Chamber and committees

We remain committed to improving outcomes for people with learning disabilities, autistic people and neurodivergent people.

After careful consideration we have concluded that action is needed now through policy reform, service improvement and targeted investment, rather than by the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill, which would take time to progress and implement.

The focus will be on delivering practical improvements, while retaining the option of future legislation should evidence show that additional statutory measures are required to achieve the outcomes that people expect and deserve.

The Scottish Government fully engages with the Audit Scotland’s National Fraud Initiative and encourages all public bodies, including Local Authorities, to do the same, to ensure the protection and recovery of taxpayers’ funds from fraud.

The Scottish Government has robust processes in place to prevent, detect and respond to fraud. We continue to enhance our counter fraud arrangements in line with the latest best practice.

We continue to focus on raising the awareness of fraud within our public sector organisations, fully participating in International Fraud Awareness week, and actively sharing information about the risks to public services, making sure that fraud awareness and prevention is embedded within public service delivery through training and staff development.

The Scottish Government has strengthened key partnerships, particularly with Police Scotland and the UK Government’s Public Sector Fraud Authority, giving confidence that we remain alert to the evolving threat of fraud, and well prepared to protect public services in Scotland.

Noting that Audit Scotland’s report highlights pensions spend, I have also asked the CEO of the Scottish Public Pensions Authority to respond. His response is as follows:- “SPPA is proactive in our work to ensure we have robust and effective counter-fraud measures in place. We are carefully considering the report to help inform this ongoing work.”

In September 2025, following a thorough review of options and in consideration of the economic value the Alexander Dennis workforce, skills base and manufacturing capability bring to Scotland, Scottish Ministers agreed to award a time limited and capped grant subsidy to Alexander Dennis in support of the company furlough scheme. Alexander Dennis accepted the terms and conditions of the grant offer, including the evidencing of contracts, before any payment from the Scottish Government could be made. The business has since changed its manufacturing plans for Scotland and consequently is unable to satisfy the agreed grant conditions. For this reason, the Scottish Government has not paid furlough support to Alexander Dennis.

We continue to work closely with the company to secure continuity of employment for the highly-skilled workers at Alexander Dennis, and the future of manufacturing in Scotland.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Transport acknowledged the importance of considering the opportunity to support the developing capability for domestic bus manufacturing at the July 2025 meeting of the UK Bus Expert Manufacturing Panel, which had its final meeting in March 2026. In addition, at meetings between Scottish and UK Government officials in January and March 2026, officials from Department for Business and Trade shared information about their plans to produce a bus demand pipeline publication and referenced UK policy in relation to social value.

Scottish Government funding schemes, for example ScotZEB, are designed and delivered in accordance with the relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, including subsidy control requirements. Where relevant, scheme design and delivery may also take account of wider considerations such as supply chain resilience. Applications are assessed against the published eligibility criteria for the scheme concerned and funded projects must comply with the applicable requirements.

Vehicle safety and cybersecurity requirements are reserved matters and are overseen by the UK Government through the DVSA and the National Cyber Security Centre. All vehicles entering service in Scotland must meet relevant UK-wide safety, security and product standards, regardless of where they are manufactured. Compliance with those requirements is the responsibility of operators.

Since 2024, the Scottish Government has commissioned an annual boost to the Scottish sample in the ASH Smoke Free GB Youth survey. Each year, around 750 Scottish adolescents aged 11 to 17 are asked questions about their behaviours and attitudes towards tobacco, vaping and other nicotine products, including nicotine pouches.

The latest report was published in August 2026 (https://www.gov.scot/publications/vaping-smoking-scottish-adolescents-results-ash-smokefree-gb-youth-survey-2026/pages/3/), with results from the 2024 and 2025 survey also available on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/vaping-smoking-scottish-adolescents/pages/1/;https://www.gov.scot/publications/vaping-smoking-scottish-adolescents-results-ash-smokefree-gb-youth-survey-2025/. The next wave of data collection is expected to take place in March 2027.

Data are collected on social grade and the Office for National Statistics Indices of Multiple Deprivation (ONS IMD), which are not directly comparable with the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). The sample is skewed towards higher social grades and less deprived areas and is therefore unlikely to be representative by deprivation. This limitation should be considered when interpreting the findings.

The Scottish Government continues to keep its evidence needs under review, including how best to monitor the use of nicotine pouches and other emerging nicotine products among children and young people, while balancing analytical value, cost and timeliness.

The largest level increases in the devolved public sector headcount over the year from March 2025 to March 2026 were in the NHS Scotland and Local Government workforces. Our priority is to protect the roles that deliver vital services to the public, focusing on enabling frontline workers to do what they do best, supported by more effective back-office systems and shared services.

Between March 2022 and March 2026, the core Scottish Government workforce reduced by 11.4%, including both directly employed FTE staff and contingent workers, as a result of enhanced recruitment controls being implemented and taking effect. These controls have driven a significant reduction in the size of the core Scottish Government civil service over the past four years and are now being rolled out more widely across public bodies.

Our commitment remains to deliver a managed reduction in the size of the public sector workforce through reform, efficiency and natural attrition, while protecting frontline services. The commitment to reduce headcount by an average of 0.5% per year applies across the five-year period and is not expected to be delivered on a linear basis. This reflects the fact that some workforce changes will require longer-term restructuring, including reforms to public bodies, health boards and local government set out in the Programme for Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-03102 on 24 September 2026. 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/written-questions-and-answers.

As outlined in the answers to questions S7W-01924, NHS Scotland is required to consider recommendations made by the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG). That remains unchanged. It is not for the Scottish Government to consider or accept those recommendations made by the SHTG for NHS Scotland.

NHS Boards are responsible for designing and delivering services to meet the needs of their local populations.

We continue to support NHS Scotland partners to develop their approach to build on these recommendations to inform sustainable, consistent and effective service delivery across Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold or collect this data centrally. While Public Health Scotland publishes the total number of patients referred to specialist mental health services, it does not hold detail on the reason for referral, such as an eating disorder. The publications on waiting times for both CAMHS and Psychological Therapies each quarter can be found at Publications - Public Health Scotland. This includes information on referral activity across services.

We are continuing to deliver the recommendations from the National Review of Eating Disorder Services published in 2021, including publishing a National Specification for the Care and Treatment of Eating Disorders in Scotland in November 2024.

The Scottish Government asked NHS Boards in May 2025 to complete a self-assessment tool, scoring their delivery and implementation of the Specification across CAMHS and adult services. The responses provided further information on data collection and reporting. Officials are working with boards to understand how best to support them in this area of work.