening Committee(UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group that informs screening policy across the UK, regarding national screening programmes. Should a recommendation be made to introduce targeted prostate screening, the organisations that oversee screening will advise us on how to take that recommendation forward.

The member has previously raised this issue, and the position remains as set out in our earlier response, it is for NHS Boards and their planning partners to design and deliver healthcare services that meets the needs of the local population, in line with national policies, frameworks and best practice.

Notwithstanding this, NHS Grampian, led by its strengthened executive team, continues to implement initiatives to reduce acute occupancy and support improved patient flow across the system through its escalation Improvement Plan. Targeted work is underway at Dr Gray’s Hospital including recent expansion of the Discharge to Assess pathway across the Moray Health and Social Care Partnership. This is expected to support a reduction in length of stay at the site by minimising unnecessary delays to patient discharge. In parallel, front door frailty services are also being strengthened which will reduce avoidable admissions whilst improving outcomes for older patients.

Data on collisions which cause injury and take place on the road network, including adjacent pavements and cycle lanes, is collected by Police Scotland as part of the Great Britain-wide dataset known as STATS19.

The following tables provide the number of injury road collisions recorded as involving an e-bike or an e-scooter and pedestrians between 2016 and 2024, the last full year for which we currently have data.

E-scooters and e-bikes are not designated vehicle types collected within STATS19, and as such they can only be identified using free-text fields which capture other vehicles and similar. This is likely to represent an incomplete record of e-bikes in particular, as it is not always possible to identify where e-bikes may have been recorded as bicycle or electric motorcycle, which are both designated vehicle types.

Transport Scotland is currently part of a working group led by the Department for Transport, which is considering how the collection of injury road collision data for different vehicle types, and for e-bikes in particular, can be improved.

Number of injury road collisions involving e-bikes and pedestrians

The Scottish Government supports Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and training providers to work with employers to raise awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships to their business.

SDS promote all types of apprenticeship opportunities, including bricklaying, as an attractive career path through their all-age career service, in every local authority. An SDS Careers Adviser is embedded in every school in Scotland to highlight the career options available to people, including apprenticeships.

The My World of Work website, used in schools to support young people, includes in depth information about apprenticeships, whilst apprenticeships.scot is promoted to all ages as the main source of information about Scottish Apprenticeships. SDS also work with partners and employers to highlight the importance of apprenticeships particularly through Scottish Apprenticeship Week.

SDS has also explored how to better support the construction workforce through the recently published research they commissioned, on behalf of the Skills and Workforce Group of the Construction Accord.

In tandem, a short-life working group led by the Scottish Funding Council, has focused on developing practical solutions to strengthen learner pathways and improve workforce retention in the sector. This work, in collaboration with the Scottish Government, college sector, SDS and the Construction Industry Training Board, is nearing completion.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) by ensuring that charging infrastructure is comprehensive, convenient, and accessible to all. I understand the importance of enabling those without access to off street parking to charge their vehicles conveniently, safely and cost-effectively.

The Road (Scotland) Act 1984 identifies that responsibility for private installations sits with local roads authorities. Under Section 109 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, local authorities have the power to issue permits for the installation of private apparatus, such as cross-pavement charging. Decisions about permitting cross-pavement charging are therefore the responsibility of Scotland’s local authorities.

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, following a consultation with Scotland’s roads authorities. This guidance addresses legal, safety, and accessibility issues and supports local authorities to make decisions on cross-pavement charging.

Through our Cross-Pavement Charging Grant Fund, this Government is providing up to £3,500 to households to support the installation of cross-pavement charging solutions for domestic properties that lack off-street parking, subject to local authority approval.