Chamber and committees

Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) is Scotland’s national procurement portal for public sector contracting opportunities. All regulated contracts must be advertised on PCS and award notices must be recorded on the site. It also holds data on contracts voluntarily recorded by contracting authorities across Scotland.

A search of PCS data indicates that, since October 2024, no public procurement contracts recorded on PCS have been awarded to a company listed in the UN database of companies engaged in listed activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The search was based on matching the company names recorded on PCS with those appearing exactly as listed in the UN database.

When concerns have been raised about the interaction between Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits and Pension Age Disability Payment or Carer Support Payment, Social Security Scotland has worked with DWP to investigate those cases.

Investigations undertaken to date have not identified any systemic issues affecting Pension Credit calculations following an award of Pension Age Disability Payment or Carer Support Payment. Neither have they identified evidence that the cases examined resulted from a failure in the routine sharing of information between Social Security Scotland and DWP.

Social Security Scotland continues to work closely with DWP to ensure information is shared appropriately and systems operate as intended. This includes investigating individual cases when concerns are raised and working jointly with DWP to resolve any issues identified.

I wrote to the Parliament’s Rural Affairs Committee on 3 September 2026 to notify them of my intention to bring forward a Scottish statutory instrument which, subject to Parliament’s consideration, will amend the number of Land Commissioners at the Scottish Land Commission from five to four. We expect the instrument to be laid in early October. The letter can be found on the Parliament’s website https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-7/rural-affairs-committee/correspondence/2026/land-reform-scotland-act-2016-of-3-september

Ministers will continue to comply with the requirements of the 2016 Act, including having regard to the desirability of the Commission, taken as a whole, having expertise or experience across the areas set out in the 2016 Act when making future appointments.

The Scottish Government provides support for the historic environment through our sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland, our lead public body that investigates, cares for and promotes Scotland’s historic environment. Historic Environment Scotland actively engages with a variety of international stakeholders, enabling the exchange of knowledge and expertise that can help inform historic environment policy and practice in Scotland.

While there is currently no specific plan to evaluate local government procurement practices in relation to heritage and conservation policies, procurement can and should be an enabler of public sector policies. Where relevant to the local governmental body, this can include policies and good practice set by Historic Environmental Scotland.

We are seeking to transform Scotland’s childcare offer to better support families with the cost of childcare, for children from 9 months to the end of primary school. As this Parliament agreed in May, this is a priority, and must be informed by learning from the ELC 1140 expansion and the voices of those who use and deliver childcare in Scotland.

Our Programme for Government set out our intention to publish and consult on a blueprint for the future, building on learning from the last ten years of childcare design and delivery. Given the scale of our ambition it is only right we take the time to develop that blueprint, and we will publish it for consultation next year. The Scottish Government will of course inform the Parliament of the blueprint’s publication in line with standard procedures.

All households in Scotland can access free, bespoke and impartial advice on energy efficiency and clean heating systems for their homes through the Scottish Government’s Home Energy Scotland advice service, administered by Energy Saving Trust. Through this service, owner-occupiers in Scotland can apply to the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme for funding support to install renewable heating systems, including a grant of up to £7,500 and an optional interest-free loan. Households in remote rural and island communities can receive an enhanced grant of up to £9,000. In addition, for those who meet the eligibility criteria, households can benefit from retrofit measures, including heating, installed through Warmer Homes Scotland, the Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme; our local council led Area Based Schemes and the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund.

The National Flood Resilience Strategy focuses on building community flood resilience and resilient placemaking, by putting people at the heart of the process and supporting an increase in the range and rate of delivery of actions both to manage our flood exposure and reduce the impacts of flooding when it does occur.

The Scottish Government supports the Scottish Flood Forum to deliver practical action for individuals and communities at risk of flooding across Scotland. It helps people understand their flood risk and prepare for flood events, which includes supporting new local flood resilience groups to form, and then provide training and build capacity. We also fund SEPA's Scottish Flood Forecasting and Warning Service, which provides vital warning information to communities at risk of flooding. Following research we commissioned to design a Household Flood plan, we are working with stakeholders to develop and roll that out to raise awareness of flood risk and promote improved preparedness.

In addition to the £42m of the local government General Capital Grant allocated to flood resilience activity in communities, we have also committed £15m to improve the resilience of communities across Scotland most at risk from flooding.

There are no plans to establish a public portal for the nomination of potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and derelict land and empty town and city centre buildings.

This is supported through our regeneration investment programmes which are providing up to £52 million in resource and capital programmes for community-led regeneration across Scotland in 2026/27. This may be used to transform vacant and derelict land and empty buildings into homes. Local authorities may also choose to use Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant to convert empty properties into housing.

Additionally as part of ongoing work to support the establishment of More Homes Scotland, we are undertaking an exercise alongside local authorities to understand potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and empty town and city centre buildings.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local housing development and local regeneration. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable sites and funding for regeneration activity.

This is supported through our regeneration investment programmes which are providing up to £52 million in resource and capital programmes for community-led regeneration across Scotland in 2026-27. This may be used to transform vacant empty buildings into homes. For example, previous investment is supporting the reuse of the B-listed Tureen Street School in Glasgow. This is a derelict, B-listed building will be repurposed, retaining the façade and renovating the site to build 42 new homes for social rent.

Local authorities may also choose to use Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant to convert empty properties into housing.

Additionally as part of ongoing work to support the establishment of More Homes Scotland, we are undertaking an exercise alongside local authorities to understand potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

Between April to 28 August 2026

A) 604 calls were received and supported by the administering agent on the First Homes Fund

As of COP 7 September 2026:

B) 444 applications have been submitted

C) 372 have had their applications approved

D) 372 received an offer of support

E) 53 have entered into a shared equity agreement

F) 53 have completed a purchase of a property using support from the Fund.

The First Homes Fund is a demand led scheme and the Scottish Government is committed to delivering this fund alongside our other wider package of home ownership support to help first-time buyers including our popular Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) Scheme which reopened last month.

Ahead of phase two of the First Homes Fund roll-out, we are committed to learning lessons and making the Fund as accessible as possible including planned additional marketing and working closely with key stakeholders in the finance and housing sectors.