Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42300 on 11 December 2025.

Programme costs and budgets as well as construction and delivery timelines are currently being reviewed alongside vessel and infrastructure options and will be included in the Outline Business Case.

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.

We do not currently have a plan to make bleed kits available nationally across Scotland but we encourage the public to focus on calling the emergency services for assistance in the case of an emergency and encourage members of the public, including young people themselves, to learn the basic first aid skills which could be vital in saving a life.

Whilst our approach to tackling knife crime is to prevent young people from picking up a knife in the first instance, it is important that bystanders are given the best advice on how to provide direct pressure to a bleeding wound using readily available items such as dry towels or clothing. Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) call handlers are well trained to provide first aid advice to bystanders before an ambulance arrives.

SAS is following the position of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, which is supported by a number of UK organisations such as the London Ambulance Service and the NHS England London Violence Reduction Programme, in promoting bystander first aid but not the general role out of commercially available bleed kits. The SAS major trauma team regularly reviews how best to treat patients experiencing significant bleeding, which includes reviewing and taking part in guidance and research.

The contractors carrying out Community Needs Assessment (CNA) work for Transport Scotland are appointed via procurement from a framework of pre-qualified organisations.

1.The CNAs for Cowal and Rosneath were undertaken by Stantec. The call-off contract was awarded in January 2023.

2.The CNAs for the Sounds of Barra and Harris ferry services are being undertaken in-house. Work started with the launch of user surveys in August 2025.

3.The CNAs for Coll, Colonsay, Iona, Kerrera, Lismore, Mull and Tiree, are being undertaken by Stantec. The call-off contract was awarded in November 2025.

4.The CNAs for the Outer Hebrides (mainland routes), Small Isles, Skye and Raasay are scheduled to commence shortly and contractors are currently being procured.

5.CNA work for the other Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services routes is planned to commence in 2026. Contractors have not yet been procured.

Social Security Scotland provides three benefits specifically for unpaid carers, including Carer’s Allowance Supplement which provides extra support only available in Scotland. Carer’s Allowance Supplement is worth £587 in 2025/26 with eligible carers receiving the most recent payment of £293.50 from the 4th of December. From March 2026 we will make further improvements to support for unpaid carers, including new extra support for carers getting Carer Support Payment and caring for more than one person – a Carer Additional Person Payment worth £520 a year for each additional person being cared for.

Parents of disabled children can also benefit from support through Child Disability Payment, Child Winter Heating Payment, and our five family payments, including Scottish Child Payment. We are committed to uprating all forms of assistance delivered under the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 so that they retain their value as costs rise.

Beyond social security, parents across Scotland can benefit from a range of support under our cost-of-living guarantee, including free school meals and funded childcare hours.

Scottish Ministers are considering the Scottish budget for 2026-27, and this will be announced on 13 January 2026.

Transport Scotland is a member of the Craignure Pier Development Working Group chaired by Argyll and Bute Council; as well as being a member of the Craignure Marine Infrastructure Liaison Group (CMILG). Transport Scotland provides advice and support to the delivery of improved pier facilities for the Craignure-Oban route. Each group and its members meet on a regular basis, further details such as project working group minutes can be accessed via the Argyll and Bute Council dedicated project page: Current situation - Craignure Ferry Terminal | Argyll and Bute Council.

At an international level, APHA monitors any major, notifiable or new and emerging animal disease outbreaks worldwide on behalf of all GB administrations. We do this as an early warning to assess the risk they may pose to the UK, in particular those diseases which impact on animal health and welfare, international trade, public health or wider society. We assess the risk that diseases might come into the UK through trade in animals or animal products (legal or illegal), through movement of wildlife, or through movement of things such as insects which may carry a disease. We use these outbreak assessments to help us decide how to manage or reduce the risks.

In Scotland (and across Great Britain) the GB Dead Wild Bird Surveillance Scheme, administered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on behalf of the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and Defra (England), allows members of the public to report dead wild birds (via a helpline and/or online reporting tool), and for a selection of these birds (based on a triage criteria) to be tested for avian influenza.

The purpose of the scheme is to capture information on the general location and strains of avian influenza that might be prevalent in GB. This data then helps administrations to build up a picture of the current risks, and shapes how they then respond in policy terms. In addition to this, NatureScot have a network of reporters across Scotland who provide early intelligence on unusual mortality levels in wild bird species.

