Chamber and committees

I have asked Linda Pollock, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS’ Maternity and Parenting policy was last reviewed in partnership with trade unions in April 2026. It applies to all staff who are entitled to maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave and forms part of the employee contract of employment and sets out specific rights and benefits when applicable.

The policy is compliant with equalities and employment legislation and has been subject to an Equalities and Human Rights Impact Assessment, which was published alongside the finalised policy.

There are no further plans to review the policy at this stage.

The Scottish Government recognises that workforce measures alone are not sufficient to deliver the ambition for reforming public services. The Public Service Reform Strategy sets out a wider programme of reform, including prevention, service redesign and efficiency, with workforce one workstream of the 18 workstreams set out in the strategy. PSR is focussed on improving lives, reducing inequality and ensuring fiscal sustainability.

The Strategy sets out how reform contributes to fiscal sustainability across:

• Prevention: The Strategy emphasises the importance of shifting resource towards prevention to reduce avoidable demand on public services. Analysis published alongside the Strategy indicates that addressing key drivers of demand has the potential to avoid significant long-term public expenditure.
• Improving the quality, and reducing cost, of services through changing our service delivery mode. Through better joining up of services, we can improve the outcomes and experience of services for users (particularly those with disadvantage) and reduce the cost in the system of repeated assessments, telling stories multiple times and administrative costs.
• Efficiency – the Strategy also sets out a programme of efficiency and effectiveness measures, including a commitment to reduce annualised Scottish Government and public body corporate costs by £1 billion over five years.

Taken together, these measures reflect a system-wide approach to reform, rather than one focussed solely on workforce controls, and are intended to ensure that public services are sustainable while continuing to improve outcomes for people and communities.

In March 2021, we published Scotland’s first population strategy, A Scotland for the future: opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population. It sets out the cross-cutting demographic challenges that Scotland faces at national and local level, and sets out a new programme of work to address these challenges and harness new opportunities.

There is an increased need for housing adaptations to support people as they age to live safely and independently at home which is why we have protected the Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) Adaptations Programme budget, maintaining this at £20.9 million for 2026-27. This commitment allows us to continue to support approximately 85 RSLs meet their responsibilities to deliver housing adaptations to disabled tenants.

Reporters, appointed by Scottish Ministers to consider applications for electricity transmission infrastructure are guided by the statutory framework of the Electricity Act 1989 and the associated Code of Practice for inquiries.

In all cases where Scottish Ministers are responsible for deciding applications made under the Electricity Act 1989, submissions made by all parties are fully considered. Weight is not accorded to representations on the basis of the status or identity of the person who made them.

The decision-making process takes into account matters including Scottish Government policy, UK Government policy on reserved matters, National Planning Framework 4, environmental information, consultation responses, views of affected communities and representations made by members of the public, as well as any public inquiry report.

The merits of each proposal are considered on a case-by-case basis, and a careful balance must be struck between the potential impacts of the development and the associated policy, environmental, economic, renewable energy and climate change benefits as well as other local community effects. This ensures that the right developments are planned and approved in the appropriate locations.

Local authorities participating in inquiries are required to provide all financial, legal and technical support required to support their participation. No additional funding is provided by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has reformed the consenting process for major electricity infrastructure through the Planning and Infrastructure (Scotland) Act 2025 by replacing the automatic requirement for a public inquiry with a reporter-led examination. This allows procedures such as written submissions, hearings or inquiries to be used only where appropriate, making participation more proportionate, and focussed on key issues relating to the case. By enabling reporters to scope examinations to the issues in dispute, the new approach allows authorities to participate effectively addressing cost and resourcing issues required for full inquiries.

Changes to the automatic Public Local Inquiry trigger for energy consent applications were consulted on by the UK Government in October and November 2024 as part of preparations for the then Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Details of the consultation outcome can be viewed at: Electricity infrastructure consenting in Scotland - GOV.UK. This included engagement with local authorities and opportunities for input from local communities through formal public consultation processes.

The Scottish Government intends to consult later this year on additional measures enabled by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 which are intended to further improve the efficiency of application processing and minimise resourcing challenges for local authorities. The Scottish Government has no plans at present to establish a dedicated funding mechanism to support local authorities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00237 on 1 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.

In considering the provision of specialist services, NHS Boards are expected to plan capacity in line with population need and service demand, supported by regional and national collaboration where appropriate.

We are aware of pressures within some specialist services, including in the West of Scotland, and expect Boards to take these into account as part of their ongoing service planning and prioritisation.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. We would direct the member to the NHS Grampian health board to obtain this information.

In order to support the reduction of waiting times, patients may be asked to travel to appointments out with their local health board. It is expected that most patients will be seen and treated locally wherever possible and appropriate, based on clinical need and operational effectiveness. However, it may not always be possible for Health Boards to provide access locally, for all patients and for all services, where Health Boards are, for example, constrained by geography or specialist services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00228 on 1 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.

The planning and delivery of services sits with NHS Boards, who are responsible for ensuring appropriate pathways are in place for assessment, diagnosis and treatment based on the needs of their local populations.

The Scottish Government supports NHS Boards through wider work to improve access to specialist services and strengthen pathways across primary, community and specialist care, with a particular focus on reducing unwarranted variation and ensuring the sustainability of services.