Chamber and committees

The areas of new native woodland created in Scotland in each of the last five years are set out in the following table.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. That is why we recently published our 10 year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 in June 2023.

The strategic aim and vision is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care across Scotland.

Scottish Government continues to positively engage with the UK Government, including on the development of the new UK Government National Cancer Control Plan 2025.

Scottish Government is committed to the trustworthy, ethical and inclusive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health and social care, where it can help to transform lives, increase healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities across Scotland.

There are promising examples of AI being developed to improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis and in enhancing decision support tools.

The Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway is a programme funded by the Chief Scientist Office within Scottish Government. It has been established to provide a national approach to the identification and adoption of research and proven scientific and technological innovations. Governed by the Innovation Design Authority (IDA), it aims to support improved partnership working, system leadership and joint decisions on the progression of AI innovations across any health condition, including cancer.

We recognise that wild salmon populations are now at crisis point in Scotland. Although the pattern of decline is repeated across the salmon’s North Atlantic range, caused at least in part by the effect of climate change on survival during its marine phase, there remains much that we can do in our rivers and coastal waters to build resilience and transform the fortunes of this iconic fish for the better.

Economic growth is and always will be a clear priority for the Scottish Government and we are committed to ensuring Scotland is one of the best places to do business. FSB are is a key voice for small business and work closely with the Scottish Government to support all of the sectors that they represent in Scotland.

We are acutely aware of the concerns raised by the FSB over rising energy costs, employers national insurance increases, and trade tariffs. We have carried out initial analysis of trade statistics to understand Scottish exposure to US trade across key products and where that may differ from the UK economy. The First Minister discussed this particular matter with the Prime Minister earlier this month and made clear that urgent action should be taken to protect Scotland’s economic interests. We have also consistently called on the UK Government to reverse in full its decision to increase employer national insurance contributions from April 2025.

Here in Scotland we have the most generous small business rates relief in the UK with a competitive non-domestic rates relief package worth an estimated £731 million in 2025-26. We will publish our Programme for Government next week, which will ensure that small businesses are able to thrive and grow.

The areas of non-native coniferous forestry created in Scotland in each of the last five years are set out in the following table.

As detailed in its ‘Designation Policy and Selection Guidance’, Historic Environment Scotland aims to act proportionately within the Scottish Regulators Code of Practice.

Although that means usually avoiding any unnecessary intervention in the planning process or other regulatory processes where there are development proposals by adding a new designation, the individual circumstances are fully considered, including the implications of the proposed designation and the effect development proposals would have in each case.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to write to the member to explain its policy further.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-18505 on 28 September 2018. 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

As the lead public body responsible for preserving, maintaining and promoting the historic environment Historic Environment Scotland will consider any application for designation in line with its published policy ‘Designation Policy and Selection Guidance’.

Any individual can apply for a site to be designated and the designation consideration process by Historic Environment Scotland ensures that the historical and cultural significance of each site is fully considered.

The Scottish Government does not hold information regarding the cost of delivering connectivity to individual Local Authorities through the R100 contracts. Costs for delivery of the R100 contracts are collected at contractual level and, as such, it is not possible to break that figure down for Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders only.

As of the end of March 2025, payments totalling £99.1 million have been made to our contract delivery partner Openreach for work to deliver infrastructure through the R100 South contract, including 6,741 connections in Dumfries and Galloway and 6,234 in the Scottish Borders.

The R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme is also part of the R100 programme. As of the end of March 2025, payments totalling £12.8 million have been made to registered suppliers for a total of 5,073 connections across Scotland, including 244 in Dumfries and Galloway and 313 in the Scottish Borders.