Chamber and committees

There is no robust assessment of illicit trade, which encompasses a wide range of crime threats and also covers devolved and reserved matters. The National Crime Agency has assessed that SOC offenders use high street businesses to support criminality, distribute illicit goods, engage in illegal working or launder funds. This can undermine legitimate businesses, damage consumer confidence and harm local investment. The Scottish Government is engaging with the UK Government and others to disrupt high street criminality.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00581 on 8 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 Aberdeen City GP walk-incentre, based in Aberdeen Health Village, is due to open later this month.

As our national development agency, Scottish Enterprise is responsible for delivering the Scottish Government’s economic development priorities as set out by ministers.

The Scottish Government commitment to carrying out a clinically led review of latest data and evidence to determine whether there is merit in specific additional or alternative cancer waiting times standards for different types of cancer and cancer treatment is already underway.

A project steering group is being established which will support the review, determining if any amendments to the standards would enhance patient experience and meet the needs of the NHS for the future.

Evidence review commissions were shared with key partners in April, with the full clinical consensus review expected to conclude with recommendations within 18- 24 months.

Scottish Ministers will be considering options with the Scottish Ambulance Service to increase the availability of this service across Scotland, this will be informed by an evaluation of the current three sites funded by the Scottish Government in Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee. We expect the evaluation to be available by the end of summer 2026.

I will be holding discussions with my Officials in the coming months to determine how best to organise and supply additional funding for local roads maintenance. As with all areas of Local Government funding, substantive details around funding allocations and accountability will be considered through the joint COSLA and Scottish Government Settlement and Distribution Group (SDG) prior to recommendations being provided to COSLA Leaders and Scottish Ministers.

The date for this legislation going live has yet to be decided. Our consultation on the approach to implementation closed on 22 May and we aim to publish a report on responses within 12 weeks.

Preparation for implementation is being supported by the Right to Breaks Implementation Steering Group, involving unpaid carer representatives as well as statutory and third sector organisations.

In the meantime, local authorities already have responsibilities to promote a variety of short breaks in their areas and carers who meet local eligibility criteria can continue to access short break support in accordance with their rights under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016. Additionally, we are providing £13m in 2026-27 for the voluntary sector Short Breaks Fund which enables unpaid carers to benefit from a wide variety of easy-access short breaks.

The Scottish Government has considered the risks associated with reliance on the Vision 3 service. Following the administration of In Practice Systems Limited (INPS) in December 2024, migrations were paused while contractual novation to OneAdvanced was secured, involving extensive due diligence over nine months.

Robust governance, including framework procurement rules, clinical safety assessments, and contractual safeguards, remains in place. Risk mitigation measures include ongoing oversight by the GP IT Service Management Board, a phased rollout of migrations to the Vision system, and supplier performance management. The system continues to be supported, secure, and subject to continuous review, with contingency planning reflected in the extended EMIS PCS GP IT system contract to June 2027 while the programme of migrations to the Vision system is ongoing.

The Scottish Government is working with Motability Operations to understand how any changes stemming from UK Government tax changes in its November 2025 Budget might affect its customers in Scotland who use the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment (AVE) Scheme.

We are aware of the upcoming changes announced by Motability to new and renewing lease customers elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Motability will separately set out in due course how any changes will apply to its future provision in Scotland under the AVE Scheme.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the AVE Scheme and ensuring that eligible clients get the right vehicle to meet their needs and to allow them to remain independent.