Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30385 on 25 October 2024. 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

The most recent, May 2026 timetable has also seen the four trains per hour frequency being adjusted to operate later in the day on Saturdays; now operating between 10:30 and 18:00, to better reflect passenger demand.

In June 2022, an outline business case for the replacement of Lochgelly health centre was submitted to the Scottish Government. However, it did not progress to full business case stage and no formal approval to proceed to construction has been provided. In December 2023, all health boards were instructed to pause projects not already in construction due to budget constraints. This included the Lochgelly project, which was therefore not taken forward under previous arrangements.

The Scottish Government is now taking forward a whole-system NHS infrastructure plan to inform future investment priorities. As part of this, a primary care infrastructure investment programme, announced in the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline (13 January 2026), has identified an initial tranche of 12 priority areas, including Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly.

The programme is focused on areas rather than a fixed number of individual medical centres, the scale and configuration of facilities in each area will be determined through detailed service planning. The inclusion of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly within this programme supersedes the previous standalone Lochgelly Medical Centre proposal. It may be helpful to clarify that ‘Cowdenbeath’, as referenced in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan, is used in the context of the Scottish Parliament constituency geography, rather than indicating a specific facility such as Cowdenbeath Health Centre. The pilot programme reflects a broader place-based approach, encompassing Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly and surrounding communities. No decision has been taken at this stage on whether elements within priority areas, such as Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly, will be progressed as single or separate projects.

Work is already underway to develop a standardised approach to delivery across the programme, alongside the development of a revenue funding model led by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Futures Trust. This includes consideration of a Scottish variant of the Mutual Investment Model.

Ministers are expected to take decisions on programme priorities and the preferred funding approach during the course of next year, with a further announcement to follow. On current assumptions, construction is expected to begin from around 2031. Funding will be considered as part of these wider decisions.

Timetable development is a complex and iterative process and primarily a matter managed by ScotRail working in collaboration with Network Rail and other passenger and freight operators. Network Rail considers key constraints such as headways (safe spacing between trains), junction margins, and platform availability (headways, junction margins, and platform availability can be particular constraints on the approaches to and inside in busy stations such as Glasgow Central). Transport Scotland ensures that Scottish Government policies and strategies inform service planning decisions.

Rail Recharged: Scotland’s Fleet Transition Strategy, published in November 2025, sets out how we will renew ScotRail fleets as they reach the end of their operational life in the coming years.

ScotRail is committed to ensuring its trains remain safe, reliable and fit for purpose. This is delivered through a programme of ongoing maintenance, periodic overhaul and targeted upgrades across its fleet. These activities are designed to sustain performance, extend asset life and enhance the passenger experience.

Improvements, including those made to class 158 trains so far, have involved upgrades to interiors, passenger information systems, and accessibility features, alongside technical modifications to support reliability and operational resilience.

This approach ensures the fleets can meet current service requirements while supporting wider objectives around passenger satisfaction and network performance.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with management at the Dalzell steelworks. We have been advised that the restart of operations is in progress and that they have confidence that the contract with Navantia to provide steel for the Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme will be fulfilled.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish School of Primary Care to undertake an independent evaluation of the Golden Hello initiative for GPs. The evaluation was published in March 2026: https://www.sspc.ac.uk/media/Media_1254907_smxx.pdf. The independent evaluation highlights that the scheme delivers modest but meaningful recruitment benefits, particularly for early career GPs, and reinforces the importance of positioning incentives within a wider package of support for GPs at the start of their careers.

The Golden Hello initiative does not currently apply to dentists or consultants. Any future expansion and improvement plans for Golden Hellos will be set out in due course.

In the calendar year to December 2025 the core Scottish Government made a reduction of 2.5% in its total workforce, including both directly employed FTE and contingent worker headcount, as a result of tighter recruitment controls being implemented and taking effect. The increase in the overall devolved civil service headcount has occurred in specific public bodies outside of core Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government will publish a Workforce Management Governance Framework in 2026, which will include guidance on governance arrangements and controls necessary to ensure consistent and accountable management of the public sector workforce.

As part of the Public Service Reform Strategy, we will continue to work in partnership with public bodies to review and restructure the public service delivery landscape. This includes commitments to significantly reduce the overall structural footprint across public bodies and core Scottish Government.

As these measures are rolled out across Public Bodies we will see headcount reductions there too to meet our targets going forward.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) appraised a potential new rail link between the Highland Main Line (HML) and the West Highland Line (WHL). However, this option did not progress beyond the Preliminary Appraisal stage, and there are currently no plans to develop a direct connection between the two lines. Further information on STPR2 recommendations is available at:

Final technical report - December 2022 - STPR2 | Transport Scotlandappendix-g-groupings-related-to-recommendations-december-2022-stpr2.pdf

Transport Scotland continually reviews its programme of works against priorities in the context of available funding. This ensures it can deliver the right projects at the right time as it seeks to progress its rolling programme of decarbonisation, whilst also delivering rail passenger and freight services that meet user expectation.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish School of Primary Care to undertake an independent evaluation of the Golden Hello initiative for GPs. The evaluation was published in March 2026: https://www.sspc.ac.uk/media/Media_1254907_smxx.pdf.

The Golden Hello initiative does not currently apply to dentists or consultants. Any future expansion and improvement plans for Golden Hellos will be set out in due course.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) established a short-life working group in March 2026 to collaborate with all NHS Boards and key partners in developing robust, consistent guidance for the implementation of Martha’s Rule. The group is co-designing an implementation plan, with rollout across all Scottish NHS Boards, where work not already underway, planned throughout 2026–2027.

Initially, the work is focusing on roll out in acute paediatric and adult hospital settings, however, HIS will also support Boards to consider how they can then implement Martha’s Rule more widely in line with their local context and needs of their population.