Chamber and committees

Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan sets out how water resources will be managed during periods of prolonged dry weather. As part of that plan, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Water have established processes to monitor the situation and support those affected.

On 25 April, SEPA published the first in a series of weekly water scarcity reports to update key sectors and stakeholders on the latest position. SEPA, Scottish Water, Nature Scot and the National Farmers Union Scotland are all working to encourage water users to develop contingency plans to minimise their impact on the environment.

Public Water Supplies are largely operating as normal and, due to many years of strategic investment by Scottish Government and Scottish Water to strengthen resilience measures, Scottish Water are able to maintain supplies during prolonged dry periods to all parts of Scotland.

We recognise that there are a number of households, largely in remote and rural locations, who are serviced by private water supplies and who may be affected by water scarcity. The Scottish Government are proactively engaging with local authorities to determine if water scarcity and low water flows are having an impact on households who are reliant on private water supplies. We will continue to assess the conditions closely and liaise with local authorities where necessary.

Table 1 provides information on average gross revenue expenditure in Scotland per child attending pre-school, and per primary and secondary pupil alongside allocations (accounting for teaching and tuition fees funding) per college and university place.

2024-25 figures for Pre-School, Primary and Secondary School will be available after the publication of the 2024-25 Scottish local government finance statistics in February – March 2026.

The Scottish Government do not hold data on Pre-School registrations prior to 2010.

Indicative University and College funding allocations for 2025-26 were published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) earlier this month. These include a cash terms increase in teaching funding for colleges, and a cash terms increase to the Main Teaching Grant (and teaching price) for Universities, compared with last year. These indicative figures have not been included in this table as the underlying calculation requires further details, including the number of controlled and non-controlled funded places, which are not yet available to SFC.

Further detail of College and University Indicative Funding Allocations for 2025-26 can be found at:

College Indicative Funding Allocations 2025-26 - Scottish Funding Council

University Indicative Funding Allocations 2025-26 - Scottish Funding Council

Table 1: Average Expenditure Per Place for each Education Level (Cash Terms)

We recognise that pulmonary rehabilitation is an important element in managing respiratory disease and it is already a key recommendation for all appropriate patients in NICE clinical guidelines, which we expect all NHS Boards to follow.

The Scottish Government has not provided any specific funding to NHS Boards for pulmonary rehabilitation. We provide NHS Boards with baseline funding, and it is for each individual NHS Board to determine how they utilise the resources provided by the Scottish Government to best meet the needs of their local populations.

The Scottish Government’s Respiratory Care Action Plan (RCAP) sets out our priorities from 2021 to 2026 for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people living with respiratory conditions. A number of areas included in the RCAP are broad priorities requiring continuous work rather than finite commitments that can be completed.

We have undertaken action against every area of the Plan.

To give just some examples, significant steps have been taken on preventing respiratory disease with the launch of the Cleaner Air for Scotland Strategy, Warmer Homes Strategy and the refreshed Tobacco Action Plan that have their own specific recommendations and targets, and all of which embed respiratory prevention into wider Scottish Government policy.

In 2024, we published the Quality Prescribing Strategy for Respiratory: A Guide for Improvement 2024-2027 that sets out our ambitions for better access to respiratory care. This can be found here --https://www.gov.scot/publications/quality-prescribing-strategy-respiratory-guide-improvement-2024-2027

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery based at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital is developing national patient pathways for respiratory conditions including severe asthma, COPD and sleep apnoea. This work aligns closely with the commitments in the RCAP.

In 2023, the Scottish Government provided Public Health Scotland with funding to undertake a scoping exercise with a view to developing a respiratory audit programme. However, due to current fiscal challenges, it has not yet been possible to progress this work further.

We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services and we are carefully considering the best way that this can be achieved going forward.

