Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government published updated statutory RSHP teaching guidance in February 2026. The revised teaching guidance reflects the issues currently facing children and young people, especially around inclusivity, consent and healthy relationships as well as online influences.

Regarding content of the Scottish curriculum, I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-30034 on 3 October 2024, and S6W-32189 on 23 December 2024. 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.

Councils have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads and footways in their area; and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic and people using their roads and footways.

Councils are entirely separate entities from the Scottish Government. Their powers are set out in statute and, it is up to each local authority to manage its own day to day business, including the maintenance of pavements. If pavements are of an unacceptable condition, complaints should be made directly to the council in question. Thereafter, if the matter remains unresolved, the complaint may be able to be referred to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the cost to each NHS board of treating injuries, such as hip fractures, resulting from falls on poorly maintained or untreated public footways. Individual health boards/ambulance services may hold this data but, likely only in relation to the types of injuries treated and not the reasons for them.

The impact of deprivation on attainment is well understood and addressed through the Strategic Attainment Challenge Programme. The Scottish Government implements a range of policies, including Free School Meals, to mitigate the impact of poverty on pupils, support readiness to learn and contribute to the aims of the Scottish Attainment Challenge to close the poverty-related attainment gap. Taken together, these measures form part of our wider approach to equity in education and support our ongoing work to close the poverty-related- attainment gap. A summative evaluation report on the Scottish Attainment Challenge was published on 17 March, highlighting significant system-wide progress in embedding a culture of equity in Scotland’s education system and can be accessed on gov.scot.

While the Scottish Government does not evaluate the impact of Free School Meals on attainment, it does collect annual data on the number of registrations and uptake of meals, which are published on gov.scot. This helps inform decisions on future expansion of the programme.

Local authorities are responsible for managing their school estate in line with statutory duties and ensure that capacity assessments reflect modern educational design requirements. The Determining Primary School Capacity guidance recognises evolving approaches to school design and supports authorities in assessing planning and working capacity accordingly.

It is for individual planning authorities to determine whether to seek developer contributions towards infrastructure delivery to enable development, whilst also considering the level of contributions and the potential impact on the viability of development. Developer contributions sought via Section 75 planning obligations should comply with the tests set out in National Planning Framework 4 and Circular 4/2025.

The Scottish Government is aware of the decision made by the proprietors to close Fernhill School, and recognises the impact this has for pupils, families, staff, and the wider school community.

The Registrar for Independent Schools has been in contact with the school, which will remain open until the end of this academic session, and has received assurance that relevant local authorities have been notified of the closure and that the school is supporting pupils and families in making arrangements for next year.

Qualifications Scotland has also been engaging with Fernhill School to ensure that young people undertaking their qualifications are being appropriately supported, and the Registrar and HM Inspectors will continue to engage with the school to provide advice and support as necessary.

Further to the answers to questions S6W-43890 on 4 March 2026 and S6W-44014 on 11 March 2026, I met with Alistair Cochrane, Interim CEO of Royal Mail Group on 19 March. We discussed planning for the election and I highlighted the major concerns which have been raised around whether poll cards, postal votes and campaign material will be delivered on time. I received an assurance that Royal Mail recognise the vital role they play in the democratic process and that election mail will be prioritised. They are working closely with Returning Officers and the Electoral Management Board for Scotland ahead of 7 May.

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

Since 2021, the Scottish Government has invested over £5.3 million into Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships (WAHPs), supporting delivery of welfare rights advice within participating GP Practices. Building on the evidence from the WAHPs, since 2023 we have spent £4.7 million on our Advice in Accessible settings Fund which supports partnership working and improving the availability of advice services within a range of community, health and education settings.

As set out in the new Tackling Child Poverty Plan published on 12 March 2026, the Scottish Government is investing more than £27 million over the next two years in welfare, income maximisation and debt advice services. Multi-year grants will help provide stability and certainty for the sector, including improving staff retention and we expect these services to support at least 80,000 households each year. The plan also commits to providing funding of £6 million for the Advice in Accessible Settings Fund by the end of 2028-29, which we expect will support over 7,500 people each year.

The Plan also sets out how we intend to make good quality advice and support on income maximisation more easily available by sharing existing best practice more widely and working with education, health and advice sectors to review how to sustainably embed advice in schools.

