Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to delivering on its commitment to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by 800 by 2027. Since 2017 GP headcount has increased by 526 and there are 5,423 GPs now working in Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Action Plan on Wildfires sets out a coordinated approach to preventing, preparing for and responding to wildfires, including through national initiatives to strengthen resilience to all climate-related hazards as outlined in the Scottish National Adaptation Plan, such as peatland restoration.

Through our world leading Peatland ACTION programme, we have carried out restoration on over 59,000 hectares of peatland since 2020, including a record 15,448 hectares in 2025-26. This work will continue in 2026-27, investing a further £28 million to deliver at least another 10,000 ha of peatland restoration, towards our aim of restoring more than 400,000 ha of peatland by 2040. In the immediate aftermath of wildfire, however, time is required to allow natural revegetation processes to take place before significant restoration interventions can be implemented.

Over time, this will ensure that healthy peatlands will continue to play their significant part in the multi-faceted approach we are taking to managing the increasing risk of these devastating events, with healthy restored peatland providing significant protection against the spread of wildfire.

We are keen to develop potential rural planning reforms, informed over the early period of this new Parliament by stakeholder engagement and consultation. This will build on the findings of previous engagement on issues relevant to how planning policy and the planning system impact on rural areas, for example, through the development of the National Planning Framework and on permitted development rights.

No representations have been received suggesting that a new statutory framework to co-ordinate protections and responsibilities relating to war memorials in Scotland is required. However, Ministers are considering their position on the protection afforded to war memorials from damage by the criminal law and, in that context, would welcome representations from members on potential improvements to existing arrangements for the protection of, and responsibilities relating to, war memorials in Scotland.

As you may be aware, the UK Government decided to rule out zonal pricing in July last year. However, the Scottish Government has been clear that the current wholesale electricity market is unfit for purpose, and leaves Scottish consumers exposed to high energy costs, driven by volatile natural gas prices.

The levers to effect change such as energy price setting and market reform lie with the UK Government. We have repeatedly called on them to use the opportunities offered by reformed national pricing to bring forward measures that tackle fuel poverty, responds to global price shocks, and strengthens long-term energy security.

In an energy-rich country like Scotland, people should not be struggling to pay their bills.

Our Portfolio Efficiency and Reform Plans published alongside the Scottish Spending Review, set out savings by portfolio, by year.

These plans incorporate savings arising from efficiency and reform activity, aligned with our savings targets as set out in the Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan and the Public Service Reform strategy. While these targets are not broken down annually, the recurring savings set out in these plans for 2026-27 are around £563 million.

The plans will be updated and published as further progress is made and will be subject to scrutiny from Audit Scotland, the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission, and also receive external scrutiny from stakeholders such as the Fraser of Allander Institute and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 despite the complex operational challenges that have been identified.

In March 2025 the former Minister for Victims and Community Safety outlined to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee the proposed next steps. These included establishing a working group with stakeholders including justice agencies and victims’ organisations to consider possible legislative changes to the 2021 Act to enable the protection notice and order scheme to be implemented in a way that is sustainable, deliverable and affordable.

The working group was subsequently established and met five times in total. The working group has developed a number of potential changes to the legislation, with the intention of these informing a consultation in early 2026. However, on further reflection it was considered right that it should be for a new Government, following the election, to determine whether it wished to adopt this approach. In light of the detailed considerations of the working group, we will now look to refine the potential legislative changes further, with a view to a targeted consultation later in 2026. Following any such consultation and analysis of responses I will be able to provide a more detailed update on timelines for bringing forward the necessary legislative changes to enable the domestic abuse protection notice and order scheme to be operationalised.

Social Security Scotland regularly publishes statistics on Adult Disability Payment statistics to 31 January 2026 - Social Security Scotland.

However, information on the number of people in receipt of Adult Disability Payment where anxiety is recorded as the principal qualifying condition, broken down by age, sex and local authority area, is not available. Published statistics provide data on primary disabling conditions at a broader level.

Latest figures, published on 17 March 2026, show that as of 31 January 2026, 88,315 people were recorded in the sub-category neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders (F40–F48), which includes anxiety. Breakdowns by age, sex and local authority area are available for the overall caseload, but not for individual conditions or sub-categories.

Social Security Scotland does not report the cost of administering individual benefits as the organisation operates a flexible workforce across its 18 benefits, with shared systems and corporate functions supporting delivery. As a result, administrative costs are not incurred or recorded on a per-benefit basis and cannot be broken down by individual benefit.

The organisation deploys staff across all benefits to respond to changes in demand, including seasonal peaks, ensuring clients continue to be supported effectively. Costs may therefore fluctuate over the course of the year in line with this operational approach.

Information on Social Security Scotland’s overall administrative expenditure is published in its Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25: Social Security Scotland - Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25.

Scottish Ministers are committed to reforming our public sector to ensure the delivery of excellent public services in a fiscally sustainable manner. Delivering such services is core to the government’s mission. The role of Public Service Reform is to deliver that mission, building confidence that the government is on Scotland’s side and can be trusted to take the next step in our constitutional journey.

The current transport system does many things well but it has evolved incrementally into a complex landscape of national bodies, agencies and local actors, with blurred accountabilities, mixed levels of integration and strategic coherence. And it has not been reviewed for almost twenty years. Further incremental change will not deliver the transformation needed or the outcomes the communities and businesses of Scotland expect. The time is now right to review the entire system of how transport is delivered across Scotland and deliver bold reform with a clear focus on ensuring Scotland’s publicly owned transport bodies support better integration of services and maximise the impact of public investment.

Changes to Transport Scotland and other national transport bodies are part of this reform agenda as set out in our manifesto. I will work with senior officials to take forward this commitment while maintaining a strong focus on excellent delivery of public transport services. Preparation is at an early stage and it will be essential to engage trade unions and ensure staff are involved at all levels as this work progresses.