There is no funding solely allocated to the Respiratory Care Action Plan (RCAP) in 2025-2026. However, a number of the commitments in the Plan are being addressed by work that is part of other Scottish Government strategies– such as the Cleaner Air for Scotland Strategy, Warmer Homes Strategy, and the refreshed Tobacco Action Plan - or by additional funding we have provided to NHS Boards on a broader basis to make improvements that apply regardless of condition. This means it is difficult to break down funding we provide to various areas and organisations that is spent on delivering commitments listed in the RCAP.

For example, we are investing a record £21.7bn in our NHS in Scotland in 2025-2026, this includes £200m to reduce waiting times, which will deliver additional MRI, CT, ultrasound and endoscopy procedures and supports the delivery of the RCAP commitment to improve and simplify access to appropriate diagnostic tests.

The Independent Review on the Role of Incineration in Scotland’s Waste Hierarchy (2022) recommended that no further planning permission for incineration facilities, beyond what was already in place, should be granted. This was reflected in National Planning Framework 4, which came into force on 13 February 2023 and is clear that development proposals for energy from waste facilities will not be supported except under very limited circumstances.

The key policy levers on this matter exist within the planning system. We will continue to work with SEPA, planners and the wider sector to ensure appropriate management of incineration capacity issues.

Extender Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) applies the polluter pays principle, ensuring that packaging producers pay for the disposal costs of their packaging when it becomes waste. It incentivises businesses to reduce excess packaging, to design and use packaging that is easily recyclable, and encourage use of reusable and refillable packaging. pEPR funding will go to local authorities to support effective and efficient collection systems for household packaging waste.

Scotland’s whole-system approach to residual waste treatment is set out in the final Circular Economy and Waste Route Map. It includes measures making incineration a less attractive waste treatment method, such as the proposed Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) expansion to include incineration. The Route Map also includes measures that limit the production of plastic upstream and increase its removal from the waste stream prior to incineration, including pEPR.

The Scottish Government recognises the critical challenges and opportunities in transitioning towards a circular economy within the textiles and mattress sectors.

As set out in the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030, we are considering textiles and mattresses as priority products and have committed to publishing a Product Stewardship plan by 2026. We will continue to engage with stakeholders across these sectors to develop policies and actions that will tackle the environmental impact of priority products throughout their lifespan, including disposal options.

Furthermore, from 31 December this year, we will end the practice of landfilling biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) in Scotland from 31 December 2025.

We are presently running a Call for Evidence (CfE) on the potential extension of the BMW ban. This CfE seeks to support consideration of extending the landfill ban to include non-municipal biodegradable wastes by:

• filling information gaps on the types of waste that could fall under an extended ban, as well as their characteristics and environmental impacts;
• filling information gaps on the feasibility of alternative (non-landfill) treatment options for wastes that could fall under an extended ban;
• supporting consideration of any barriers to diverting wastes from landfill;
• To understand if there are wastes for which landfill remains the best option and;
• considering other policies, their timings and interactions with an extended ban that could support the diversion of waste from landfill.

The CfE is being run as part of a wider consultation on potential changes to waste management services in Scotland which also includes a consultation on whether textile collections should be a mandatory requirement for local authorities in Scotland.

The consultation launched on 25 March 2025 and will close on 17 June 2025. You can access and respond to this consultation here: Changes to waste management services - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space.

The detailed information requested is currently being collated and I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 65812).

The Scottish Government is committed to expanding access to diabetes technology and since 2016, we have invested almost £30 million to support expansion. Last year, we established a national programme aiming to provide over 2000 more people with access to hybrid closed loop technology.

Waiting times for insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors and hybrid closed loop systems vary across health boards and are difficult to measure due to the length of time it takes for an individual to receive education and training.

However, since June 2024, our national programme has provided Closed Loop Systems (CLS) to over 2000 people. We have also established a National Onboarding Service, who provide significant additional capacity to support local services. This national programme has additional funding to support more people in 2025-26.

While we recognise that there are still waits for some diabetes technology, we remain committed to increasing access to all those that would benefit.