Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that anxiety can impact people’s ability to enter and sustain employment, and is committed to ensuring timely, joined up support that improves wellbeing and enables access to fair work. Our social security system takes a compassionate approach to delivering Adult Disability Payment, ensuring people can access the support they are entitled to.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and our accompanying Delivery Plan prioritises early intervention and prevention, ensuring people can access support quickly and at the earliest stage before their condition worsens. We fund a range of accessible services, including Mind to Mind Scotland and 24/7 support through NHS 24’s Mental Health Hub, alongside the Breathing Space helpline.

We have invested £164 million since 2020 in community-based mental health and wellbeing supports, including over 6,100 projects through the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults. These provide early, practical support such as peer support, social connection and activity based interventions that help people manage anxiety and build confidence, including for work.

Through our funding for devolved employability services, support for people to progress towards and into employment is available in all 32 local authority areas. Our Specialist Employability Support offer ensures place-and-train models of support for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions are in place across the country.

Together, these actions ensure that people experiencing anxiety can access timely support and are helped to progress towards fair and sustainable employment reducing the risk of long-term welfare dependency.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with Motability to understand how any changes it is considering to its provision as a consequence of the removal of tax exemptions in the UK Budget might affect customers in Scotland, including those living in rural, remote rural and island communities.

The UK Government did not consult the Scottish Government on its changes to the associated tax exemptions in the November 2025 Budget, despite the clear and significant impacts for the devolved Accessible Vehicles and Equipment (AVE) Scheme in Scotland under which Motability is the provider. Scottish Ministers wrote to the UK Government in November upon becoming aware of the potential tax changes, emphasising that they would cause significant fear and uncertainty for disabled people who rely on the AVE Scheme to remain mobile.

The 1 July 2026 commencement announced by Motability for its changes in the rest of the UK is not set to apply in Scotland. However there may need to be future changes to Motability’s provision in Scotland under the AVE Scheme as a result of the UK tax changes, in which case customers will be notified as soon as possible.

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

I welcome the report on HMP Kilmarnock from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS), in particular their acknowledgement of good practice and that the transfer from private into public ownership was done in a safe and controlled manner.

I recognise that, faced with the context of the current prison population, HMP Kilmarnock has experienced challenges as seen across the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) estate. All SPS establishments have been required to make operational decisions that maximise available space in order to accommodate a rising and complex prison population.

The wellbeing of those in SPS’ care remains paramount, and in all instances, consideration is given to factors such as social care needs, risk presentation and the classification of prisoners.

The Scottish Government is delivering the strongest package of winter support in the UK.

Pension Age Winter Heating Payment is an automatic annual payment that helps people of State Pension age with winter heating costs.

Official statistics published on 19 May 2026 shows that as of 31 March 2026 over 1.055 million Pension Age Winter Heating Payments were made to eligible clients, with the vast majority paid automatically in December 2025.The information requested for April 2026 is not yet published.

People could apply for Pension Age Winter Heating Payment if they believed they were eligible but had not received a payment by 31 March 2026. Social Security Scotland may therefore make payments after that date where applications are received, awarded or accepted late in certain circumstances.

Further details are available on Social Security Scotland’s website at: Winter Heating Benefit Statistics.

Alongside our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement as set out in the social security principles, further enhancements are being made to the review process. These enhancements will include improvements to the scheduled review form, which will strengthen the gathering of relevant information at award review.

We will design these enhancements with disabled people and stakeholders to facilitate fair and robust decision-making and ensure that the values of dignity, fairness and respect are embedded throughout.

The Scottish Government is clear that people should be able to receive the support they need, at the earliest opportunity based on need, and this should not be dependent on formal diagnosis.

Although colleges operate independently of government and universities are autonomous, they are responsible for ensuring students are supported in their learning. Students are encouraged to engage with student support, wellbeing and learning support services, through which needs can be identified and reasonable adjustments put in place. Institutions are supported by Scottish Government funding: the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) delivered by the Student Awards Agency Scotland; the Access and Inclusion Fund in colleges; and the Disabled Students’ Premium which supports inclusive learning and reasonable adjustments for students with additional needs, including those not eligible for DSA.

For school pupils, the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, places duties on education authorities and other agencies to identify, meet and review additional support needs, including those arising from neurodevelopmental differences. To support parents/carers, young people and children, the Scottish Government also funds Enquire, the national advice and information service on additional support for learning and My Rights My Say, which supports children aged 12 and over, enabling them to understand and exercise their rights and participate fully in decisions about their education.

At this early stage of the new Parliament, it is not possible to provide a specific date for full implementation beyond the existing commitment. Progress is, however, well underway: twenty partnerships are in development and seven Bairns’ Hooses are already delivering services across Scotland.

Local Authorities are legally required to set a balanced budget for each upcoming financial year and all 32 councils agreed balanced budgets for 2026-27, ahead of the statutory deadline of 11 March 2026.

The Scottish Government appreciate the pressures facing Local Government and that’s why the Local Government Settlement provided record funding of £15.7 billion for 2026-27, including a quarter of a billion pounds of unrestricted General Revenue Grant and full flexibility on council tax. The vast majority of funding allocated by the Scottish Government is provided by means of a block grant and it is then for individual Local Authorities to allocate the total resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, including for Social Care Support for people at home.

The Scottish Government has a long history of working with COSLA and Local Authorities to make sure council finances are sustainable and that available resources can meet long-term commitments. Decisions on future Local Government Settlements will be the subject of negotiations with COSLA on behalf of all 32 Local Authorities and announced as part of the outcome of future Scottish Budgets.