Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 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.

The conflict in the Middle East has had a significant impact on rural communities who rely on heating oil, including in Moray. That is why we established the Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme, enabling eligible households to apply for £300 towards their bills. Former Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Miri McAllan, engaged with UK Government on this issue prior to the election and official level engagement is ongoing.

We have repeatedly urged the UK Government to take their responsibility for energy pricing and market regulation seriously. This means putting in place robust and effective consumer protection and support in the heating oil sector as a matter of urgency.

In order to make use of Scotland’s abundant homegrown renewable resources, and ensure communities like Moray are not reliant on volatile global markets, we have formally requested the devolution of energy powers to the Scottish Parliament. This will allow us to take decisive action to bring down energy bills.

The Scottish Government recognises that one of the most effective ways of tackling child poverty is by enabling parents and carers to enter sustainable work, supporting them to increase their income from employment.

We have therefore committed to investing £90 million in devolved employability services for each year of the Scottish Spending Review, running to 2028-29. In 2026-27, this includes over £40 million for Parental Employability Support, and £5 million for the delivery of Specialist Employability Support, ensuring parents continue to receive targeted, person-centred help to move towards, enter and progress in employment.

Delivered through the No One Left Behind approach, our Parental Employability Support offer is in place across all 32 Local Authority areas with support available to low-income parents. Key-workers provide tailored, one-to-one support to help reduce barriers to employment, identifying flexible work opportunities and linking to wrap-around services.

Of the 101,943 people who started to receive support from April 2020, 32,005 (31%) were parents. 29% of parents who have started receiving support have entered employment. Additionally, 9% have been supported to enter further or higher education or training, 19% gained a qualification, 4% started work experience and 3% started volunteering.

Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2026-2031 sets out our commitment to drive further progress by investing up to £19 million in 2026-27 to develop a new Transport to Employment offer. This support aims to reduce costs for low-income parents and enhance pathways into work at a local level by addressing challenges of accessibility, availability and affordability of transport.

The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme is an important mechanism to support new low-carbon electricity generation. Administrative strike prices are determined by the UK Government through the competitive CfD auction round process. Information regarding the most recent CfD Allocation Round 7 including strike prices can be found here: Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 7: results - GOV.UK.

Development of the training package for internationally-qualified dentists is being delivered by Public Services Delivery Scotland and we anticipate this will be introduced in the current financial year.

Following the close of the public consultation on 10 June 2026, the Scottish Government will develop and bring forward the commencement and secondary legislation required to implement section 18 of the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2025.

Further information on the consultation is available on the Scottish Government website https://www.gov.scot/publications/estimating-fraud-error-scottish-social-security-system-consultation/.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00062 on 2 June 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found athttps://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government supports strong alliances to tackle the availability of illicit vapes. This includes working with The Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) and across the 4-nations as part of the Cross Government Vape Enforcement Committee, which is led by the UK Department of Business and Trade.

Local Government have a responsibility to ensure local budget decisions deliver local and national priorities, including enforcement of existing legislation sales, illicit tobacco and vapes, and the single use vape ban.

In 2025-2026, Scottish Government made available an additional £300,000 to local authorities to support implementation of the ban on single use vapes, including storage and responsible disposal of any single use vapes seized. Local authorities now also have powers to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £800 for anyone found to be selling or supplying single-use vapes.

Gynaecology - Waiting to access gynaecology related treatment can cause women anxiety and delays are unacceptable. Last year we allocated £13 million of additional funding to health boards to target long waits for gynaecology. We are beginning to see the impact of that of that investment, with waits going down and we are determined to build on that momentum, ensuring women receive the treatment they need as soon as possible. Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan was published in January 2026 which includes specific actions and steps to help reduce waiting times.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes statistics on stages of treatment waiting times for gynaecology by board and length of wait. The most recent report was published on 26 May 2026 and can be found at: Stage of treatment waiting times – new outpatients, inpatients and day cases 26 May 2026 - Stage of treatment waiting times - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

Menopause - We do not hold data on waiting times for menopause related treatment.

However we want all women to have timely access to menopause support and services when required. Through the delivery of the first Women’s Health Plan, published in 2021, we took action to improve menopause care and support for women.

Phase Two of the Women’s Health Plan published in January 2026, has menopause as a focus of that plan with targeted actions to raise awareness and provide reliable information; commission research; ensure more support for complex menopause care and continuing to deliver education and training for healthcare professionals to help them best support their patients.

Chronic Pain - The Scottish Government understands the impact waiting for treatment can have on people with chronic pain. NHS boards are continuing to effectively deliver pain management services during extremely challenging circumstances over the last few years. We know that performance is not where it needs to be and we continue to work closely with the boards facing the greatest challenges, to drive down waiting times and improve services for patients and staff.

We remain committed to improving the experience of those living with long term conditions in Scotland. That is why we will continue working with people with lived experience, the third sector and clinicians to develop our way forward for long term conditions, including chronic pain.

This will build on the work undertaken by the Long Term Conditions Advisory Groups established under the previous government. We are now carefully considering their recommendations to inform our way forward.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes quarterly official statistics on waiting times for pain management services, reported against the national 12 week new outpatient standard. The most recent report was published on 10 March 2026, for the quarter ending 31 December 2025, and is available on the PHS website. However, these data are not disaggregated by sex so we are unable to provide this. The full data set can be found here: Waiting times for pain management services - Quarter ending 31 December 2025 - Waiting times for pain management services - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

The Scottish Government is working in close partnership with COSLA and Scottish Swimming to deliver a national programme of free swimming lessons for all primary school children. A School Swimming Working Group, chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, has now been established to support both the development of the initiative and its subsequent implementation. Focused on the Primary 5 cohort predominantly, this three year phased approach will ultimately result in every primary-aged child in Scotland receiving access to high-quality swimming lessons.

Strong progress has already been made, particularly in advancing the delivery model and refining cost arrangements, to ensure that the programme being developed is robust and sustainable.

The foundations for a national programme are firmly in place, and partners are well positioned to move into implementation, working towards delivery of free swimming lessons for primary school children across Scotland.