Chamber and committees

The allocations of activity at National treatment Centres (NTCs) for the year 2025-26 have been made. Please see table below:

NHS Grampian

The areas of non-native coniferous forestry created in Scotland in each of the last five years are set out in the following table.

The 2025-26 Scottish Budget provides additional investment of £139 million for NHS infrastructure. This provides increased core capital funding for NHS Boards and, as a first step to lifting the capital pause, allows work on the replacement of some acute facilities to resume, as well as providing funding to address NHS Boards’ priority areas for infrastructure investment.

Despite this additional investment, the capital funding position remains challenging and there remains uncertainty in the longer-term funding position, as we await the outcome of the UK Government’s spending review. All due consideration will be given as to which projects are affordable, deliverable and provide best value, following the outcome of that review. This will include consideration of the National Treatment Centre programme.

Economic growth is and always will be a clear priority for the Scottish Government and we are committed to ensuring Scotland is one of the best places to do business. FSB are is a key voice for small business and work closely with the Scottish Government to support all of the sectors that they represent in Scotland.

We are acutely aware of the concerns raised by the FSB over rising energy costs, employers national insurance increases, and trade tariffs. We have carried out initial analysis of trade statistics to understand Scottish exposure to US trade across key products and where that may differ from the UK economy. The First Minister discussed this particular matter with the Prime Minister earlier this month and made clear that urgent action should be taken to protect Scotland’s economic interests. We have also consistently called on the UK Government to reverse in full its decision to increase employer national insurance contributions from April 2025.

Here in Scotland we have the most generous small business rates relief in the UK with a competitive non-domestic rates relief package worth an estimated £731 million in 2025-26. We will publish our Programme for Government next week, which will ensure that small businesses are able to thrive and grow.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires Scottish Ministers to have regard to just transition principles in development of Climate Plans. The upcoming Climate Change Plan will outline how this government will take action to reduce emissions in a way which supports environmentally and socially sustainable jobs and supports low carbon investment and infrastructure. It will also set out an estimate of the costs and benefits associated with the polices contained. Furthermore, the final plan will be published alongside a series of impact assessments, which will look at the impact of climate policies on areas such as equalities, island communities and children's rights.

The Scottish Government does not hold information regarding the cost of delivering connectivity to individual Local Authorities through the R100 contracts. Costs for delivery of the R100 contracts are collected at contractual level and, as such, it is not possible to break that figure down for Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders only.

As of the end of March 2025, payments totalling £99.1 million have been made to our contract delivery partner Openreach for work to deliver infrastructure through the R100 South contract, including 6,741 connections in Dumfries and Galloway and 6,234 in the Scottish Borders.

The R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme is also part of the R100 programme. As of the end of March 2025, payments totalling £12.8 million have been made to registered suppliers for a total of 5,073 connections across Scotland, including 244 in Dumfries and Galloway and 313 in the Scottish Borders.

The Scottish Government remains committed to an all-age careers information and guidance offer that supports all people, including young people who are at risk of long-term benefit dependency to progress rewarding careers.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) provide an all-age career service in every local authority with an SDS Careers Adviser in every mainstream secondary school to highlight the wide range of career options available. A careers advisor offers impartial advice and supports people to consider and make informed decisions having explored all options and relevant information.

Through the 16+ Data Hub (Participation Portal), SDS are working to ensure that every young person can receive person-centred and proactive support. Having a set of data supplied by a range of partners enables front line staff to identify and provide support to those not in learning, training or employment and who are at risk of disengagement.

Military service can be a rewarding career pathway for many young people, offering a wide range of training and career opportunities as well as valuable transferable skills. To ensure that the knowledge of advisors is accurate, SDS work with the Armed Forces and can direct individuals to armed forces career centre sites if appropriate.

At the invitation of schools, the military may promote the community-based and school based combined cadets programme to young people and provide information about the wide range of careers in the military. There are also sessions promoted to teachers, advisers and Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Co-ordinators such as ‘Meet the Army’ which often includes military personal speaking about their career journey.

Universities are autonomous institutions, responsible for their own governance. However the Scottish Government expects all organisations in Scotland to comply with the law around protected beliefs and freedom of expression.

The Scottish Government will publish the independent analysis report of the consultation responses, as well as next steps for the regulation of HFSS food and drink promotions in the coming weeks.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, data are available that show of the university spin-out companies formed in Scotland less than 5% have registered trading addresses out with Scotland.