Whilst the Scottish Government is one of the biggest single funders of national advice services in Scotland, the primary funder of locally based advice services remains local authorities and it is for local authorities to decide how best to meet the needs of their local communities through the decisions they make for services within their area.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publish median and 90th percentile for length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient on a monthly basis.

The median waiting time is the middle waiting time, calculated by ordering patients from shortest to longest wait. This represents typical length of time patients have waited. The 90th percentile reflects the upper limit on how long nine out of ten waits have lasted.

The latest data covers all waits for an ongoing new outpatient appointment up to 31 January 2026, as set out in the following table.

Table 1. Gynaecology: New Outpatient Ongoing Waits – 31 January 2026

The Scottish Government will continue to monitor the National Concessionary Travel Schemes to ensure their longer- term sustainability. At present the Scottish Government has no plans to extend the concessionary travel schemes beyond the current eligibility criteria. Any decisions will be for the next Parliament to consider.

The Scottish Government recognises the financial pressures that many households are experiencing, including debts to public sector bodies. Scottish Ministers have consistently encouraged public bodies to share good practice on debt assistance and collection and to show empathy and dignity when working with people struggling with debts including an assessment of affordability to repay debt. This includes using the Collaborative Council Tax Collection Guide[1] and Good practice principles for managing school meal debt[2] published by COSLA in February 2023 following engagement with local government partners. We have allocated £2.22m in 2025-26 to support a national Council Tax Debt Project delivered by Citizen’s Advice Scotland. In addition to enabling increased debt advice provision across the whole of Scotland for those in Council Tax arrears, this project is supporting the development of national resources which can help support the best practice principles in Council Tax collection.

The Scottish Government supported the inclusion of provisions during the passage of The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 which require a review of how joint and several liability for Council Tax arrears affects people experiencing domestic abuse. This review will help councils navigate these complex cases with greater care and understanding, ensuring that support is available. Scottish Ministers have also committed to consult on the question of prescription periods and Council Tax in the next Parliament, so that any reform balances fairness for households with the need to protect local services and is robust and workable.

The Scottish Government has liaised with the Cabinet Office and HMRC to explore data sharing opportunities which improve Council Tax debtor data-sharing channels between Scottish local authorities and HMRC. New data-sharing pathways have been agreed which will support local authorities in enacting fair debt recovery and help identify and support vulnerable debtors while increasing uptake of the Scottish Government’s means tested Council Tax Reduction scheme. This scheme ensures that nobody in Scotland should have to meet a Council Tax liability they cannot be expected to afford.

These new data-sharing pathways represent an opportunity to support fairer debt recovery, help identify and support vulnerable debtors, and increase uptake of the Council Tax Reduction scheme by identifying eligible non-recipients.

Scottish Ministers continue to work with COSLA through the Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform to encourage the adoption of best practice on debt collection and advice.

In addition, Social Security Scotland is committed to delivering a debt management service that is responsive to clients’ needs while protecting the public purse. This includes an approach for vulnerable clients that includes training debt officers to identify and sensitively handle potential hardship and vulnerable clients, as well as signposting them to support and advocacy groups.

[1]Collaborative Council Tax Collection (improvementservice.org.uk)

[2]Good-Practice-Principles-for-School-Meal-Debt-Management.pdf (cosla.gov.uk)

The most recent Scottish Criminal Justice Survey, published earlier this month shows that the majority of adults are confident in the effectiveness of the police to deal with incidents, solve crime, and catch criminals. Furthermore, the survey showed that 59% of adults have confidence in the police to respond quickly to appropriate calls and information from the public. This is higher than in 2008/09, when it was 54%.

While there are a complex range of factors behind confidence in policing it would be remiss not to acknowledge that overall trust has fallen in recent years. This mirrors a similar trend in England and Wales over the same period, suggesting the issues involved may not be solely specific to Scotland.

Confidence in our police service is vital for a safe and just Scotland and Police Scotland are already taking steps to respond – from strengthening community policing to improving how they engage with victims and local communities. That work is backed by record investment of £1.64 billion this year, which will increase to over £1.7 million in 2026-27.

Improving public trust and confidence is also a cornerstone of Police Scotland’s 2030 vision and is embedded within its three-year business plan and local policing plans.