Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is aware an incident involving a public-facing health statistics service in Australia. It highlights why governments across the world must continue to take both the opportunities and risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) seriously. The incident reinforces the need to consider AI agents as both a cyber threat and a governance challenge. It highlights the importance of monitoring automated access to public-facing services, ensuring robust controls around health data systems, and developing clear policies on the use, assurance and incident reporting of AI-enabled tools by suppliers and partners.

The Scottish Government is carefully considering the recommendations of the report. Officials are actively engaging with the Competitions and Markets Authority as well as key stakeholders including Consumer Scotland, the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association, the UK and Northern Ireland Governments and consumer advice organisations on how these can be progressed within our devolved powers, including the feasibility of developing a permanent heating oil price checker tool for Scotland.

We continue to make the case to the UK Government that it is critical that it makes urgent progress on implementing the report recommendations.

While decisions on future funding for the Islands Accelerator Model will be taken as part of future Scottish Budgets, any funding provided would be additional to the £23 million of funding for inter island connectivity in Shetland, that was confirmed as part of the 2026-27 Scottish Budget and Spending Review.

The Scottish Government has engaged with local government through a range of meetings and discussions on public service reform and local governance over recent months. The recently published proposals are intended to be a starting point for discussion, and a programme of wider engagement with local authorities and other stakeholders is now underway.

While the law covering the sale of fireworks is mainly reserved, the Scottish Government has taken steps to strengthen the law around access to, and use of, fireworks. The Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022, introduced measures intended to reduce harmful and antisocial use of fireworks and pyrotechnic articles, while supporting the safe and responsible enjoyment of fireworks. This includes: a proxy purchase and supply offence to under 18s; a statutory aggravation for emergency workers; introduction of pyrotechnic offences and introduction of Firework Control Zones.

At this time, the Scottish Government has no plans to introduce legislation on the sale of fireworks.

The UK Government is running, until 7 October, a consultation on fireworks and pyrotechnics in the UK. This can be found at: Fireworks and pyrotechnics in the UK - GOV.UK.

The digital transfer of Defence Medical Services records into NHS Scotland is being progressed in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and other UK partners. As delivery is dependent on aspects of the programme being led by the Ministry of Defence, no date has yet been confirmed for full implementation across NHS Scotland.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Competition and Markets Authority's report, which illustrates the higher prices faced by Scottish households, and reinforces our longstanding concerns about the disparity in consumer protections for those reliant on heating oil.

We remain in close contact with key fuel suppliers across Scotland to ensure that we have the information necessary to monitor the current situation and in turn to inform our planning for all eventualities.

Given the current and ongoing volatility of international events, it is critical that UK Government makes urgent progress on implementing the report recommendations. Ultimately, only they have the power to deliver the structural reform needed for meaningful change.

In the meantime, we will continue to deliver support through our Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme. The scheme enables eligible households to apply for £300 towards their heating oil and liquid petroleum gas bills.

The Scottish Government will continue to support NHS Boards in meeting their data protection and cyber security obligations through national guidance, assurance and oversight. Any relevant lessons identified from this incident will be considered and shared across NHS Scotland, and appropriate action taken where necessary to safeguard patient information and services.

The vast majority of funding available to Local Authorities is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on inter island connectivity, on the basis of local needs and priorities.

Ultimately, locally elected representatives are best placed to make local decisions on how to allocate resources in their communities.

Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 to report on their outcomes, alongside a requirement to prepare and publish annual accounts. Shetland and Orkney Island Councils would be expected to set out how they have allocated the totality of funding available to them in 2025-26, including the £20 million, in their accounts for the year.

The Scottish Government is supporting NHS Lothian through sustained investment in health and social care services and through our wider programme of health and social care reform.

Through the Service Renewal Framework and the Population Health Framework, we are supporting health boards and partners to plan services for current and future population needs. Together, these frameworks support a long-term approach to delivering sustainable services by focusing on prevention and early intervention, improving access to care, strengthening community-based services and using population planning to ensure capacity is aligned with anticipated demand.

Responsibility for assessing local population needs and planning services rests with NHS boards and Integration Joint Boards who determine how best to meet the needs of their local communities.