Chamber and committees

The food environment, including promotions, significantly influences the food choices people make, both in and out of home. This report adds further to (the evidence base and) our understanding that promotions can encourage impulse spend and can lead to people buying more than they need, overlooking cheaper and healthier alternatives.

The Scottish Government is taking forward wide ranging action to support people make healthier choices in the out of home sector.

On 17 June, the Scottish Government confirmed that it will introduce regulations to restrict the promotion of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt to the Scottish Parliament this autumn. These regulations will, amongst other things, restrict unlimited refills for a fixed charge of non-prepacked soft drinks with added sugar in qualifying out of home businesses. Further detail on the final scope of the policy is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/restricting-promotion-food-drink-high-fat-sugar-salt-hfss-consultation-detail-proposed-regulations-scottish-government-response/.

We are working with Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland to develop our Eating Out Eating Well Framework https://eatingouteatingwell.publichealthscotland.scot/, one of the actions from our Out Of Home Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/diet-and-healthy-weight-out-of-home-action-plan/. The new Framework is designed to help businesses serving food out of home, such as restaurants and cafes, to provide healthier options for customers, and includes developing a Code of Practice for children’s menus. Further detail is set out in the answer to question S6W-39402 on 8 August 2025. 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/questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government will consider further action to improve the food environment, including in out of home settings, under the Population Health Framework.

The letter of 11 July sets out that the Scottish Government internal Trans and Non Binary Equality employment policy is under active review in light of the ruling in For Women Scotland V The Scottish Ministers.

This is an internal employer policy that covers Scottish Government staff. Changes to our workplace policies and procedures will be consulted on in line with normal practice, including: internal staff engagement in line with our organisational vision and values; engagement with relevant corporate and policy teams; and partnership working with the Council of Scottish Government Unions.

The timing and approach will be shaped by the emerging advice. This is a complex area of law involving the interaction between different pieces of legislation, and we want to ensure we get it right for all our staff.

We are working with Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and Public Health Scotland (PHS) to develop our Eating Out Eating Well Framework, one of the actions from our Out Of Home Action Plan https://www.gov.scot/publications/diet-and-healthy-weight-out-of-home-action-plan/. The new Framework is designed to help businesses serving food Out Of Home, such as restaurants and cafes, to provide healthier options for customers, and includes developing a Code of Practice for children’s menus.

PHS has recently completed a pilot for our new Eating Out Eating Well Framework. Papers for the pilot and more detail about the Framework have already been published and can be found at: https://eatingouteatingwell.publichealthscotland.scot/

We are also currently working with PHS and FSS to review learnings from the pilot. Once this review has been concluded and its recommendations considered, the Framework will be finalised and published.

the Scottish Government is updating guidance on Employment, Skills and Training within the Sustainable Procurement Tools, there are no current plans to issue a new Policy Note on social impact.

Scotland has been delivering social value through procurement for many years, embedding our commitment within legislation over ten years ago with a requirement to include economic, social, and environmental wellbeing in procurement decisions. For contracts valued at £4 million or more, public bodies must consider including community benefits and justify their exclusion if not appropriate. Legislation also requires that awards are not based on price alone, but on the best balance of cost and quality, which includes a commitment to sustainable outcomes.

Scottish Procurement Policy Note 6/2020 reaffirms these requirements, outlining how social impact should be considered in public procurement. In addition to scored social impact questions, it highlights other practical ways to achieve social and economic outcomes, such as:

• While Including social requirements in specifications,
• Dividing contracts into lots to facilitate access for SMEs and third sector organisations,
• Reserving contracts for supported businesses.

The effectiveness of this approach, which includes extensive training and support to implement these policies, is evidenced in the 2023 report Scotland’s Journey of Achieving Sustainable Procurement Outcomes (2002–2022) and in annual procurement activity reports.

Supporting the construction industry and its workforce is a priority for the Scottish Government. The Minister for Business and Employment chairs a Construction Leadership Forum that has oversight of a 2024 Transformation Action Plan and a skills and workforce working group, which is progressing the commitment to increase the capacity, capability, and diversity of the workforce with a focus on future skills and industry attractiveness. The sector continues to have one of the highest apprenticeship intakes, with construction occupations accounting for 25.6% of Modern Apprenticeship starts in 2024-25.

