Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a long-term solution to the landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful and in December we made further progress by publishing draft Orders for the long-term solution and also for future phases of the medium-term solution to provide an improved diversionary route along the Old Military Road.

A breakdown of the £19.5 million spent on consultant’s fees can be found on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500451605/.

These fees are associated with engineering design, environmental assessment (including environmental survey work), traffic and economic assessment, stakeholder engagement, and supervision of ground investigation works associated with the development of the medium and long term solutions as well as medium term solution construction works to the Old Military Road.

This expenditure is not unreasonable given the complexity and challenges of the scheme and the extent of the work being carried out to complete it.

Scotland does not have an equivalent body to NHS England, health services are managed by NHS boards, which operate within Scotland’s devolved system of government.

The UK Government’s decision to move the functions of NHS England to the relevant UK government department bring it in line with the situation in Scotland where NHS Scotland is already a part of the core Scottish Government civil service.

Regarding public bodies more widely our programme of Public Service Reform is addressing all opportunities identified to remove duplication from the public sector landscape, including consolidation of public bodies where appropriate and where a value for money case can be made. This work is part of our wider focus on driving a culture of continuous improvement to support efficiency and effectiveness across the delivery of public services.

The Scottish Government has already streamlined the public sector landscape by reducing the number of Scottish public bodies under our control from 199 in 2007 to 131 at the end of 2024. The Ministerial Control Framework also makes clear that establishing any new public bodies should be a last resort, ensuring any new bodies are established only when absolutely necessary.

NatureScot are currently reviewing the bird species on Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (the list of game species) and will report to Scottish Ministers in due course.

Scottish Ministers will consider the findings of the review and decide whether to update the Schedule as necessary.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials regularly meet with counterparts in the UK Government to discuss reserved issues. Senior officials who lead on The Promise have recently engaged with their counterparts in both the UK and devolved governments regarding the Scottish Government’s work to keep the Promise.

High quality, accessible and affordable early learning and school age childcare is critical to keeping children in Scotland out of poverty. That is why we continue prioritise investment of around £1 billion per year in delivering funded ELC to all eligible children, despite the significant financial challenges facing the Scottish Government as a result of budget choices made at Westminster.

As a result, families across Scotland have been benefitting from the provision of 1140 hours of high quality ELC since 2021. We also committed in the 2024 Programme for Government to work with local authorities to maximise the uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds.

It is important to recognise that the UK Government’s offer is not an expansion of universal ELC for children under three, as it is only available to working families in England. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has made clear that, despite billions of investment by the UK Government, ‘the poorest one third of families will see almost no direct benefit from the new entitlements’’.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking the time needed to deliver a childcare expansion that is both fair and affordable, giving children the best possible start in life and supporting parents and carers to work, train and take up education opportunities. Our approach is backed by international evidence which shows that high quality ELC is critical to giving children the best start in life, especially those experiencing poverty.

In this Parliament we are working with six councils on childcare early adopter communities (EAC), backed by £16 million over 2024-25 and 2025-26. The EACs are supporting the development of affordable childcare for low-income families with children from the early years through to the end of primary school, and evaluating the difference this can make.

The engagement and targeted delivery that takes place for younger children in the EACs this year will be a key element in developing our evidence base to inform a future expansion. We will also be drawing on research to understand what different approaches to early learning and childcare are best for younger children and piloting new approaches via projects funded by the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund.

The Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) Strategic Approach and Vessels and Ports Plan were published for public consultation and community engagement last year, with the consultation report and Transport Scotland’s Initial Responses published in September 2024. Following the recent completion of the associated Strategic Environmental Assessment, it is anticipated that the final versions of these two documents will be published shortly.

Work on the ICP will continue through refreshed needs assessments for island and peninsula communities served by the Clyde & Hebrides and Northern Isles ferries. The first of these, for Cowal and Rosneath, was published last September. We intend to commission the remaining assessments in the coming year.

Other ICP workstreams, including those on fares, integration and low carbon are ongoing.

Based on the latest Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts, it is estimated that the budget allocated to Social Security will be 14.8% of the Scottish Government’s total Resource Budget by 2029-30. The proportion of the budget which the Scottish Government has chosen to invest in to enhance our Social Security offering, compared to England and Wales (i.e. above the Social Security Block Grant Adjustment), is projected to be 2.6% of the total Scottish Government Resource Budget by 2029-30.

The Scottish Government understands that Hamilton Mausoleum is a category A listed building owned by South Lanarkshire Council, and is managed and maintained by South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture SCIO which is a recognised Scottish Charity. It is important to be aware that the owners of listed buildings are responsible for the repair and maintenance of their property.

Regarding the member’s question about public access to the building, I understand that the local authority offers tours available on the second and fourth Saturday of each month from February to November. The local authority would therefore be best placed to provide further information on the upkeep of the property and provide further information on their plans for public visitor access.

Use of public transport and active travel both support reductions in car use. The impact of free bus travel on sustainable travel behaviours is complex, and is affected by demographics, geography and trip purpose. Evidence from the existing National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Older and Disabled Persons indicates that people who benefit from free public transport tend to be more active as a result. These journeys can be used to access outdoor activities and most will involve an active component, for instance to get to or from the bus stop.

The Year One Evaluation of the Young Persons Scheme was conducted between April and August 2023 and found early signs of changes in mode choice, with young people opting to use the bus rather than car, train and potentially some active modes. We will continue to monitor the impacts of the scheme, including any continued impact to use of other modes and active travel.

The single most important driver of quality in a child’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) experience and improved outcomes is a dedicated, highly skilled, and well-qualified workforce. The ELC profession is therefore critical to the successful delivery of our 1,140 hours offer. We will continue to support a sustainable, diverse and thriving workforce.

Although staffing of funded ELC services is the responsibility of local authorities and their funded partners, in order to support a sustainable ELC workforce, the Scottish Government has provided local authorities with an additional £9.7 million in 2025-26 to increase the pay of ELC workers in the private and third sectors delivering funded hours, so that they are paid at least the Real Living Wage from April. Building on last year’s recurring investment of £16 million, this funding for the further increase to at least £12.60 per hour demonstrates the Scottish Government’s commitment to the Fair Work agenda.

Joint Scottish Government and COSLA guidance, published on 20 February, confirms that the additional funding will be passed to all funded ELC providers (including childminders) in 2025-26 through a minimum 3.75% increase in sustainable rates. This means an average increase of over £1,000 per year in gross salary for the eligible staff who are working full time.

Beyond pay, the Scottish Government is taking forward a range of actions to support the ELC profession. These include investment in continuous professional learning (CPL) resources and a dedicated CPL portal for the childcare profession, providing funding to Skills Development Scotland to support Modern Apprenticeships in childcare, providing funding for 100 childcare professionals to study for Masters qualifications each year and working with Skills Development Scotland to pilot a new programme to improve staff access to paid time off the floor.