Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00606 on 10 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-00606 on 10 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.

Consumer prices reflect the energy mix and market arrangements across Great Britain rather than the output of any individual generating station.

On 11 June 2026, the First Minister will announce £400,000 to support Craig Ferguson’s impressive Tartan Trek across America to raise money for Scottish Action on Mental Health (SAMH) ahead of the World Cup. This money will help SAMH to deliver The Nook.

The Scottish Government is delighted to support the Tartan Trek campaign to help SAMH continue its important work around mental health and wellbeing.

We are committed to expanding access to mental health support across Scotland, including through the development of community-based mental health hubs like the Nook. This initial investment will support SAMH as it expands its network across Scotland.

We congratulate Craig Ferguson on his Tartan Trek and thank him for his work to raise awareness about the importance of talking about mental health issues and on encouraging people to access support for mental health.

There is currently no projected underspend in the 2026-27 Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP).

The AHSP seeks to optimise the positive impact of spend and delivery, and does so by supporting local authorities to deliver fully against its Resource Planning Assumptions (RPAs). Where local authorities are unable to deliver against its RPA the programme will seek to move funding to other areas that are able to deliver. This process is taken forward as part of normal in year programme management, in discussion with local authorities and reported on through annual outturn reports.

The Scottish Government was not provided with detailed policy design details for the implementation of zonal pricing nor did the UKG provide a full assessment of the impact of this on consumers, communities and businesses in Scotland. We have been clear that reform is required now to address the immediate issue of high energy costs for consumers.

The Scottish Government has extended the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme (WFWF) into 2026-27, this includes providing £38.1 million for Children's Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) to continue the transformation of holistic whole family support in local communities. To ensure funding is tailored to meet local needs, each CSPP is responsible for deciding how to spend their allocation.

Beyond this financial year, the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: Next steps and timeline - Fairer Futures Partnership Programme: evaluation strategy - gov.scot sets out our intention to integrate the WFWF, alongside the Fairer Future Partnerships and Early Adopter areas, including Dundee, into a single Whole Family Support system change programme from April 2027.

Existing funding arrangements will continue during this transition year, during which, we are working closely with partners on the design of the newly integrated programme; to ensure it works for them and for the families who need holistic whole family support most.

The Scottish House Condition Survey provides a snapshot of the Scottish housing stock in each survey year including the construction age, built form and primary heating fuel of Scottish domestic buildings.

Local Authority level analysis uses a three year pooled sample in order to mitigate the smaller sample sizes involved when analysing sub-national geographies. In this case, survey data from the period 2022-2024 are averaged.

The total number of dwellings using Oil or LPG as their primary heating fuel by Local authority over the 2022-2024 period is presented in the following table.

Table 1: Number of dwellings using Oil or LPG as their primary heating fuel by Local authority 2022-2024.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the licensing framework regulating cat breeding; nor do we have any current plans to reduce the threshold for licensing from 3 litters in any 12-month period to 2. Responsibility for enforcing the legislation regulating cat breeding sits with local authorities and it is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that cat breeders are licensed. Any member of the public can report cat breeders suspected of operating without a licence to the appropriate local authority and this can already be done on an anonymised basis, so we do not believe that a separate reporting system is necessary.

The Scottish Government recognises that there are health concerns linked with cats with extreme characteristics, such as the Scottish Fold. It acknowledges that breeds such as the Scottish Fold and Munchkin have been found to likely represent a breach in the licencing condition of no breeding should occur if it could have a detrimental effect on the cat’s health or wellbeing.

We will continue to work with industry stakeholders and engage with DEFRA in order to keep pace with advances in science and will be looking at issues of artificial insemination of cats, and the breeding of exotic/wild cat-hybrids in line with the recommendations from the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission.