Chamber and committees

We continue to make significant financial investment in health and social care services. The 2026-27 Budget invests £22.5 billion in health and social care, including £17.6 billion in NHS Boards, £2.3 billion for social care and £2.4 billion in primary care. The Health and Social Care Improving Flow Plan is about ensuring that investment delivers maximum benefit by improving how services work together and shifting care towards prevention, community services and home-based care where appropriate. Delivery will build on that existing investment, while detailed implementation planning will continue alongside normal financial planning processes.

Improving A&E performance is a key priority of this Plan. We recognise that A&E performance is influenced by pressures across the whole pathway, including delayed discharge, hospital occupancy, ambulance handovers and community capacity. For that reason, the Plan focuses on improving flow across the entire health and care system, to support sustainable improvement in A&E performance.

In line with the commitment to tackle corridor care, we will work with Health Boards and Public Health Scotland to ensure we are taking the necessary steps to deliver improvements. This will include considering collecting data on patients who are being cared for in non-standard areas, such as hospital corridors. This consideration will be based on clinical advice.

Delayed discharge remains a key priority and the plan sets out the action we are taking to support this including strengthening the adoption of Discharge Without Delay, Home First and Discharge to Assess approaches.

To support our aim of a more connected system, with simpler routes to care, we are introducing digital appointment functionality through MyCare.scot. The first phase, planned for 2027-28, will allow patients to view secondary care appointment information and related communications online. Over time, the service will expand to include appointment management, self-management, two-way communication to support services such as e-triage, and remote monitoring. The Digital Health and Care Record will also support secure access to a more complete health and care record across organisations, while MyCare.scot will provide the public-facing route for people to access their information and services.

The Scottish Government remains committed to establishing a National Oversight Mechanism (NOM) for deaths in custody. Officials are working with HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) to establish an initial prison-focused model, following the former Cabinet Secretary for Justice’s commissioning of HMIPS earlier this year. Work is progressing on a phased test-of-change basis, with governance and staffing arrangements currently being finalised.

The NOM will draw on findings from Fatal Accident Inquiries, internal reviews and wider scrutiny activity to identify systemic issues, promote learning and improve accountability. By tracking recommendations, monitoring progress against agreed actions and reporting on recurring themes and areas of concern, the NOM will help ensure that lessons identified through FAIs are considered, implemented and embedded across the system.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

I am pleased to report that as of September 2026, Public Service Delivery Scotland and Local Government Digital Office have accepted a formal commissioned to develop a programme around the Digital Health and Care Record. £3.6m will be invested this year to begin the necessary initial technology testing and business case work needed to set out the path to delivery and estimated delivery cost.

The Scottish Government currently have a number of programmes in place and planned for the future to help create a safer online environment for children and young people. On 25 March 2026 the Online Safety Taskforce published its Action Plan which brings together our priorities for protection children and young people from online harm. This plan will continue to be built upon to ensure it evolves alongside the lived experiences of children and young people across Scotland.

We recognise that online safety is a complex problem and that there is a spectrum of harm that can occur – from damaging concentration, to wasted childhood years scrolling on one end, through to the absorption of harmful violent/misogynistic/radicalising content in the middle, to incitement to self-harm and grooming at the most acute end. We have therefore committed in our Programme for Government to take a public health approach to online safety to ensure children, parents and schools are better equipped to deal with online safety.

As part of this approach we launched Digital Wellbeing surveys on 19 August to hear directly from children, young people and parents/carers on the issues facing them and what further guidance they would like. On the 25 August we launched a public health campaign, with content on how parents can help keep their children safe online, as well as a public consultation on restricting access to mobile phones in schools.

We fund a range of initiatives that address social media usage amongst children and young people to help them navigate online spaces and use screens in a healthy, safe and positive way. This includes the Digital Discourse Initiative and the Mind Yer Time resource which is designed by children and young people to use social media and screens in a healthy way. We also work with Parent Club to provide a range of advice for parents and carers on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their children and families, including a range of advice and information specifically for parents of teenage children.

The Scottish Government is aware of concerns raised by some stakeholders regarding unintended consequences of the proposed price cap on essential food items.

That is why we are engaging constructively with all relevant stakeholders to support considered and informed discussion on this. We are consulting on draft proposals before any decisions are taken. The consultation seeks views and evidence from consumers, retailers, producers and other stakeholders on the potential benefits, risks and issues of any food price cap scheme.

The Scottish Government has made clear to the UK Government that any move away from digital terrestrial television services must be guided by the principle of universal access. Television remains an important source of news, information, cultural content and social connection for many people, and we have emphasised that any decisions should take full account of the potential impacts on audiences, particularly those who may be at greater risk of exclusion, including people living in rural and island communities, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The Scottish Government recently responded to the UK Government’s consultation on the future of media, including next steps on the future of TV distribution, setting out that any transition must be evidence-led and informed by assessments of affordability, accessibility, broadband availability, network resilience and audience readiness. We have urged the UK Government to ensure that no household loses access to television services because of any future changes to distribution models, and that appropriate support and mitigations are put in place.

The Scottish Government continues to help extend the reach of fast, reliable broadband infrastructure across Scotland through our £600m investment in the Reaching 100% (R100) programme and our key role in delivering Project Gigabit in Scotland. Alongside this investment in connectivity, we continue to work with Ofcom and partners to raise awareness of affordable connectivity options, including social tariffs.

The Scottish Government recognises the risks associated with litter picking on high-speed roads and the need for robust safety measures. Responsibility for litter collection on Scotland’s trunk roads is shared between Transport Scotland and local authorities. Transport Scotland’s Operating Companies manage litter picking on motorways and special roads, while councils are responsible for other trunk roads, including the A9. Both must carry out risk assessments and implement safe working practices, including traffic management where required. To further reduce risks, Operating Companies coordinate maintenance activities with local authorities, enabling litter-picking to be undertaken when traffic management is already in place.

Referrals to Tier 3 adult weight management services are not currently monitored through the Referral to Treatment (RTT) standard, following the suspension of RTT statistics publication in 2025. Instead, these services are subject to the New Outpatient and Treatment Time Guarantee waiting times standards.

Since 2016, the Scottish Government has provided £612 million to local authorities to support flood resilience. This includes flood protection schemes and wider flood resilience activity. Local authorities are responsible for managing flood risk and delivering flood protection schemes in their areas.