Chamber and committees

Scottish Government have been informed by Veterinary Medicines Directorate that a special imports certificate is in place to allow stocks of BTV3 vaccine into the UK from the EU and this has allowed several million doses to be imported by the end of August 2026.

Scottish Government will continue to work closely with the other UK nations and with vaccine manufacturers to ensure vaccine supplies meet the increasing demand. Scottish Government encourage farmers and vets to start considering vaccination for next season to ensure that practices are ordering sufficient amounts of the vaccine.

The vaccine supply is demand based and as a result there is a delay in the supply being received when there is a large increase in demand, as has been seen in the previous few weeks.

Vaccination remains our best long-term defence, and keepers are being strongly encouraged to discuss this option with their vets and place vaccine orders now to ensure access to supplies.

Decisions regarding recruitment and workforce planning to meet population needs are the responsibility of individual NHS Boards.

Scottish Government officials have regular engagement with NHS Boards, including NHS Fife, regarding the development of specialist support services for people with long COVID, ME/CFS and related conditions through the recurring £4.5 million annual funding provided for these services. These discussions have focused on service development, workforce capacity and delivery arrangements rather than decisions relating to specific posts or vacancies.

The recurring funding provides Boards with flexibility to recruit staff and develop sustainable models of care that reflect local circumstances and workforce availability.

We remain committed to improving care and support for people living with ME/CFS across Scotland through the ongoing development of specialist services and collaborative approaches where appropriate.

Our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme takes a whole-systems approach to early detection and encompasses primary care, diagnostics, public education, data, innovation and screening.

Detect Cancer Earlier’s Be The Early Bird campaign launched in March 2023 aiming to reduce fear of cancer and empower those with possible symptoms to act early.

Our Get Checked Early website includes an interactive symptom checker including for genealogical symptoms.

In parallel to campaign activity, a DCE roadshow visits communities across Scotland to reinforce key messages – this has resulted in over 28,000 engagements with the target audience to date.

This has been supported by partnership activities throughout January and February 2026, targeting customers and staff at Iceland and Home Bargains. Partnership content with the Open Goal podcast was also streamed to extend the reach of DCE messaging.

Since 2023-24, as part of work to deliver the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has identified at least 300 online profiles advertising potentially illegal waste services and secured the closure of 81 profiles. Through this digital disruption activity, SEPA has also undertaken 136 direct interventions with unlicensed operators, issued 13 Information Notices and 7 Fixed Monetary Penalties, published 164 public deterrence posts, and received 11 waste carrier registration applications.

Comparable data is not held for earlier years, as this specific activity commenced in 2023-24. Annual information on the activity is included in the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy updates, available on the Scottish Government’s website.

SEPA’s assessment is that social media and online advertising platforms can provide unauthorised waste operators with a means of accessing customers. Its interventions have disrupted this activity, although there is evidence that some operators have moved into closed or private social media groups, making investigation more difficult. SEPA has also engaged with platforms, including Gumtree, to support the removal of adverts placed by unauthorised operators.

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 already provides the statutory framework concerning preventing, planning for and responding to emergencies in Scotland, including wildfires. To strengthen preparedness for wildfire specifically, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have developed a multi-agency Wildfire Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for consideration by the Scottish Resilience Partnership. It promotes a greater emphasis on prevention, risk reduction, readiness and multi-agency coordination, alongside operational response.

The Scottish Government’s Wildfire Strategic Action Plan sets out a coordinated approach to preventing, preparing for and responding to wildfires, and was published on 5 March 2026.

The availability and operation of police custody facilities are an operational matter for Police Scotland. Police Scotland keeps custody facilities under regular review and are overseen in this by the Scottish Police Authority as part of its responsibility for delivering effective, safe and sustainable custody services across Scotland.

Police Scotland’s Estates Masterplan sets out their ambition to modernise the policing estate, including the aim to develop a custody estate that meets modern standards and better meet the needs of the future. This will be supported through its revised estate strategy which I expect to be published later in September 2026.

The Scottish Government recognises the distress caused when cats are involved in road traffic collisions.

The requirement to report collisions involving animals is set out in the Road Traffic Act 1988, which is reserved to the UK Government. As such, the Scottish Government has no current plans to add cats to the list of animals that must be reported to the police following a road traffic collision. We remain willing to consider opportunities to work with the other GB administrations on measures that improve the welfare of animals in Scotland.

As set out in my answer to question S7W-02908 on 15 September 2026, while decisions on the scheduling of individual criminal cases are a matter for the independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, the long-standing statutory time limits at section 65 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 require the prioritisation of cases where an accused person has been remanded in custody prior to trial. This approach relates to an accused person having the presumption of innocence and the importance of seeking to minimise the length of time they are held in custody prior to trial.

It is important that delays in the criminal justice system are minimised insofar as possible and the statutory time limits exist to prevent unnecessary delays in criminal cases coming to trial and help the judiciary to effectively manage the progress of cases. This is particularly important in trials for offences of rape, serious sexual assault and domestic abuse where delays can impact on complainers.

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.

Section 13 was commenced on 9 February 2026. The legislation requires that a set of standards for through care support be published within two years of that commencement date. Since commencement, officials have been engaging with the organisations named in the legislation to support the development of these standards. A full 12-week consultation on the draft standards is planned for early 2027.

The Local Government funding formula provides a complex but objective assessment of need and uses the most up to date information for the full range of indicators, including biodiversity and greenspace.