We encourage community or affordable housing projects returning empty homes to use to consider how skills development may be incorporated. Scottish Government funding allocated through the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP) in 2024-25 enabled one such project to happen in Dundee. More information about this project is available here: https://www.the-cii.org/strong-foundations-scotland/.

No. It is the Scottish Government’s view that both parents should be fully involved in their child’s life, as long as this is practical and in the child’s best interests.

There is no legal presumption in favour of shared parenting in section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, which is the key legislation in relation to contact, residence and parental responsibilities and rights. When deciding whether to make an order under section 11 (e.g. a contact or residence order) the welfare of the child must be the court’s paramount consideration.

The Scottish Government has no plans to change the law to introduce a presumption of shared parenting, as this could cut across the driving principle of the legislation that the welfare of the child is paramount.

However, section 16 of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020, once in force, will require the court to consider the effect of any order under section 11 of the 1995 Act on the involvement of the child's parents in bringing the child up. We plan to make further commencement regulations later this year to bring provisions, including section 16, into force in October 2026.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for inpatient or day case treatment at specialty level are published up to 31 March 2025 and can be found using the following link: https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/32913/ipdc_may25.xlsx.

The latest statistics for ongoing gynaecology waits for inpatient or day case treatment within each NHS board is presented in sheet 2.2 Table. The next release of this publication, covering statistics up to 30 June 2025 will be on 26 August 2025.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) does not hold the required information relating to waiting times for gynaecological biopsies. This is due to two reasons:

• PHS understands that most gynaecological biopsies are carried out in an outpatient setting. Whilst biopsies that are carried out in a consultant-led new outpatient clinic are subject to the 12-week national standard and will be included in the data supplied by NHS boards, detail on new outpatient procedures are not routinely captured. Therefore, the corresponding waits cannot be identified nationally.
• Some gynaecological biopsies will be carried out in a day case setting. However, diagnostics tests and investigations are not reportable under the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee. Therefore, the corresponding waiting times data is not held centrally.

More detailed information on the gynaecological biopsies that are planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS boards.

Non-domestic rates are a property-based tax charged on the private, public or third sectors, with the tax liability based on the rateable value of a property. The Higher Property Rate applies to all properties with a rateable value above £100,000.

The Scottish Budget maintains a competitive rates regime, ensuring that over 95% of properties are liable for a lower property tax than anywhere else in the UK, and supporting business and communities with a competitive non-domestic rates relief package worth an estimated £733 million in 2025-26.

We are committed to ensuring the non-domestic rates system supports business growth, investment and competitiveness, whilst acknowledging the important role non-domestic rates income plays in funding public services.

Decisions on non-domestic rates are taken annually as part of the Budget in line with prevailing economic conditions and Government priorities.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service that is available across Scotland whenever people need it. The majority of NHS Boards can now refer to thrombectomy Hub centres, increasing geographical access to thrombectomy procedures.

Scottish Government officials and NHS planners have been asked to work at pace on developing a plan for the next steps for service expansion. While there is not a specific date for publication, we expect the next steps for service expansion to reflect work to align the governance and delivery of thrombectomy with similar national programmes. This alignment with wider health service planning aims to support oversight of thrombectomy planning for the NHS Chief Executive Group and encourage greater collaboration between NHS Boards in delivering this vital service.

Regulation 4 of the Burial and Cremation (Inspection) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 makes provision for the Scottish Ministers to establish and maintain a register of relevant bodies and provides a power to publish the register or any information contained in the register.

The Funeral Sector Register opened on 1 April 2025, and to date 92 organisations including funeral directors, cremation and burial authorities have registered. These organisations relate to 333 different premises across Scotland. The Scottish Government has and continues to encourage all organisations working in the funeral sector to register. In addition, the Scottish Ministers have the ability to add organisations to the register if they become aware of them.

We continue to promote the digital register and build on current number of organisations registered whilst highlighting the positive benefits of registration for both the sector and the public.