Chamber and committees

The National Flood Resilience Strategy sets out Scottish Government’s long-term commitment to improving Scotland’s resilience to flooding, developed in direct response to the climate emergency and the increasing challenges posed by flood risk. The Strategy recognises the essential role of communities in strengthening local flood resilience, and that is why we continue to support the vital work the Scottish Flood Forum does.

Scottish Government provides funding to the Scottish Flood Forum to enable them to work with communities and local authorities across Scotland to help reduce the impacts of flooding. This funding supports the Forum to deliver immediate assistance to affected communities and to provide wider preparedness, response and recovery support. This includes property-level protection assessments, the establishment and ongoing support of community resilience groups in flood-risk areas, and engagement with local authorities to assist in the delivery of flood risk management plans and training on good practice. The Scottish Flood Forum also has a flood bus which showcases Property Flood Resilience measures, giving householders a hands-on way to see how products work, understand their relevance to their homes, and ask questions.

The Scottish Government views the Scottish Flood Forum as an important partner in the development of flood resilience policy. Part of the funding enables the Scottish Flood Forum to contribute its expertise to inform policy development, helping to improve outcomes for individuals and communities vulnerable to flooding.

Funding as set out in the following table:

The Scottish Government recognises the benefits of walking for physical and mental wellbeing regularly reported in the Scotland Walking and Cycling Index. However, as with the response to PQ S6W-44458 on 24 March 2026 pavement maintenance is the responsibility of councils as entirely separate entities from the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government has committed to respecting local government’s democratic mandate as part of the Verity House Agreement.

Local authorities have statutory duties under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 and the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to maintain footways and secure expeditious, convenient and safe movement of people using their footways.

It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

It is for all external bodies, including local authorities, to ensure that they comply with all legal requirements. This includes the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Equality Act 2010. Responsibility for oversight of compliance with the Equality Act 2010 rests with the Equality & Human Rights Commission. The Commission is independent and cannot be directed by Scottish Ministers. Private individuals can seek to enforce their rights under the Equality Act in courts and tribunals.

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.

Local authorities have the statutory responsibility to manage their school and early learning and childcare (ELC) estate. While the Determining Primary School Capacity guidance focuses on primary school capacity, authorities are expected to consider ELC requirements in their wider estate planning and to secure any necessary developer contributions. The Scottish Government has no plans to issue updated guidance at this time, as decisions on forecasting and securing contributions sit with local authorities.

National Planning Framework 4 supports an Infrastructure First approach, recognising the importance of aligning development and infrastructure provision. Local development plans are expected to be informed by evidence on the infrastructure of the area, including ELC settings, primary and secondary schools. Where infrastructure is necessary to enable development, it is a decision for the planning authority whether it should be funded – in full or in part – through developer contributions, taking local needs and development viability into account.

Local authorities have the statutory responsibility to manage their school estate, including assessing the impact of all housing developments on school capacity.

The Scottish Government’s Determining Primary School Capacity guidance provides a consistent framework for assessing planning and working capacity, supporting local authorities to respond to pressures arising from windfall sites. Decisions on mitigating capacity pressures, including infrastructure timing, are matters for each local authority.

Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund has awarded the following sums to filmmakers based in the Highlands and Islands region, in each year since 2021:

2021-22 - £639,158

2022-23 - £84,000

2023-24 - £0

2024-25 - £0

2025-26 – data not yet available

Screen Scotland’s Professional Development Fund has awarded the following sums to applicants based in the Highlands and Islands region, in each year since 2021:

2021-22 - £0

2022-23 - £2,435

2023-24 - £1,015

2024-25 - £1,387

2025-26 – data not yet available

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes statistics as part of the Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication for consultant-led waits under the individual specialties of community child health and paediatrics.

Data for these two specialties are grouped under the broader specialty of paediatrics because some NHS boards utilise the community child health specialty to record these waits, while others use the paediatrics specialty.

Table 1 has been derived from the SoT open data, presenting statistics for both individual specialties.

Table 2 provides statistics for the grouped specialty of paediatrics. These figures therefore reflect waits for both community child health and paediatrics combined.

