We are grateful to the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls and their Empowering Women Panel for their dedication and invaluable insights as we have worked in partnership to develop an Equality Strategy for Women and Girls. Subject to the outcome of the Scottish Parliament election, we are committed to publishing this strategy early in the next administration.

The ScotZEB3 competitive funding round closed on 26 February with applications currently under consideration. Funding under ScotZEB3 is not
pre-allocated to specific operators or regions. All applications are being assessed by an independent evaluation panel against the published criteria, with Ministers making final funding decisions. The outcome of the funding round will be announced in due course, once the decision-making process is complete.

The Scottish Government is committed to introducing 20mph limits on appropriate roads across Scotland by the end of March 2026. Of the 75 locations on the trunk road network that were assessed as being appropriate for a reduced speed limit. Good progress has been made in implementing these with 64 already having a 20mph speed limit in place. 10 of the remaining locations are currently programmed to have a 20mph speed limit in place by 31 March 2026. The exception is the A78 in Greenock. While Transport Scotland will have the necessary Temporary Traffic Regulation Order made and associated works on the trunk road complete by 31 March, the 20mph speed limit will not become live until Inverclyde Council complete their works on the adjacent side roads. Inverclyde Council have indicated that this will be done on 27 April.

The Planning Application Statistics are published for Q1&Q2 (midyear), Q3&Q4 (yearend) and annually (all quarters) by the Scottish Government and can be accessed at www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics.

The statistics for Quarters 1 and 2 of the 2025-26 reporting period are due to be published on 29 May 2026.

The Planning Application Statistics are not the sole indicators of the performance of the planning system. The National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC), a post funded by Scottish Government and hosted by the Improvement Service, has implemented the National Planning Improvement Framework which requires authorities to assess themselves against twelve attributes of a high performing planning authority.

The NPIC has recently published updates on the progress planning authorities have made with their National Planning Improvement Framework Improvement Action Plans. These can be viewed at: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/planning-and-place-based-approaches/national-planning-improvement/improvement-action-plans-and-performance-assessments.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring disabled people get the support they are entitled to and Social Security Scotland has robust quality assurance and evaluation processes to ensure the accuracy and integrity of decision making. Since the launch of ADP to October 2025, 45% of new applications have been approved, slightly higher than the 44% of new applications awarded PIP in England and Wales over the same period.

The Scottish Government acknowledges the Scottish Health Technologies Group recommendations regarding specialist interventions for managing chronic non-malignant pain in adults. NHS Scotland is required to consider SHTG recommendations and discussions are underway to understand how those recommendations can inform sustainable, consistent and effective service delivery across Scotland.

We continue to work with work with clinicians, third sector organisations and people with lived experience of chronic pain to deliver the actions in our Pain Management Service Delivery Framework.

We have set out the wider policy within which NHS Scotland is expected to deliver services and expect all NHS Boards, including NHS Highland, to provide high quality care that is safe, effective and person-centred. We expect that decisions about the appropriateness of treatment for chronic pain, or specific medications for pain management, will be made by the clinician in discussion with the patient to ensure the most suitable treatment is made available based on their medical history.

Transport Scotland is undertaking consultation and engagement on the strategic approaches for the M8 Woodside Viaducts Permanent Solution project through the current public exhibition process, which runs until 25 March. This consultation is open to all stakeholders, including users of the wider trunk road network such as the M74. In addition to holding two in-person public exhibitions in Glasgow on 25 February at Dundasvale Residents Hall and 4 March at Woodside Halls, a virtual exhibition room was launched on 25 February, to allow those unable to attend the in-person events to view the exhibition material and provide feedback. To maximise awareness and participation, Transport Scotland has taken a range of proactive steps to promote the consultation, including:

The Scottish Government continues to seek solutions to address immediate risks and to progress with long-term remediation at the Tarbolton Moss former landfill site, engaging with partners including South Ayrshire Council and SEPA.

SEPA continues to monitor the site regularly. The most recent site assessments indicate that site conditions are stable. However, there continues to be an impact on local surface waters.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Data on ELC placements may be held by local Councils. It is the responsibility of each Local Authority to plan for, and manage, ELC placements in line with their statutory duties in relation to funded ELC delivery, including having regard to the statutory guidance on cross-boundary placements.

The Scottish Government provides the vast majority of local government funding – including funding for delivery of the 1140 entitlement – by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The needs-based formula used to distribute the total funding available for local government is kept under constant review and is agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year. While the Scottish Government is always open to suggestions to improve the funding formula, any fundamental changes must properly come through COSLA in the first instance.