Chamber and committees

Not in the foreseeable future. The scoping work that we conducted supported the case for the creation of a Scottish Veterinary Service that could deliver quality improvements and could be financially sustainable.

However, in the current financial climate it is appropriate that we prioritise other key public services. The initial investment to create an SVS is too high given the ongoing financial pressures and the cost-of-living crisis.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the highest standards of animal health and welfare, as well as more highly trained veterinary staff, and continues to work with FSS, APHA and the Local Authorities to ensure that Scotland has the best possible animal health and welfare services.

Scottish Ministers remain fully committed to transparency regarding which (a) individuals, (b) organisations and (c) other entities receive public subsidies for (i) forestry, (ii) farming, (iii) nature restoration and (iv) other land use and the quality of the outputs generated by these subsidies.

The management, collection, evaluation, monitoring and publication of data has already been identified as a critical and vital element of the current Agricultural Reform Programme that will implement the Vision of Agriculture and ensure that successful outcomes are achieved all in terms of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 ( the ARC Act) as approved and passed by Parliament.

The ARC Act does provide discretionary powers for Scottish Ministers to address transparency. For example, where there are complex ownership structures such as holding companies or trusts or where a person has significant control over a beneficiary of support under the ARC Act, Scottish Ministers may be able to publish the details of any person who owns or controls the recipient of that support. But that would need consultation with the Information Commissioner, satisfactory conclusion of data protection and other impact assessment work and such consultation as is required in terms of the ARC Act.

The ARC Act powers will enable Scottish Ministers to consider those improvements that should be addressed to provide new improved schemes under the ARC Act.

Scottish Ministers remain fully committed to transparency regarding who receives public subsidies for (a) forestry, (b) farming, (c) nature restoration and (d) other land use in the current parliamentary session.

In particular, further to our recent introduction of the required regulations and their approval by Parliament – following imminent planned closure of the UK website by Defra –steps have now been taken for the Scottish Government to implement the regulations and continue to publish data relating to Scotland for beneficiaries of CAP legacy schemes.

The first publication was made on the 30th June 2026 for the data relating to all CAP legacy schemes subsidy payments made to beneficiaries in Scotland during the EU financial year from 16 October 2024 to 15 October 2025 and this data will remain available for two years, until June 2028.

This publication will include the names of all beneficiaries apart from those who received less than the equivalent of 1,250 in total subsidy during the year that are not shown in the spreadsheet. In these cases, payment amounts are included, but beneficiary names have been removed. For the purposes of this publication , 1,250 has been converted to a sterling equivalent of £1,114.

Similar publications will be made on the 30th June in subsequent years throughout the current parliamentary session.

Water bodies may be monitored for different purposes, such as public health or assessing the status of the water environment.

Areas where large number of bathers are expected to use the water are designated as Bathing Waters for the protection of public health. Designated Bathing Waters are monitored during the bathing water season for bacteria that indicate the potential presence of pathogens that may be harmful to human health.

SEPA also undertakes wider, routine monitoring for the protection of Scotland’s water environment for a range of parameters, including some chemicals. The EU recently made changes to its list of Priority Substances, including the addition of 25 new substances and the Scottish Government is currently reviewing these changes and considering any action which Scotland might take.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS) is the main source for Labour Market Indicators more detailed characteristics. The ONS state there are concerns with the quality of the APS estimates for smaller groups of the population. Therefore, it is not possible to produce robust estimates of the number of people aged 18 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training and not receiving out-of-work benefits from this source.

The Annual Participation Measure published by Skills Development Scotland provides estimates for 16 to 19 year olds not participating in education, employment or training by age and reason for not participating. In 2025, the SDS Annual Participation Measure estimates that 6,758 people aged 18 to 19 in Scotland were not participating in education, employment, or training. The status for those not participating in education, employment or training are included in Table 1.1b: https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/appbneac/2025-annual-participation-measure-supplementary-tables.xlsx.

Due to clear recommendations by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, and the fact that the last relevant consultation was undertaken 10 years ago, the Scottish Government is committed to a consultation on a proposal to ban remote controlled training collars.

In October 2018 we published advisory guidance on dog training aids, including remote controlled training devices using a static pulse, commonly known as shock collars. The Guidance on Dog Training Aids was developed in discussion with animal welfare organisations including the Scottish SPCA, Dogs Trust, Kennel Club and BVA. It provides important advice on aversive training techniques, including electric shock collars, for both dog owners and those enforcing the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS) is the main source for Labour Market Indicators for detailed characteristics. The ONS state there are concerns with the quality of the APS estimates for smaller groups of the population. Therefore, it is not possible to produce robust estimates of the number of people aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training by age group from this source.

The Annual Participation Measure published by Skills Development Scotland provides estimates for 16 to 19 year olds not participating in education, employment or training by age.

In 2025, the SDS Annual Participation Measure estimates that:

• 2,152 people aged 16 to 17 in Scotland were not participating in education, employment, or training (1.8% of 16 to 17 year olds)
• 6,758 people aged 18 to 19 in Scotland were not participating in education, employment, or training (6.1% of 18 to 19 year olds)

While the Scottish Government has not carried out its own assessment of the prevalence of the trade in exotic animals, we did fund the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) to undertake, under the direction of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, a comprehensive review of the evidence on the welfare of exotic pets in Scotland. The SRUC published its findings in November 2022. Additionally, in 2021 and 2022, the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission published interim and final reports on exotic pets in Scotland which included its findings on the trade and supply of exotic pets.

At this time, the Scottish Government has no plans to regulate this trade; however, we continue to consider the findings of the SRUC and SAWC reports and engage with relevant stakeholders to inform future policy, including the need for further regulation.

The Scottish Government has recently taken multiple steps towards encouraging animal farmers to make transitions to improve animal welfare, such as our 2026 consultations on the proposed ban on keeping laying hens, pullets and breeder layers in cages and proposed changes to lamb castration and tail docking methods (to improve welfare through usage of new methods with anesthesia and pain relief), which we held in collaboration with the UK and Welsh Governments. In 2024 we also updated the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Regulations 2010 to include updated pig welfare guidance.

Six Long Term Conditions Advisory Groups were established under the previous Government in March 2026. Advisory Group 5 focused on Long COVID, myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/ CFS) and other post-infectious/ post-viral conditions.

The Advisory Groups provided recommendations by 7 May 2026 for the new government to consider. We are grateful for the work of all six Advisory Groups in developing their recommendations.

It is for Scottish Ministers to decide whether and to what extent any of the recommendations become government policy. We are carefully considering the Advisory Groups’ recommendations to inform our way forward for long term conditions. Our Programme for Government for 2026-27 will be put to the Parliament in due course.