Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government publishes a ‘Major Capital Projects Progress Update’ every six months, the latest of which was published on 17 October 2025. The information asked for in the question is included within this report which can be found by way of the following web link: www.gov.scot/major-capital-projects-progress-update-august-2025

An accompanying update on the progress of ‘Major Capital Projects’ is also provided to the Convener of the Public Audit Committee at the same time and this can be found by way of the following Scottish Parliamentary web link: www.parliament.scot/public-audit-committee//major-capital-projects-update-october-2025

On 13 January 2026, we published a new Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline for the next four financial years which contains projects over £5 million and programmes over £20 million. This was accompanied by a spreadsheet which set out detail on expected costs and timescales. We will report on the progress of delivering the projects and programmes set out in the Delivery Pipeline every six months. The Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline can be found by way of the following web link: www.gov.scot/infrastructure-delivery-pipeline-2026

Self-assessment for income tax is reserved to the UK Government, however given the devolved nature of childminding legislation and regulation, it is disappointing childminders in Scotland were not consulted regarding changes to the administration of the wear and tear tax relief allowance.

Scottish Ministers understand the concerns the sector has raised about increased administrative work for childminders, and the creation of a two tier system which may impact childcare capacity and childminders’ income. As such, we wrote to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on 4 February 2026 highlighting these concerns and asking the UK Government to consider pausing implementation.

Our support for Scotland’s childminding sector in 2025-26 included a further £1.6m funding for the Scottish Childminding Association to continue delivering a national programme of childminder recruitment and retention.

The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will expand into domestic maritime emissions for vessels of 5000 gross tonnage and above under the provisions of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Extension to Maritime Activities) Order 2026 currently being scrutinised by Parliament. The instrument does not extend the scheme to emissions for international maritime voyages, and UK ETS policy on this topic is currently under consideration after a recent ETS Authority consultation published in November 2025.

The ETS Authority, the governing body for the scheme comprising of the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive, conducted an Impact Assessment to support scrutiny of this policy as part of the laying of the instrument. The Scottish Government also conducted an Islands Community Impact assessment and a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment to support this legislation.

All receipts from the UK ETS across all four nations accrue to the consolidated fund, and contribute toward funding government priorities, such as the net zero transition, where UK Government spending flows through Barnett consequentials.

In Scotland we are already advancing several programmes of work on maritime decarbonisation, including our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture and work on blue carbon outlined in our draft Climate Change Plan 2026-2040. We are also engaging with Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) on increasing the proportion of our ferries which are low emission to 48% by 2040, as well as increasing the ability of our ferries to utilise low-carbon renewable grid electricity for their energy requirements.

Ports in Scotland are independent statutory bodies – each governed by their own local legislation – and are deemed commercial entities. The relevant port authority is thus responsible for day-to-day commercial decision-making including investments and areas of priority spend and this is not the remit of the Scottish Government. Several Scottish ports have already introduced shore power facilities, including at Port of Aberdeen, Eyemouth, Forth Ports, Fraserburgh and Montrose. Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) are also installing shore power facilities at a number of ports on the lifeline ferry network, including Port Askaig and Kennacraig.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the welfare of all animals in Scotland. We have a PfG commitment to consult on the use of farrowing crates and will continue to work closely with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations on how best to achieve improvements in animal welfare including ways to improve sow welfare, where it is both practical and sensible to do so.

NHS Health Boards hold this information, not the Scottish Government, and I suggest the Member should direct her question to the Boards.

Funding has not been allocated in 2025-26 to NHS boards for this purpose.

The move to a three-yearly revaluation cycle was a key recommendation of the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates. The legislative provisions to introduce the shorter revaluation cycle and one-year tone date received universal cross party support and were warmly welcomed by the business community including the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the Scottish Beer and Pub Association and a consortium of Hospitality Industry bodies, including Hospitality UK (Scotland) and the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.

Delivering that independent recommendation is critical to the integrity of a rate system which the SCDI noted at the time of the legislation “will be more reflective of, and responsive to, up-to-date market and business conditions”. Where ratepayers have evidence that their rateable values do not reflect up to date market and business conditions, there are robust proposal and appeal processes in place to ensure such issues are addressed. While some properties will see increases in rateable values at the 2026 revaluation, over 40,000 properties will see a decrease and Revaluation Transitional Relief will cap gross bill increases for those seeing the most significant impact.

We have not specifically undertaken analysis of the cost of pausing rates increases for any particular sector but have delivered a comprehensive package of reliefs. 96% of retail, hospitality and leisure properties could benefit from some form of relief in 2026-27.

The free bus travel pilot scheme will operate until 31 March 2026. We recognise that bus travel has the potential to be transformative for people seeking asylum, who are among the most vulnerable in society. The pilot scheme is providing important evidence of the effect of free bus travel in helping people seeking asylum to access essential services and integrate into society, in line with the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy.