Chamber and committees

The Scottish government acknowledges the important role that artificial intelligence can play in supporting the diagnosis and management of stroke and the procurement of the national solution reflects the intention to include the use of artificial intelligence in the stroke pathway.

£14 million was originally allocated to the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) in 2025-26, as the Scottish Government piloted delivering up-front capital funding to support farmers and crofters to deliver the Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture. In response to high application rates, it was announced on 23 October 2025 that £7 million additional funding would be made available and a total of £21.4 million was allocated to successful applicants in 2025-26.

In 2026-27, capital funding continues to be under significant pressure, with Scotland’s capital block grant due to reduce in real terms by 0.3% per annum by 2029-30. Despite these pressures, it has been possible to allocate £14.25 million to a second round of the FFIS, slightly exceeding the level of funding initially proposed in 2025-26. This is part of the £26 million Agricultural Modernisation Fund budget, which will also fund vital support for our food production and food processing sector, small producers and agritourism.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the pain and distress experienced by people impacted by Mr Eljamel’s practice. That is why we established the statutory public inquiry into the actions of Mr Eljamel and NHS Tayside to ensure patients obtain answers to their questions and that lessons are learned. The First Minister and former Cabinet Secretary for Health have met on several occasions with affected individuals and have been clear that the Scottish Government will continue to do all we can to ensure they get the answers they are seeking.

The work of the Inquiry is continuing. The Scottish Government accepted that the decision to postpone the hearings scheduled in April and May was one for the Chair, Lord Weir. The work with core participants continues to enable progress to be made on the Inquiry.

It is important that this process takes place, allowing core participants and members of the Inquiry to come together to fully address the issues.

Most recently, Scottish Government officials met with Lord Weir, on 16 April 2026 to discuss various operational matters including those relating to Waverley Gate. Following that meeting, regular action reporting was established, with officials providing weekly updates to the Inquiry, via the Inquiry Secretariat, on progress against actions relating to the hearing suite and impact on the inquiry timeline.

The Inquiry Chair held a virtual Procedural Hearing on 14 May 2026, during which Lord Weir and Counsel to the Inquiry, further examined issues relating to Waverley Gate as well as updating Core Participants on the Inquiry plans for the next scheduled hearings in September 2026. At that hearing, the Scottish Government committed to continue to provide detailed updates on progressing the resolution to the Waverley Gate building issues.

The Scottish Government has since then continued to progress actions arising from that hearing with urgency and have provided the most recent update to the Inquiry Chair which will allow him to consider options to ensure there is no further delay to the Inquiry hearing schedule.

I recognise the significant pressures facing our Emergency Departments. The challenges we see in A&E are due to blockages across the whole-system, including high hospital occupancy, delays in discharge and increasing patient complexity.

This may result in patients waiting longer than we would wish, however we are clear every Health Boards focus on delivery of the A&E target through collaboration and efficiency.

That is why, this government will act immediately to drive improvements on A&E performance and reduce delays for patients, where we are working closely with Health Boards to ensure they have the support in place to cope with peaks in demand.

Building on the improvements made through the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan (OIP), this government will publish a plan to improving flow within the first 100 days of parliament where our approach will be to take early actions focus on improving access to care, reducing waiting times and easing pressure on hospitals, particularly through strengthening primary and community care.

Scotland’s food system is resilient but faces growing risks from global and domestic shocks. While Scotland benefits from diverse supply chains and strong domestic production, recent events in the Middle East have highlighted vulnerabilities to disruption.

Food resilience is a shared responsibility, and collaboration is essential. The Scottish Government monitors food security, including fertiliser, fuel and food supply, working with industry through our Food Sector Resilience Group to share intelligence, identify risks and support coordinated responses.

These arrangements are underpinned by established resilience structures, including the Scottish Government Resilience Room, which can be adapted to respond to specific disruptions, including those affecting food supply. In addition, we liaise with Local and Regional Resilience Partnerships to plan, prepare for and respond to emergencies in ways that reflect Scotland’s unique geography and supply chain challenges.

As the member will be aware, the Rail Enforcement Powers Working Group published its final report and recommendations on 11 February 2026. This contained an output which recommended that the Scottish Government explore whether primary or secondary legislation can be used to create greater protections for rail workers. Since the report was published, Transport Scotland officials have been conducting a feasibility assessment of each of the Working Group’s recommendations.

As part of this, the feasibility work regarding the proposals for specific legal protections against assaults and abuse towards rail workers has now been widened to include all public transport workers, following the manifesto commitment.

This work will inform any potential future approaches towards implementation.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of sport and physical activity to support positive mental, physical and social health outcomes. We believe that sport and physical activity should be accessible to everyone, with no barriers.

The £40 million uplift for sport in the 2026-27 Budget will support opportunities for people across Scotland to be more active including for disabled people and those with additional support needs.

The Budget included £20 million for the delivery of a Summer of Sport. The programme, administered by sportscotland, aims to remove barriers and increase participation by offering free or low-cost activities for children and young people in every local authority across Scotland. Scottish Disability Sport was a key member of the working group to develop the principles of the Summer of Sport funding, ensuring that the programme is inclusive by design. In addition, inclusive training will be available to the delivery workforce across Scotland from organisations such as Enable.

Our national agency for sport, sportscotland, will invest up to £590,372 in Moray Council for 2026–27, including support for Summer of Sport activities.

Transport Scotland officials engage regularly with Network Rail Scotland to ensure that Scottish Minister’s requirements as specified here: Scottish Ministers’ High Level Output Specification (HLOS) - Control Period 7 - 2024 – 2029 | Transport Scotland are met by Network Rail.

Transport Scotland works with Network Rail to review and revise its programme of works against priorities in the context of available funding. This ensures Transport Scotland can deliver the right projects at the right time as it seeks to progress its rolling programme of decarbonisation, whilst also delivering rail passenger and freight services that meet user expectations.

The railway delivery partners will continue to review and assess suitability of railway infrastructure to ensure it continues to meet the current and future passenger demand, as much as possible and in the context of the available funding.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor and consider a range of evidence in relation to the energy sector.

As part of this approach, we commissioned and published in 2023 a package of independent analysis on Scotland’s Energy System and Just Transition. This analysis considers the economic impact of Scotland’s oil and gas industry, including in terms of employment, during the transition to net zero. A partial update of the baseline data underpinning the analysis was published in 2025.

Decisions on licensing, consenting and the associated fiscal regime for offshore oil and gas are all matters currently reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government will continue to support the energy workforce with the powers available to us.

Barnett consequentials are not expected to arise from the support provided to the British Steel plant at Scunthorpe. HM Treasury has confirmed that the Department for Business and Trade’s intervention is classified as a UK-wide measure; as such, it does not generate additional funding for the Scottish Government.