Chamber and committees

Any new funding commitments or changes to existing funding will be discussed and agreed through COSLA formal financial governance process which requires agreed recommendations from the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Officers’ Settlement and Distribution Group and political agreement from Scottish Ministers and COSLA political Leaders.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that tenement buildings are properly maintained. The five-yearly building inspections survey was one of the recommendations of the Scottish Parliament’s Working Group on tenement maintenance.

The Scottish Government has committed to reform the Tenement (Scotland) Act 2004 to better meet the needs of relevant owners and tenants to enable repairs, maintenance and enhancement of such properties.

My officials are currently undertaking further scoping work. I will be happy to update on progress once this work has concluded.

Information on the number of people using Self-Directed Support (SDS) budgets for sport or physical activity is not collected or held centrally by the Scottish Government. Responsibility for the planning and delivery of integrated adult health and social care services rests locally with Integration Joint Boards and their partner authorities, which hold information relating to individual support arrangements. Accordingly, the Scottish Government is unable to provide a breakdown by local authority.

I wrote to the convener of the Rural Affairs Committee on 4 September setting out the Government's position on historic rights to ferry. The letter can be read at the following link: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-7/rural-affairs-committee/correspondence/2026/glenelg-and-kylerhea-ferry-service

Scottish Ministers are not minded to call in planning application 24/01934/FUL or listed building consent application 24/01935/LBA relating to the former Hillhead Baptist Church in Glasgow. As the applications remain live, it is for Glasgow City Council to determine them and it would not be appropriate to comment further.

While escaped farmed fish do not always result in impacts on wild populations, the Scottish Government recognises that fish farm escapes have the potential to adversely affect wild salmon through interbreeding (genetic introgression) and competition. As with any development activity, some impacts can be expected, which is why Scotland’s regulatory framework is designed to minimise the risk of escapes and mitigate potential effects. This includes assessment by local authorities through the fish farm consenting process and ongoing regulatory oversight, including monitoring and inspection of containment measures by the Scottish Government Fish Health Inspectorate.

Importantly, this analysis quantified the magnitude of introgression effects at national and regional scales, but not the impacts of introgression on wild salmon populations.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02523 on 15 September 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.

The Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland will be an independent SPCB supported officeholder. Recruitment will be undertaken by a cross-party selection panel. The successful candidate will be appointed by His Majesty, on the nomination of the Scottish Parliament. 

This will be a high-profile public appointment. The selection panel will have an important role to play in ensuring that a high calibre candidate is appointed and we therefore need the interview process to be thorough and robust. 

The Presiding Officer has appointed the cross-party panel and the role is expected to be advertised in September 2026. If a successful candidate is identified as part of this recruitment exercise it is hoped they will be appointed by the end of the year.  

The Lead Clinician for NHS Scotland’s Strategic Network for Long Covid has been working collaboratively with the British Society of Cardiovascular Medicine, PoTS UK and other stakeholders to support the development of UK consensus guidelines for PoTS, which are expected to be published in December 2026.

Once published, the Scottish Government will consider their relevance for NHS Scotland, including how they may support clinicians and services in providing consistent, evidence-informed care for people with PoTS.

The availability and operation of police custody facilities are an operational matter for Police Scotland. Police Scotland keeps custody facilities under regular review and are overseen in this by the Scottish Police Authority as part of its responsibility for delivering effective, safe and sustainable custody services across Scotland.

Police Scotland’s Estates Masterplan sets out their ambition to modernise the policing estate, including the aim to develop a custody estate that meets modern standards and better meet the needs of the future. This will be supported through its revised estate strategy which I expect to be published later in September 2026.

The Scottish Government committed in the Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery: Scotland's Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan to the publication of the range of actions it will take in line with World Health Organization advice as part of a future Alcohol Harm Prevention Plan. That plan will set out action to prevent alcohol harm in Scotland, building on the impact of policies such as Minimum Unit Pricing.

Whilst no decision has been yet been taken, the Scottish Government has continued to consider the appropriate next steps for minimum unit pricing. This will be set out as part of the Alcohol Harm Prevention plan in due course.