Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is in the early stages of work to develop a future childcare expansion. This will draw on learning from the delivery of the expansion to 1140 hours, insights from our work in Early Adopter Communities, and the experience and voices of the childcare sector, parents, carers and children. Any expansion should be firmly focused on the needs of children and families.

In line with the action in the Scottish Biodiversity Delivery Plan, the development of a new Ancient Woodland Register is in progress.

NatureScot is leading this and has set up a steering group which includes public bodies and wider stakeholders to support the development of the Register. Resources have been allocated to commission a contractor over the next two years to work with the steering group to develop and publish the Register.

The Scottish Government has commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to develop Isla’s Principles, a campaign to promote clinical guidance and support for clinicians to follow best practice in decision-making and communication with patients and colleagues, tailored to reflect the experience of Isla Sneddon. CfSD has planned a publication date of Autumn 2026.

The Scottish Government remains committed to continued electrification of passenger rail services in Scotland.

Electrification plans are being developed to align with Scotrail's fleet renewal requirements, in order to deliver electrification and decarbonisation in the most efficient manner. Our plans for the fleet renewal programme is set out in Transport Scotland Rail Recharged: Scotland’s Fleet Transition Strategy, published in November 2025.

As announced in Parliament on 03 March 2026, CMAL, as Procuring Authority for the MV Lord of The Isles replacement project, will follow the industry standard two stage competitive procurement. Following the initial SPD stage, qualifying shipyards able to bid for the contract. Scottish Ministers play no part in the procurement process.

Also announced on 03 March was our intention to direct award vessels from the next phase of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme to Ferguson Marine as part of a wider suite of publicly funded vessel projects, subject to the necessary due diligence and processes.

The Scottish Government supports the development of integrated smart ticketing across bus and rail, including in the Strathclyde area, as part of its wider commitment to improving public transport.

As set out in the Smart, Digital, Integrated Ticketing and Payments Delivery Strategy (2024), the Scottish Government’s vision is To increase the use of sustainable public transport by providing smart and integrated ticketing, payment, and journey planning data enhancements, contributing to a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland.

In the Strathclyde area, multi-modal flexi-tickets, including one-day capped tickets based on the zones travel will take place in, are already available through Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). These are available to download onto any compatible smartcard and covers travel by ScotRail, Subway and most buses in the SPT area.

At the national level, the National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NSTAB), established in 2023, brings together operators, local transport authorities and passenger representatives to provide strategic advice to Ministers on smart ticketing, including the technological standard for smart ticketing.

NSTAB will also support improvements to smart ticketing and progression for development of options for a new national integrated ticketing system, reflecting passengers’ desire for integrated contactless payment and digital ticketing. Its first recommendations were laid before Scottish Ministers in October 2025, in the form of the STAR (Standards and Technology Advisory Report), which was approved at a strategic level by Ministers in January 2026.

The delivery of a Scotland wide integrated ticketing system is, however, dependent on future funding allocation and any legislation that may be required.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the Aberdeen to Central Belt Enhancement project.

The timescales for the Aberdeen to Central Belt Service Improvement project remain under review and will be subject to investment decisions based on a Final Business Case. In terms of affordability, it has been determined that the project, and associated benefits, can be delivered in a phased manner with the first of those phases being the section from Dundee to Arbroath. This has been communicated to stakeholders including Nestrans and Aberdeen City Council via its City Region Deal Joint Committee.

Whilst we cannot comment on a live procurement, CMAL have previously stated the questions in the SPDS (Single Procurement Document Scotland) for the vessel replacement have been designed to ensure the best outcome for island communities.

Thanks to investment from the Scottish Government, the East Kilbride line has recently been electrified, with the majority of services now operated by modern electric trains - delivering enhanced reliability, comfort and excellent value for money for passengers, further strengthened by our decision to remove peak fares for good and a 12-month ScotRail fare freeze from 1 April 2026.

This investment also included double tracking of part of the line which enables the resilient delivery of 4 trains per hour in the peaks.

The current timetable provides 2 trains per hour throughout the day, all week, increasing to 4 trains per hour in the peaks. Since December, the evening service has been increased to 2 trains per hour, taking it back to pre-Covid levels. The current provision meets passenger demand well.

ScotRail monitors patronage on individual routes on an ongoing basis and adjusts services accordingly, where resources allow.

The Scottish Government is giving further consideration to the issues raised in the last session of the Parliament about the offence introduced by section 40 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and related matters.