Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 2026. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 2026. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 2026. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 2026. 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.

Following the statutory review, Ministers committed the Scottish Government to a period of reform of the National Performance Framework (NPF). During this period, no changes were made to the current national outcomes and indicators. These remain in operation as is the duty, under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, on public bodies to have regard to them.

We are making positive progress on reform of the NPF. The intention is to deliver a reformed NPF which will be Scotland’s wellbeing framework, setting the vision for the kind of Scotland we would all like to see, and providing strategic direction for better public services.

Subject to final decisions by Ministers, we expect to launch the reformed NPF and national outcomes soon. We will provide an update to Parliament in due course.

Following the statutory review, Ministers have committed the Scottish Government to a programme of reform of the National Performance Framework (NPF).

Activity to support the review has been undertaken as part of the Scottish Government’s core business and delivered within existing staff and programme budgets. As such, a detailed breakdown of costs is not available, as expenditure is not routinely recorded against the NPF as a separate budget line.

Work to develop proposals for a reformed NPF is ongoing, with detailed options to be considered by Ministers. Subject to this process, we expect to publish a reformed NPF soon. An update will be provided to Parliament in due course.

We have continued to keep all ICF projects, including those delivered by Housing Associations, updated on progress of the delivery of ICF following the decision of Ministers to support an extension of ICF with transition funding over 2026-27. We will provide updates on any future plans when known.

I have asked Linda Pollock, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS’ Maternity and Parenting policy was last reviewed in partnership with trade unions in April 2026. It applies to all staff who are entitled to maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave and forms part of the employee contract of employment and sets out specific rights and benefits when applicable.

The policy is compliant with equalities and employment legislation and has been subject to an Equalities and Human Rights Impact Assessment, which was published alongside the finalised policy.

There are no further plans to review the policy at this stage.

The Scottish Government recognises that workforce measures alone are not sufficient to deliver the ambition for reforming public services. The Public Service Reform Strategy sets out a wider programme of reform, including prevention, service redesign and efficiency, with workforce one workstream of the 18 workstreams set out in the strategy. PSR is focussed on improving lives, reducing inequality and ensuring fiscal sustainability.

The Strategy sets out how reform contributes to fiscal sustainability across:

• Prevention: The Strategy emphasises the importance of shifting resource towards prevention to reduce avoidable demand on public services. Analysis published alongside the Strategy indicates that addressing key drivers of demand has the potential to avoid significant long-term public expenditure.
• Improving the quality, and reducing cost, of services through changing our service delivery mode. Through better joining up of services, we can improve the outcomes and experience of services for users (particularly those with disadvantage) and reduce the cost in the system of repeated assessments, telling stories multiple times and administrative costs.
• Efficiency – the Strategy also sets out a programme of efficiency and effectiveness measures, including a commitment to reduce annualised Scottish Government and public body corporate costs by £1 billion over five years.

Taken together, these measures reflect a system-wide approach to reform, rather than one focussed solely on workforce controls, and are intended to ensure that public services are sustainable while continuing to improve outcomes for people and communities.

In March 2021, we published Scotland’s first population strategy, A Scotland for the future: opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population. It sets out the cross-cutting demographic challenges that Scotland faces at national and local level, and sets out a new programme of work to address these challenges and harness new opportunities.

There is an increased need for housing adaptations to support people as they age to live safely and independently at home which is why we have protected the Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) Adaptations Programme budget, maintaining this at £20.9 million for 2026-27. This commitment allows us to continue to support approximately 85 RSLs meet their responsibilities to deliver housing adaptations to disabled tenants.