Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

The Scottish Government’s ‘A Fairer Scotland for Older People: framework for action’ contains a dedicated strand focused on activity we are undertaking to ensure people are financially secure and supported as they age.

In addition, we provide funding of £2.2 million, through the Equality and Human Rights Fund, to older people’s organisations and age equality projects. This funding is delivering a range of initiatives that tackles poverty among older people. A copy of the fund’s progress report can be found here Oct 23-Mar 24_E&HR Progress Report and provides details on initiatives we are delivering with this funding.

Our Pension Age Winter Heating Payment supports older people in receipt of relevant benefits to help with the costs of heating. Next winter, we will introduce a universal Pension Age Winter Heating Payment for all pensioner households in Scotland, meaning every pensioner household will receive a minimum of £100 with support towards their energy bills. This universal payment will provide much needed support not available anywhere else in the UK.

The Health and Social Care Standards set out the expectation that care should be provided by health and social care professionals based on the most relevant evidence, guidance and best practice, as is appropriate to their profession and patient group. In July 2022 we wrote to health boards and GPs to raise awareness of the NICE guidelines and highlight key changes in practice, and these remain the most current national guidelines on the management of ME/CFS.

It is not appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on the clinical opinion of health professionals.

We expect Health Boards to ensure their staff are appropriately trained and developed for their roles, as per the Staff Governance Standard. The standard complements the training expectations set out in individual professional and regulatory requirements.

We have funded Action for ME and partners to disseminate an online Continuous Professional Development training module on ME/CFS for health and social care professionals. Evaluation data suggests it is significantly improving participants’ ability to diagnose and manage ME/CFS. Recent activity around the module has included a focus on increasing uptake among clinicians.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and the top priority for this Government.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why the 2025-26 draft budget continues to allocate over £3 billion a year to policies which tackle both poverty and the cost of living, ensuring that families are supported with the costs of raising a child.

This includes providing a range of support such as 1,140 hours of high-quality funded early learning and childcare to all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds. If families paid for this offer themselves it would cost them more than £5,500 per eligible child per year.

We also offer free school meals to all 277,632 pupils in P1 to 5 and in special schools, saving families taking those meals around £400 per year per child, as well as providing free bus travel for 2.3 million people, including all children and young people under 22, disabled people and everyone age 60 and over – which Child Poverty Action Group estimate saves families on the median wage £2,836 by the time a child turns 18.

Further, the draft Scottish Budget for 2025-26 preserves the social contract at the heart of the Scottish Government’s approach. This includes continuing free prescriptions, compared to £9.90 per item in England from 1 May 2024, and ensuring that no Scottish student pays tuition fees which means that, unlike elsewhere in the UK, a Scottish student studying in Scotland will not incur additional debt of up to £28,605.

In total, subject to Parliamentary approval, the Scottish Budget for 2025-26 will deliver almost £64 billion of funding, focusing resource across the four priorities set out in the Programme for Government: eradicating child poverty; growing the economy; tackling the climate emergency; and ensuring high quality and sustainable public services.

Eligibility for our low-income benefits for families with children, including Scottish Child Payment, is not based on income thresholds. To qualify for these payments individuals must generally be in receipt of certain reserved benefits.

Carer Support Payment is the only devolved benefit with an earnings threshold. The Scottish Government’s 2025-26 draft budget increases the earnings threshold to £196.

There are no current plans to increase the income thresholds for the Education Maintenance Allowance. This is on the basis that the Scottish Government has faced its most challenging budgetary settlement since devolution began – a settlement which has not been inflation-proofed, and which has subsequently required difficult decisions to be made, due to the pressures on our public services. Any future changes to the EMA and corresponding budget would need to be considered in this context.

In 2016, an agreement was reached between Scottish Ministers and COSLA on a new strategic funding plan for flood protection schemes. This agreement ensures that from 2016 to 2026, a minimum of £42 million per annum is allocated for flooding capital grants within the local government settlement. Information is provided below on the schemes funded under that agreement.

My December 2025-25 Budget announcement included the commitment to conduct our first five-year review of LBTT by the end of this Parliament, to support an evaluation of key aspects of the tax legislation, including the application of the ADS where exceptional circumstances and events occur.

As part of this review, officials will engage a range stakeholders and members of the public on a range of general and specific relating to the LBTT and Additional Dwelling Supplement legislation.

The upcoming review will in part look to build further understanding on the impact of the ADS where difficult or exceptional circumstances apply, as well as understanding any complexities and uncertainties for the tax system for accommodating any subsequent changes.

The review, which will commence this coming spring, will support decisions in the next Parliament on the case for any legislative changes.

Taking a partnership approach, Scottish Government, at both a ministerial and official level, engaged with a broad range of stakeholders during the development of the Addressing Depopulation Action Plan (ADAP). This engagement was led by the-then Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees, who was the lead Minister for the development of the ADAP.

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands has portfolio responsibility for the Scottish Rural & Islands Youth Parliament (SRIYP), of which the Young Islanders Network are a key member. Ms. Gougeon attended the inaugural SRIYP in November 2023, where delegates worked together to agree a series of priority statements or asks of Scottish Government. These 10 priorities (including housing, transport and skills, education and employment) strongly align with the delivery priorities outlined within the (ADAP).

Ms. Gougeon has met with the SRIYP network twice since November 2023 and remains in close contact with the Network. This includes a parliamentary event in January 2024, where SRIYP delegates were supported to attend with £20k of Scottish Government funding. The group met with relevant Ministers to present their 10 priorities, which were later discussed at a parliamentary debate hosted by Ms. Gougeon and the Deputy First Minister. Following this, an online meeting in November 2024 was hosted, where Ms. Gougeon provided an update to attendees on what action Scottish Government has taken across their 10 priorities.

I have asked Alison Byrne OBE, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland (NRS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Registration service fees are set by the Registrar General for Scotland with the approval of the Scottish Ministers under The Registration Services (Fees, etc.) (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

Fees contained within the schedules were last amended in 2010 and 2022. These regulations provide instruction for the charges associated with accessing records through the Scotland’s People website.

The fees for inspecting, searching and issuing copies of any records transmitted to the Keeper of the Records of Scotland are set by the Court of Session with consent of Scottish Ministers under the Act of Sederunt (Fees in the National Archives of Scotland) 2005.

In 2022, the Registrar General for Scotland, with the approval of the Scottish Ministers, increased the fees payable for submission of a marriage notice and submission of a notice of a proposed civil partnership from £30 to £45 per party to the intended marriage or civil partnership.

All other statutory fees have remained unchanged since 2020.