Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is supporting local authorities to develop and deliver local Good Food Nation plans through ongoing engagement and guidance. This includes dedicated workshops, regular engagement to provide tailored support, attendance at local Good Food Nation steering groups and workshops, producing policy guidance notes and presentations at relevant events with a focus on Good Food Nation. An online collaboration space for local authorities to share good practice has also been established by the Good Food Nation Team.

Ministers regularly meet with Police Scotland to discuss a range of matters. Meetings between Ministers and Police Scotland since 1 January 2026 exclusively focused on the antisocial use of vehicles and the powers available to officers to address these issues took place on 24 February 2026, 4 March 2026, and 21 July 2026. I will write to the Member with summary notes of these meetings. A copy of that correspondence will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 66816). Separately, Scottish Government officials meet regularly with Police Scotland colleagues, including the Head of Roads Policing, to discuss a range of issues, including the antisocial and criminal use of vehicles.

The Scottish Government recognises the important contribution that nature-based solutions can make to improving flood and drought resilience. Our policy and investment supports nature-based solutions in both rural and urban areas.

Our Sustainable Flood Risk Management guidance supports a catchment-based approach to flood management and our national Flood Resilience Strategy sets out the importance of restoring and maintaining our natural environment to create flood resilient places. In addition, the Water Resilient Places Policy Framework supports the delivery of blue-green infrastructure and has informed the work of urban drainage partnerships in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.

We support both the Eddleston Water and Allan Water projects to develop and implement nature-based solutions. Evidence from these projects indicates that nature-based solutions can help to delay flood peaks and hold water in the catchment to mitigate water scarcity.

We fund research through the Centre of Expertise on Water and the James Hutton Institute to assess the effectiveness of nature-based solutions and our five year Strategic Research Programme (2022-2027) is funding the “Achieving Multi-Purpose Nature-Based Solutions” research project to explore how to work at scale and across sectors to deliver urban and rural nature-based solutions.

Since 2016, the Scottish Government has provided £612 million to local authorities to support the delivery of flood resilience activities. We also fund environmental improvements with co-benefits for flood and drought resilience through the Water Environment Fund, Peatland Restoration Fund, Nature Restoration Fund and Forestry Grants Scheme.

The Scottish Government recognises and greatly values the commitment of on-call firefighters and the flexibility of their primary employers in allowing them time off to provide the essential fire and rescue cover across Scotland. On-call firefighters are expected to obtain their employer's agreement to be released, where appropriate, for operational duties. On-call firefighters have contracts of employment with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and receive an annual retainer fee together with additional payments for incident attendance, training and other approved activities. These payments are made directly to the firefighter rather than to their primary employer. Businesses which employ on-call firefighters do not receive compensation when employees are released from their primary employment to respond to operational incidents.

The Scottish Government will continue to ensure that the promotion of Gaelic is a priority commitment and that this is supported in education and learning, in arts and culture, in media and broadcasting and in other relevant sectors in Scottish public life. For example, in education, the Scottish Government will continue to support the growth of GME and welcomes the excellent support and resources which Storlann and Sabhal Mor Ostaig provide for GME teachers and pupils. In arts and culture, the work of Feisean nan Gaidheal, Ceolas and the Royal National Mod continue to provide opportunities for young and old and enrich the cultural life of Scotland. In broadcasting, MG ALBA provides a wide and diverse range of high quality programmes and adds value to other important areas of Gaelic activity with our support. In connection with Gaelic speaker communities in the Highlands and Islands, the Scottish Government will build on the wide range of projects and initiatives that are in place in these areas with the provisions that are set out in the Scottish Languages Act, 2025. A number of Gaelic bodies and projects are based in island communities and the work of centres such as Cnoc Soillier, Carinish and Grinneabhat are important for the promotion of Gaelic in these communities. In particular the 2025 Act, enables local authorities to designate areas of linguistic significance for the Gaelic language. This intervention will be supported by Statutory Guidance, by the preparation of Standards and Requirements and with additional funding. In these matters the Scottish Government will continue to provide support and to work closely with relevant local authorities.

I have asked Richard Dennis, the Accountant in Bankruptcy and Agency Chief Executive, to respond. His response is as follows:

The regulation of insolvency practitioners is reserved under head C2 of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998. If Accountant in Bankruptcy had concerns that an individual was acting as trustee in a sequestration without meeting the necessary requirements, this would be reported to the trustee’s recognised professional body and the UK Insolvency Service.

I have asked Richard Dennis, the Accountant in Bankruptcy and Agency Chief Executive, to respond. His response is as follows:

Under section 200 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016, the Accountant in Bankruptcy has the general function of supervising the performance of trustees in sequestration cases. Accountant in Bankruptcy hold records in relation to this function in line with our retention and destruction policy.

This is an operational matter for NHS Tayside.

The Scottish Government wants all those accessing health services to be treated as close to home as clinically appropriate. Where travel is necessary, the Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to work collaboratively with transport providers to make suitable arrangements to ensure that the necessary treatment can be provided in a patient-centred way.

The Scottish Government is aware of proposed data centre developments and is communicating with developers to understand the effect across the country. We are regularly engaged with Scottish Water and the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to understand the potential effect on existing infrastructure.

This matter is under active consideration by the Scottish Government, and Parliament will be kept informed of the outcomes of those considerations – including the potential for planning guidance – in due course.

The farmed fish welfare guidance that we are developing will take into consideration the recommendations from the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s report in order to deliver positive welfare outcomes for fish, whilst being grounded in robust, achievable and enforceable industry practice. We will also be working with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure we have expert input from scientific, industry and welfare perspectives.

The welfare of farmed fish is already assured under the Welfare of Animals (Scotland) Act 2006 and Article 3.1 of assimilated Council Regulation (EC) 1099/2009. We have no current plans to introduce additional legislation.