Chamber and committees

The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year.

The Scottish Government heard the concerns raised by local government and social care providers regarding the funding challenges in relation to the uplift to the Real Living Wage in commissioned care services.

In direct response to those concerns, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government confirmed to the Scottish Parliament our intention to amend the Budget Bill at Stage 2 to allocate a further £20 million of funding to the Local Government Settlement. In tandem with the original budget commitment, that funding is sufficient to meet the uplift to the Real Living Wage in full across adult social care, children social care and early learning and childcare and highlights the benefits of open and robust engagement.

The Scottish Government heard the concerns raised by local government and social care providers regarding the funding challenges in relation to the uplift to the Real Living Wage in commissioned care services.

In direct response to those concerns, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government confirmed to the Scottish Parliament our intention to amend the Budget Bill at Stage 2 to allocate a further £20 million of funding to the Local Government Settlement. In tandem with the original budget commitment, that funding is sufficient to meet the uplift to the Real Living Wage in full across adult social care, children social care and early learning and childcare and highlights the benefits of open and robust engagement.

The Scottish Government heard the concerns raised by local government and social care providers regarding the funding challenges in relation to the uplift to the Real Living Wage in commissioned care services.

In direct response to those concerns, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government confirmed to the Scottish Parliament our intention to amend the Budget Bill at Stage 2 to allocate a further £20 million of funding to the Local Government Settlement. In tandem with the original budget commitment, that funding is sufficient to meet the uplift to the Real Living Wage in full across adult social care, children social care and early learning and childcare and highlights the benefits of open and robust engagement.

The Scottish Government heard the concerns raised by local government and social care providers regarding the funding challenges in relation to the uplift to the Real Living Wage in commissioned care services.

In direct response to those concerns, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government confirmed to the Scottish Parliament our intention to amend the Budget Bill at Stage 2 to allocate a further £20 million of funding to the Local Government Settlement. In tandem with the original budget commitment, that funding is sufficient to meet the uplift to the Real Living Wage in full across adult social care, children social care and early learning and childcare and highlights the benefits of open and robust engagement.

The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year. The baseline used to calculate the additional £160 million was the National Living Wage rate of £12.71 per hour.

Local authorities are responsible for food safety sampling to ensure food producers comply with food safety legislation, however, it is the responsibility of food businesses to demonstrate the safety of their products. Sampling data is recorded centrally by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) on the Scottish Food Sampling Database to find data, spot trends and guide sampling and interventions.

The Scottish Government does not hold any data on microplastics in farmed salmon. There are currently no regulatory standards for microplastics in food and animal feed and methods for measuring microplastics in these matrices have not yet been standardised and harmonised.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), an agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), is responsible for the analysis of chemical contaminants in salmon and organises the testing of salmon samples for heavy metals, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances and antibiotic residues. Details of the testing outputs can be found on the VMD's webpage.

Access to toilet facilities is a fundamental human right. Changing Places Toilets (CPT) offer a vital facility for people with disabilities and their families and carers whose needs cannot be met through standard accessible toilet provision.

The Scottish Government committed £10 million over two years through its Changing Places Toilets Fund for the development of new facilities across Scotland.

In December 2025, I announced awards of £4.7 million from the first tranche of funding for 59 projects across Scotland. I am delighted to confirm that I have now approved funding for an additional 25 projects, bringing total confirmed awards to over £7 million for 84 projects.

I am very grateful to Mr Balfour for his continued commitment to and engagement on this issue. As Mr Balfour is aware, the Scottish Government has included in its draft budget an additional £10 million for Changing Places Toilets over the next three financial years, which would bring total investment to £20 million.

There has been no request made by NHS NSS to cease NHS funding of non-therapeutic male circumcision. The reference contained in a recent FOI release to NHS NSS requesting the cessation of NHS funding of NTMC was a factual error within internal Scottish Government correspondence due to two organisations using similar acronyms. The National Secular Society (also referred to as NSS) was the organisation which made this request.

NHS guidelines on how non-therapeutic male circumcision should be performed have been in place since 2008 in Scotland to ensure procedures are carried out safely. Non-therapeutic male circumcision is carried out in one of the four Paediatric Centres by trained paediatric surgeons, under general anaesthesia, as part of a regulated NHS system.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-05505 on 12 February 2026. All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Meeting of the Parliament: 12/02/2026 | Scottish Parliament Website