Screen Scotland continues to support filming and post-production activity across the Highlands and Islands. Recent projects supported by the Scottish Government via Screen Scotland which have filmed in the Highlands and Islands or completed elements of their post-production work in the region include the BAFTA Award-nominated feature film The Outrun (Orkney); TV series The Traitors (Easter Ross and the wider Highlands) and Karen Pirie (Argyll & Bute); as well as feature films Silent Roar (Na h-Eileanan Siar), Falling into Place (Skye), Harvest (Argyll & Bute) and The Incomer (Caithness) which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year where it won the NEXT Innovator Award. The Netflix drama Department Q (which filmed partly in Caithness) and feature film Jack of Spades (Argyll & Bute) were attracted to film in Scotland in the last 24 months by Screen Scotland’s Production Growth Fund.

The Screen Scotland Screen Commission has also recently facilitated filming in the Highlands and Islands on productions including The Diplomat for Netflix (Argyll & Bute), the Star Wars series Ahsoka and Andor (Skye, Sutherland, and Argyll & Bute), and The Crown for Netflix (Badenoch & Strathspey).

Screen Scotland also supports a range of projects alongside BBC/MG ALBA each year. As well as part funding both series of An t-Eilean, Screen Scotland funded its predecessor An Clo Mor, the documentary projects produced by Stornoway-based Mac TV entitled Rain Stories, and Secrets of the Peat, and quiz show Mas Fhior.

Since 2022, Screen Scotland has supported The Highlands & Islands Training Programme, run by MG ALBA in partnership with Screen Scotland and the BFI Skills Cluster Fund, contributing circa £170k annually towards delivery of the programme. This six-month paid traineeship develops emerging talent in the film, TV, and digital media sectors from the Highlands & Islands, with a focus on Gaelic language, providing on-the-job experience across scripted drama, factual entertainment, and social media and digital-first projects.

Screen Scotland also supports the Young Film Foundation’s residential Screenwriting Lab on Skye.

Screen Scotland’s talent development programme Opening Shot is delivered by Stornoway and Glasgow-based production company Astar Media. The programme works with local community groups to deliver community engagement workshops and short film opportunities. Opening Shot is currently working with Highland Cinema in Fort William to support four filmmakers in producing short films with guidance from an experienced filmmaker. In addition, they are working with Moray Arts Development Engagement and Cairngorm Community Cinema to deliver community-based workshops in Elgin and Aviemore to 12 filmmakers.

The Scottish Government recognises that social isolation and loneliness is a public health issue. Our social isolation and loneliness strategy, A Connected Scotland, outlines a number of actions we are taking to tackle this issue and is underpinned by a delivery plan, entitled ‘Recovering Our Connections’, that we published in 2023. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) as the key representative organisation for local government in Scotland, was a key partner in developing this plan. We continue to work with the Social Isolation and Loneliness Advisory Group to drive forward the actions in the plan and are providing £3.8m over three years to 53 community projects across Scotland through the Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund that is providing opportunities for people to connect.

As with the responses to PQs S6W-44458 & S6W-44459 on 24 March 2026, pavement maintenance is the responsibility of councils, as entirely separate entities from the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government has committed to respecting local government’s democratic mandate as part of the Verity House Agreement and believes that locally elected representatives are best placed to make decisions at a local level. We would therefore not provide guidance to councils on what footway routes they should prioritise.

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.

Audit Scotland has highlighted a persistent gap between national workforce ambitions and delivery, including the need for improved workforce data and clearer implementation plans. The Scottish Government is working with NHS boards to address these issues through strengthened workforce planning and improved modelling.

The information requested on how many obstetrics and gynaecology consultant vacancies there are in each NHS board is available on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Vacancy tab).

Data on locum-filled roles is not centrally held.

On 20 January 2026 the Scottish Government published the Women’s Health Plan: Phase Two (2026 - 2029). Phase Two sets out the actions that we will take over the next three years to improve the health of women and girls in Scotland and commits to ensuring women and girls have timely access to gynaecological care.

The development of this plan is in the early stages; therefore, it is not yet possible to provide any specific actions around the gynaecological workforce.

The Scottish Government continues to focus on reducing long waits for all patients, including those awaiting gynaecology appointments and treatment, while a longer-term plan is developed.