Chamber and committees

The Scottish Spending Review 2026 sets out the Scottish Government's indicative capital spending plans for the four years to 2029-30. This includes £4.1 billion health capital investment across major infrastructure projects, essential maintenance and replacing and upgrading vital medical equipment as part of the commitment to invest £10 billion over the next decade.

We are currently working with all health boards to develop an NHS whole system infrastructure plan (WSIP) for Scotland to support targeted investment based on need across all of the NHS estate. This supports continued safe and effective use of existing facilities, through ongoing business continuity planning, as well as informing future investment priorities based on assessment of need across the whole of Scotland.

The first phase, Business Continuity Planning, is focussed on priority investment in the existing estate and equipment to support service continuity. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring ‘by-exception’ reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

In addition to the above planning, Health Boards receive baseline Capital funding each year to be used at their discretion to address estate and equipment requirements. The Scottish Government also continues to fund the national rolling radiotherapy equipment and ambulance fleet replacement programmes.

This year’s Budget included £36 million for the walk-in pilot programme.

The Scottish Government has spent a total of £25,082.4 in the last 5 financial years with Total Politics for the purpose of Women into Leadership conference tickets and training events. £10,752 in Financial Year 24-25 and £14,330.40 in 25-26.

The ScotWind leasing round has secured £755m for the public purse.

Information about how ScotWind income has been drawn down or re-profiled can be found in the Budget, Autumn Budget Revision, Spring Budget Revision and Provisional Outturn publications for each financial year. The planned deployment of ScotWind funding over the Spending Review period is set out in Annex A of the Portfolio Chapters and Annex Tables Amended at Stage 2 Budget Supporting Document Supporting documents - Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027 - gov.scot.

Decisions on further allocations of ScotWind funding and the establishment of a ScotWind Wealth Fund will be taken at future fiscal events.

It is important to note that the situation relating to maintenance is dynamic; as NHS Boards address and eliminate items of maintenance, new items will emerge. It is therefore expected that there will be ongoing requirement for maintenance across the NHS estate.

While it is possible to compare year-on-year changes in backlog maintenance values, this does not represent a cash requirement. Elimination of backlog is achieved from a variety of measures – estate rationalisation and disposal of older properties, incorporating backlog work with redevelopment or lifecycle investment and targeting high risk areas, as we are already doing through NHS whole system infrastructure planning (WSIP).

This whole system approach to infrastructure investment supports continued safe operation of existing facilities. Boards have completed risk-based assessments and received confirmation of items which can be progressed with additional funding from the Scottish Government. Future Business Continuity Plan submissions will be on a two-yearly full submission cycle, with interim years only requiring ‘by-exception’ reporting of new essential maintenance or equipment replacement items not previously reported.

Further detail on NHS WSIP is set out in the answer to question S7W-00813 on 16 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 creation of a national register for child welfare reporters is a priority for the implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020. The register will improve consistency, transparency and quality in how reporters are appointed and carry out their role, helping to support better outcomes for children involved in contact and residence cases.

To support this work, the Child Welfare Reporter Working Group last met on 19 March 2026 to consider a draft implementation plan and supporting Logic Model for the establishment of the register. The plan has not yet been finalised, and we expect the Working Group to meet again in autumn 2026 to consider further.

Once the plans are approved, it is anticipated that it will take up to three years for the new register to become fully operational. Key elements of this work will include developing and laying the necessary regulations, determining the operational model for the management of the register (for example, through contractual arrangements), developing a robust understanding of the costs associated with reports, and identifying any required changes to court rules.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the transition to EVs by ensuring that charging infrastructure is comprehensive, convenient and accessible.

The Road (Scotland) Act 1984 identifies that responsibility for the road network, including control of private installations sits with roads authorities. Under Section 109 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, local authorities already have the power to issue permits for the installation of private apparatus, such as EV home charging points, therefore decisions pertaining to cross-pavement charging are the responsibility of Scotland’s local authorities, not Scottish Ministers.

Current legislation does not provide a basis for the Scottish Government to develop national guidance. However, with support from Transport Scotland, on 22 May, the Scottish Collaboration of Transport Specialists (SCOTS) – a strategic collaborative body representing Scotland’s 32 local authorities and seven regional transport partnerships – published guidance on cross-pavement charging addressing the legal, safety and accessibility issues associated with its provision. This is a standard practice for roads authorities, who regularly collaborate in this way through SCOTS to produce national guidance.

Through the Scottish Government’s Cross-Pavement Charging Grant Fund, households can access grants of up to £3,500 to help meet the cost of installing cross-pavement charging solutions at domestic properties without off-street parking, subject to agreement from the relevant local authority.

There are no plans to review the law on the liability and responsibility for vehicles abandoned without permission on private property.

Controls on abandoned and other vehicles are set out under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978. It is an offence to abandon a motor vehicle on any land without lawful authority and local authorities are required to remove abandoned vehicles in certain circumstances. Where a vehicle is abandoned on land which is occupied, the local authority must serve the occupier of the land with a 15 day notice, for which they have 15 days to object to the vehicle being taken away as prescribed by the Removal and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 1986. Local Authorities also have the power to recover costs of removal, storage and disposal from the person responsible for abandoning the vehicle.

The police have powers to remove any vehicle that is in breach of local traffic regulations, causing an obstruction, likely to cause a danger, broken down or abandoned without lawful authority. Any car that is considered to be a dangerous wreck and where a notice has been issued, can be removed immediately.

Scotland’s Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy 2021-2026 sets out a national approach to improving survival from cardiac arrest, including work to improve access to defibrillators. We are working with our Save a Life for Scotland partners to improve access to defibrillators by ensuring that they are publicly accessible, registered and to take a data driven approach to their placement.

As part of this strategy, the First Minister has announced an investment of £2.5 million to strengthen local response to cardiac arrest. This includes placing an additional 1,000 – 1,250 defibrillators in areas of greatest need.