Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to building a vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive rural economy that meets the goals of achieving a nature-positive and wellbeing economy for future generations.

Our enterprise agencies help businesses across Scotland to start and scale, be more productive, access finance and attract investment, develop new products and services, enter new markets and positively impact on their communities.

We have allocated over £321 million to the enterprise agencies in 2025-26 to support their work and help them unlock the full economic potential of their regions.

The Scottish Government recognises the essential role that heritage has in shaping Scotland's identity, and the importance of protecting and caring for it in a sustainable way so current and future generations can enjoy and benefit from it.

Tartan is inextricably connected with Scotland, its history and its culture. With Tartan Day being a chance for people around the world to mark their connections to Scotland.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the work of Prickly Thistle in maintaining and innovating the craft of tartan weaving in the Highlands.

The Scottish Government welcomes the insights provided by The Circularity Gap Report: Textiles published by Circle Economy. The report highlights critical challenges and opportunities in transitioning towards a circular economy within the textiles sector.

The findings of the report align with the Scottish Government’s proposals set out in the draft circular economy and waste route map to 2030, to tackle textile waste, reduce resource consumption, and encourage sustainable production and consumption practices. The final Route Map will be confirmed in due course.

The Scottish Government will engage with stakeholders across the textiles supply chain to develop policies and actions that reflect the urgency highlighted by this report. We recognise the need for a strategic approach to textiles across the waste hierarchy, from production and consumption, through to recycling and end of life management.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with stakeholders across the textiles supply chain to develop policies and actions that reflect the urgency highlighted by this report.

We will carefully review the recommendations of the Circularity Gap Report: Textiles and consider its findings as part of our ongoing efforts to deliver a net-zero and circular economy for Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on dentists working in NHS dentistry in Scotland who are also registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) as a specialist in special care dentistry.

The Scottish Hospice Leadership Group is comprised of the Chief Executives of most of the independent Scottish hospices and their key partners.

The group is not a Scottish Government body, however Scottish Government officials attend their meetings on a regular basis to discuss matters of mutual interest.

The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health last met the Chair of the group on 18 September 2024 to discuss working towards establishing a longer term sustainable funding model.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has issued two statements via its media centre, on 15 and 22 November, updating the public on its actions regarding recent chemical spill incidents in Coatbridge.

For more information, you can contact SEPA directly at [email protected]

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) remit in relation to such incidents covers monitoring and mitigating potential impacts on the environment. It is working in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council who are leading on development of plans to ascertain exactly what remedial works are required.

For more information, you can contact SEPA directly at [email protected]

As part of a multi-agency response, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) continues to investigate the reported chemical spill incident in the Cameron Street area of Coatbridge. SEPA is at an early stage of this and is unable to provide further details until the conclusion of this investigation.

For more information, you can contact SEPA directly at [email protected]

Scotland has hit the target of 6,000 public electric vehicle charge points two years early.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million in public electric vehicle charging. As a result of this early investment, and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has one of the most comprehensive public charging networks in the UK, and the latest UK Department for Transport statistics show that Scotland has the highest number of public charge points on a per head of population basis of any part of the UK, except London, and the most rapid charge points of any part of the UK.

I am pleased to announce that today we have published our draft Vision Implementation Plan. This draft plan identifies the actions required to deliver our ambitious Vision for public electric vehicle charging in Scotland, as well as a route map for delivering approximately 24,000 additional public electric vehicle charge points by 2030.

Meeting our ambitions will require concerted efforts from public and private bodies alike, and the draft Implementation Plan has been developed in consultation with the key stakeholders that share collective responsibility for delivering public electric vehicle charging in Scotland. The plan is being published alongside a consultation on its proposed actions, and I warmly welcome all responses to this consultation, which will strengthen the final Implementation Plan and route map to be published in 2025.

Today I am also pleased to announce a further £1.9 million has been awarded to Perth & Kinross and Angus Councils through our EV Infrastructure Fund. This additional funding will enable both local authorities to work in partnership with the private sector to deliver an additional 177 public electric vehicle charge points, with a particular focus on delivering infrastructure in rural communities, to ensure Scotland continues to lead the UK on public electric vehicle charging.

Special care dentists provide services through the Public Dental Service (PDS). As these are NHS services run by Health Boards, matters of management of the PDS will be Board responsibility.