Chamber and committees

On the 1 September, as part of the Programme for Government, the First Minister announced the Scottish Government’s intention to simplify the NHS by replacing the current 14 territorial Health Boards with two Strategic Health Boards and build on planned reforms to further reduce the number of special Health Boards.

The Scottish Government will engage first and foremost with the workforce and we will set out and agree a process with trade unions to ensure the workforce is able to help to shape these plans. We are currently in the design phase of the work, which includes developing the business case. The work will be developed in partnership with staff, staff representatives, trade unions, stakeholders and the public, with a strong focus on the needs of rural and island communities.

The annual National Improvement Framework (NIF) publication sets out the vision, key priorities and educational outcomes for children and young people. The National Improvement Framework 2026 confirms “Improvement in achievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy” as one of 5 key priorities for our education system.

As part of the package of activity taken forward under the NIF, Education Scotland has published national guidance and professional learning resources Learning to Read in the Early Years.

The guidance makes it clear that systematic phonics should form a foundational part of early reading instruction; states that phonemic awareness is key to reading development; provides definitions and advice to schools on how to develop phonemic awareness, and; provides links to a range of additional resources and advice, including advice from the Education Endowment Foundation.

Education Scotland continues to work with local government partners to share evidence-informed approaches to literacy and reading across Scotland's schools.

2026 National Improvement Framework

Education Scotland: Learning to Read in the Early Years

NatureScot is leading work to help Scotland achieve the target of protecting and conserving 30% of land for nature by 2030 (known as 30 by 30). The first Nature30 sites were recognised in 2025, marking Scotland’s first new area-based conservation measure in decades and providing a voluntary mechanism to recognise the contribution of land managers and communities to nature recovery.

Following the launch of Nature30, NatureScot is working with a growing number of public, private and third sector and community landowner/managers to support Nature30 recognition. We expect significant growth in the area effectively managed for nature over the coming year, with momentum increasing towards 2030. We recognise that pace is critical and we will continue to work with NatureScot and others to help support delivery and encourage recognition of new sites.

30 by 30 will also be delivered through protected areas and NatureScot is continuing to work with landowners/managers to designate new sites as well as ensuring that existing ones are managed effectively.

The Scotland Legacy Group was established in 2025 and tasked by the Royal Household and the Scottish Government to advise on an appropriate Scottish memorial to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II.

The Group's role is advisory. It will shortly be undertaking a programme of public and stakeholder engagement to inform its recommendations and has not yet reached conclusions on the form, location or design of any future memorial. Individuals and organisations who wish to express views or ideas on the Scottish memorial will be encouraged to feed those views into that engagement programme.

The detail of any next steps will be advised in due course.

We recognise that demand for neurodevelopmental support, including autism diagnostic assessments, is exceeding current capacity in many areas. This reflects wider challenges across health and social care, which is why the Population Health and Service Renewal Frameworks sets out the need to shift towards earlier intervention, prevention and support that is centred on people’s needs.

Within this wider programme of reform, we are working with NHS Boards, local authorities and other partners to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children, young people and adults. Our focus is on ensuring that people can access appropriate support when they need it, based on their needs rather than requiring a diagnosis before support is available.

For children and young people, this includes delivering the actions arising from the implementation review of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People, working with COSLA and the Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopmental Taskforce.

For adults, we are working to improve access to neurodevelopmental support through implementation of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland's four-tier national pathway. This work will help health boards to develop approaches that provide support on the basis of need, whether or not a person has a formal diagnosis.

In delivering our 100-day commitment, we have worked with key stakeholders and people with lived experience to develop a route-map for adoption and integration of this approach, which we expect to publish this Autumn.

To date there have been no specific discussions with Police Scotland or the Lord Advocate regarding the legal status of individuals possessing or distributing drug-testing equipment.

The Lord Advocate is independent of the Scottish Government and is responsible for prosecution policy in Scotland. Any decisions regarding prosecution are a matter for the independent Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service within the existing legal framework.

We remain committed to supporting evidence-based harm reduction approaches and continue to work with partners to respond to emerging drug trends and reduce drug-related harm.

Industry-led analysis provides estimates of the current UK offshore wind workforce and workforce shortfall. The Offshore Wind Industry Council and RenewableUK’s Wind Industry Skills Intelligence Report 2025 estimates that 39,898 people currently support the UK offshore wind sector. Under its baseline scenario, the report estimated a UK offshore workforce shortfall of 12,584 in 2025, with the largest UK-wide occupational deficits including: Wind Turbine Technicians; Export Cable Engineers; Fabrication Engineers; Electrical Managers; and, Commissioning Engineers.

For North-East Scotland, the report estimates that annual workforce demand in “Aberdeen & North-East” could reach a peak of 27,702 between 2026 and 2030 under its baseline scenario of 39 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. The report is available here.

The Scottish Government is working closely with industry and public sector partners to identify and respond to offshore wind workforce demand. This builds on the work of the Offshore Wind Skills Short-Life Working Group, which brought partners together to agree the skills shortages requiring urgent action and to develop a joint Offshore Wind Skills Priorities and Action Plan.

Through the £3.85m Offshore Wind Skills Programme, the Scottish Government is supporting industry and delivery partners to increase the supply of skilled workers into priority occupations, including through expanded training for new entrants and career changers and targeted college provision in the North-East.

The Scottish Government has not provided funding specifically for the evaluation, purchase or distribution of rapid testing strips. However, organisations receiving National Mission funding may have used a proportion of that funding to support such activities as part of wider harm reduction or service delivery programmes.

The Scottish Government has committed more than £1.7 million to deliver Scotland’s drug checking pilot, including the establishment of a National Testing and Research Laboratory at the University of Dundee and local drug checking services planned in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In line with our evidence-based approach, the drug checking pilot will be evaluated, and we expect to provide further detail on our evaluation approach over the coming months.

To date there has been no specific consideration given to the feasibility of making rapid adulterant screening test strips available alongside naloxone at community fire stations or other civic safe access points.

We are aware of both the potential benefits and limitations of rapid testing strips as harm reduction tools, including their role in supporting engagement and risk reduction, alongside recognised limitations relating to accuracy and false negative results. We are working with partners including Public Health Scotland and Healthcare Improvement Scotland to consider the evidence and inform appropriate Scottish guidance.

We remain committed to an evidence-based approach to harm reduction and to responding rapidly to changing drug trends, including through expanded naloxone provision and the development of drug-checking services.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the teaching profession, young people, parents and carers and other stakeholders on priorities relating to education in Scotland through strategic engagement and governance programmes, with their views listened to and acted upon.