Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working in close partnership with COSLA and Scottish Swimming to deliver a national programme of free swimming lessons for all primary school children. A School Swimming Working Group, chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, has now been established to support both the development of the initiative and its subsequent implementation. Focused on the Primary 5 cohort predominantly, this three year phased approach will ultimately result in every primary-aged child in Scotland receiving access to high-quality swimming lessons.

Strong progress has already been made, particularly in advancing the delivery model and refining cost arrangements, to ensure that the programme being developed is robust and sustainable.

The foundations for a national programme are firmly in place, and partners are well positioned to move into implementation, working towards delivery of free swimming lessons for primary school children across Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00312 on 4 June 2026. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 2026. 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.

We are not currently in a position to provide a timescale for when the Community Low Vision Service will be fully rolled out across Scotland. However, this is a critical priority and I can confirm that work has resumed on the design and development phases of the service.

This is a significant programme of work and will require extensive collaboration with a range of partners including NHS Scotland, the community optometry and dispensing optician professions and the visual impairment sector.

We will review the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline (2026-27 to 2029-30) at each Spending Review. It is a live document and new projects and programmes will be added to the pipeline at future updates as investment plans are agreed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 2026. 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.

We want women and girls in Scotland to experience the best possible health, throughout their lives. However, it remains an unwelcome reality that communities across Scotland experience health, quality of life and even life expectancy differently depending on their circumstances.

In order to tackle this challenge, the Scottish Government and COSLA, in collaboration with our wider partners, published Scotland’s Population Health Framework in June 2025. This takes a cross-government and cross-sector approach to improving the key building blocks of health and addressing the broad, interrelated issues that shape health outcomes across the population. These building blocks include a focus on: good early years and education; good work and income; healthy places; and equitable health care.

To further augment this approach, Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan has a renewed focus on Optimising Future Health, supporting improvement in women’s healthy life expectancy, so they can enjoy longer healthier lives with better health, in later years.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold a risk register of care facilities at risk of failure. The statutory responsibility for providing appropriate social care capacity lies with local authorities, integrated joint boards, and integrated health and social care partnerships. It would therefore be the responsibility of these bodies to assess local population needs and consider where investment needs to be targeted to improve the social care infrastructure within their area.

The Government has committed to expanding the Displaced Workers Scheme.

This will be operational to eligible employers within the first 100 days of this administration, with further details to follow in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 2026. 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.