Chamber and committees

Our public consultation on a range of family law matters closed to responses on 21 April this year. These matters included the Scottish Law Commission's Report and draft Bill on the reform of cohabitants' financial rights on separation, cohabitants rights where their partner dies without leaving a will and extending the simplified divorce and dissolution procedures.

The consultation responses will be analysed and used as part of our final decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis.

The Scottish Government’s legislative programme will be agreed by Ministers and announced to Parliament in due course in the usual way.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly for this information.

Transport Scotland has yet to commence discussions with Glasgow City Council regarding the Clyde Tunnel.

These discussions will help inform the development of a range of options on how the manifesto offer to “take on responsibility for the maintenance of the Clyde Tunnel, freeing around £1 million of cost to the local authority…”, could practicably be delivered. This work will also consider responsibilities for discharging statutory duties and likely cost of these options.

The occupancy rights those living as property guardians have depend on the circumstances of the case and the type of occupancy arrangement in place.

These types of arrangements usually offer a licence agreement to occupy the property rather than a tenancy, and the rights and protection they have will be determined by that contract. Licence agreements usually offer less security of tenure than afforded by a private residential tenancy (PRT) under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 (the Act). However, if it is agreed that the guardian has exclusive possession for a specified period of time in return for the payment of rent, they could legally have a tenancy agreement.

A private residential tenancy exists where the property is let to a tenant as a separate dwelling, the tenant lives in it as their only or main home, and the tenancy isn't excluded under schedule 1 of the Act.

Under these conditions, a tenant will have a private residential tenancy even if they have signed a licence to occupy.

It is important that anyone considering entering into a property guardianship arrangement considers carefully the conditions, rights, and responsibilities proposed under the agreement. If a property guardian believes they may have a private residential tenancy agreement, they can seek legal advice.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30385 on 25 October 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

The most recent, May 2026 timetable has also seen the four trains per hour frequency being adjusted to operate later in the day on Saturdays; now operating between 10:30 and 18:00, to better reflect passenger demand.

In June 2022, an outline business case for the replacement of Lochgelly health centre was submitted to the Scottish Government. However, it did not progress to full business case stage and no formal approval to proceed to construction has been provided. In December 2023, all health boards were instructed to pause projects not already in construction due to budget constraints. This included the Lochgelly project, which was therefore not taken forward under previous arrangements.

The Scottish Government is now taking forward a whole-system NHS infrastructure plan to inform future investment priorities. As part of this, a primary care infrastructure investment programme, announced in the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline (13 January 2026), has identified an initial tranche of 12 priority areas, including Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly.

The programme is focused on areas rather than a fixed number of individual medical centres, the scale and configuration of facilities in each area will be determined through detailed service planning. The inclusion of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly within this programme supersedes the previous standalone Lochgelly Medical Centre proposal. It may be helpful to clarify that ‘Cowdenbeath’, as referenced in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan, is used in the context of the Scottish Parliament constituency geography, rather than indicating a specific facility such as Cowdenbeath Health Centre. The pilot programme reflects a broader place-based approach, encompassing Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly and surrounding communities. No decision has been taken at this stage on whether elements within priority areas, such as Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly, will be progressed as single or separate projects.

Work is already underway to develop a standardised approach to delivery across the programme, alongside the development of a revenue funding model led by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Futures Trust. This includes consideration of a Scottish variant of the Mutual Investment Model.

Ministers are expected to take decisions on programme priorities and the preferred funding approach during the course of next year, with a further announcement to follow. On current assumptions, construction is expected to begin from around 2031. Funding will be considered as part of these wider decisions.

Timetable development is a complex and iterative process and primarily a matter managed by ScotRail working in collaboration with Network Rail and other passenger and freight operators. Network Rail considers key constraints such as headways (safe spacing between trains), junction margins, and platform availability (headways, junction margins, and platform availability can be particular constraints on the approaches to and inside in busy stations such as Glasgow Central). Transport Scotland ensures that Scottish Government policies and strategies inform service planning decisions.

Rail Recharged: Scotland’s Fleet Transition Strategy, published in November 2025, sets out how we will renew ScotRail fleets as they reach the end of their operational life in the coming years.

ScotRail is committed to ensuring its trains remain safe, reliable and fit for purpose. This is delivered through a programme of ongoing maintenance, periodic overhaul and targeted upgrades across its fleet. These activities are designed to sustain performance, extend asset life and enhance the passenger experience.

Improvements, including those made to class 158 trains so far, have involved upgrades to interiors, passenger information systems, and accessibility features, alongside technical modifications to support reliability and operational resilience.

This approach ensures the fleets can meet current service requirements while supporting wider objectives around passenger satisfaction and network performance.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with management at the Dalzell steelworks. We have been advised that the restart of operations is in progress and that they have confidence that the contract with Navantia to provide steel for the Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme will be fulfilled.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish School of Primary Care to undertake an independent evaluation of the Golden Hello initiative for GPs. The evaluation was published in March 2026: https://www.sspc.ac.uk/media/Media_1254907_smxx.pdf. The independent evaluation highlights that the scheme delivers modest but meaningful recruitment benefits, particularly for early career GPs, and reinforces the importance of positioning incentives within a wider package of support for GPs at the start of their careers.

The Golden Hello initiative does not currently apply to dentists or consultants. Any future expansion and improvement plans for Golden Hellos will be set out in due course.