Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is aware of the issues being experienced by the Scottish pig industry. I met with representatives on 10 June and is considering what support the Scottish Government can provide, both in the short term and in the longer term to ensure the sustainability of this important sector.

We are investing over £2.3 billion in social care and integration in 2026-27. This investment includes an uplift to adult social care pay as well as providing support to deliver improvements to wider terms and conditions for workers, such as maternity and paternity pay and also to help with payment of PVG checks for workers.

We have commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to work on the evaluation, in conjunction with Public Health Scotland. Further details of the national evaluation will be shared when available.

The Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline published on 13 January 2026, sets out the projects and programmes it expects to fund over the next four financial years.

We are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan for Scotland. This supports continued safe and effective use of existing facilities, through ongoing business continuity planning, as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate to support service continuity. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring by-exception reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

The second phase is focussed on the longer-term development of the estate to meet national, regional and local needs.

All Health Boards have been asked to undertake strategic needs assessments for three local investment priorities. In determining local investment priorities, Boards should also consider aspects of infrastructure resilience, capacity constraints and population-based service changes. Returns will be considered on a whole of Scotland basis. This approach aligns with the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework.

Further detail on NHS Whole System Infrastructure Planning is set out in Director of Health Finance.dot.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of empowering people to manage their mental health and wellbeing, and that access to trustworthy digital advice, resources and psychological therapies is critical to this.

Our wellbeing website, Mind to Mind, offers mental health and wellbeing advice, as well as signposting information to wider mental health support, using short videos from people with mental health conditions. NHS Inform also holds self-help guides on mental health conditions to help people recognise what they may be struggling with and providing guidance on when to seek appropriate support for their needs.

Over 2025-26 we invested £3.7 million in Breathing Space- a free, confidential phone and webchat service for anyone over 16 who is struggling with their mental health and wellbeing. We also invested £11 million to the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub which provides compassionate advice and support to people seeking urgent help with their mental health (with around 10,000 calls per month).

An expansion of the Hub launched in December 2025, to provide a national pathway to brief psychological interventions for those would benefit from early treatment but would not meet the criteria to access local specialist secondary care mental health services. This is providing treatment from professionals appropriately trained in psychological practice. It is helping to improve early identification of the need for support and timely access to early intervention support to prevent mental health issues escalating, support for life events, and to help people cope with physical health conditions.

We also continue to expand the range of self-referral digital therapies for people with anxiety, depression or insomnia, and have increased access to internet enabled cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) so people can speak to a mental health professional online. There were over 77,000 referrals to digital therapies last year.

Alongside digital support, it is positive to see new models of accessible mental health support in communities and we are committed to expanding access to community-based mental health hubs over this Parliamentary term.

Finally, as we work with partners to design and implement the service renewal framework across mental health, we will reflect on our current self-referral offers and consider where else we can provide safe and effective self-referral support.

The Scottish Government is working to assess how the extension of the £2 bus fare cap pilot to the west of Scotland can best be taken forward as quickly as is practicable. It is crucial that we work with the industry to understand the practical, operational and technical requirements for delivery.

The Scottish Spending Review 2026 sets out the Scottish Government's indicative capital spending plans for the four years to 2029-30. This includes £4.1 billion health capital investment across major infrastructure projects, essential maintenance and replacing and upgrading vital medical equipment as part of the commitment to invest £10 billion over the next decade.

We are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan (WSIP) for Scotland to support targeted investment based on need across all of the NHS estate. This supports continued safe and effective use of existing facilities, through ongoing business continuity planning, as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate and equipment to support service continuity. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring ‘by-exception’ reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

In addition to the above planning, Health Boards receive baseline Capital funding each year to be used at their discretion to address estate and equipment requirements. The Scottish Government also continues to fund the national rolling radiotherapy equipment and ambulance fleet replacement programmes.

This year’s Budget included £36 million for the walk-in pilot programme.

The Scottish Government has spent a total of £25,082.4 in the last 5 financial years with Total Politics for the purpose of Women into Leadership conference tickets and training events. £10,752 in Financial Year 24-25 and £14,330.40 in 25-26.

The ScotWind leasing round has secured £755m for the public purse.

Information about how ScotWind income has been drawn down or re-profiled can be found in the Budget, Autumn Budget Revision, Spring Budget Revision and Provisional Outturn publications for each financial year. The planned deployment of ScotWind funding over the Spending Review period is set out in Annex A of the Portfolio Chapters and Annex Tables Amended at Stage 2 Budget Supporting Document Supporting documents - Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027 - gov.scot.

Decisions on further allocations of ScotWind funding and the establishment of a ScotWind Wealth Fund will be taken at future fiscal events.