Although the reporting of suspicion of notifiable avian disease in wild birds is not mandatory, legislative changes in Scotland in 2023 made the reporting of suspicion of the virus in mammals a legal requirement. Members of the public are therefore instructed to report such cases to APHA.

The GB Poultry Survey also carries out passive surveillance on poultry premises (including gamebird premises) across Great Britain, on a ‘testing to exclude’ basis.

Underpinning all of this, the avian virology team at APHA Weybridge hosts both the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) International reference laboratory (IRL), and the UK National reference laboratory (NRL) for Avian Influenza (AI). In doing so, APHA brings technical excellence to the global diagnostic field that is supported by active research with both applied and fundamental targets. Together, the influenza team underpin the UK capability and capacity in dealing with potential incursions of influenza with an emphasis on AI virus (AIV) and its potential threat to the UK.

In Scotland (and across Great Britain) the GB Dead Wild Bird Surveillance Scheme, administered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on behalf of the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and Defra (England), allows members of the public to report dead wild birds (via a helpline and/or online reporting tool) throughout the year, and for a selection of these birds (based on a triage criteria) to be tested for avian influenza.

Throughout the winter of 2025-2026 the UK National reference laboratory (NRL) for Avian Influenza will continue to test samples for highly pathogenic avian influenza and other notifiable avian diseases from this scheme (and from poultry samples collected though the GB Poultry Survey).

The purpose of the scheme is to capture information on the general location and strains of avian influenza that might be prevalent in GB. This data then helps administrations to build up a picture of the current risks, and shapes how they then respond in policy terms.

The scheme, in terms of the bird species collected aligns with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and its published target list of wild bird species for passive surveillance of HPAI viruses. This target list of surveillance species is published to ensure that that the surveillance in wild birds conducted by European Member Countries and other European countries is carried out correctly and that the relevant species are targeted.

In addition to this, NatureScot have a network of reporters across Scotland who provide early intelligence on unusual mortality levels in wild bird species.

During, and outwith, the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, representatives of the Scottish Government Animal Disease Control Branch have daily interactions with Defra, the Welsh Government, and often with DAERA (NI) officials, regarding all manner of policy matters relating to the outbreak, including representation at joint industry expert groups and policy forums, including the Animal Disease Policy Group (ADPG).

In addition to this, the Scottish Government, along with Defra, the Welsh Government and DAERA host a twice-weekly meeting with the GB Avian Diseases Core Group (with representatives from industries impacted by the outbreak).

Furthermore, along with other administrations, Scottish Government officials attend local authority outbreak disease forums focussed on disease outbreak activities and the enforcement by local authorities of disease control measures.

The 2025-26 Budget has allocated nearly £2.2 billion for social care and integration, representing an increase of over £1.2 billion since 2021-22. This goes almost £350 million beyond the Scottish Government’s original commitment to increase social care funding by 25% (£840 million) over the lifetime of the Parliament.

We have a clear plan to reduce delayed discharge and are investing more than £220 million to tackle waiting list backlogs, improve capacity and remove blockages that are keeping some patients in hospital longer than they need to be. This includes an initial allocation of over £20m to support Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS’s whole system plan to improve patient flow.

Alongside the record investment committed, we are also working with local system leaders to support their health and social care improvement reforms – rebalancing care towards community, rehabilitation and prevention based services like Hospital at Home that help improve patient outcomes and prevent further hospital care.

On suspicion and subsequent confirmation of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) at the infected premises near Lanark, South Lanarkshire, the Scottish Government, in conjunction with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) activated its robust contingency plans. To meet its legal obligations under the Avian Influenza and Influenza of Avian Origin in Mammals (Scotland) Order 2006, restrictions were placed immediately on the suspect premises and, on confirmation of disease, a 3 kilometre Protection Zone and 10 kilometre Surveillance Zone were also put in place around the infected premises, thereby placing controls on poultry, poultry products and other movements which have the potential to spread disease.

Surveillance and disease tracings are being carried out as part of a comprehensive epidemiological and veterinary investigation, in order to further contain the outbreak by identifying the source of the infection and any possible onward spread.

The current compensation process in place in Scotland is that, when animals are culled, as part of Scottish Government’s response to controlling HPAI outbreaks on affected premises, compensation, as set out in the Animal Health Act 1981, is payable for healthy birds. The amount of compensation is established using the relevant valuation rate card (or for specialist stock by a specialist valuer). The valuation rate cards are updated by APHA five times per year (in November, January, March, June and September) to ensure rates are in line with average market values for the types of birds covered.