Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting communities across Scotland to access land for growing food. While there is no dedicated national funding stream specifically for community established allotments, given the cross-cutting benefits delivered by community growing projects, communities may be able to access support through broader programmes that promote community-led regeneration and increased access to nutritious food.

We continue to work with partners to promote good practice and facilitate access to resources that support community growing. Communities are encouraged to engage with their local authority and explore opportunities through existing regeneration and community development programmes.

In addition to this, since 2021 we have awarded over £491,000 to enable Green Action Trust to deliver the Growing Food Together Fund. The fund is hugely popular and enables community groups to expand their growing area and season with new and improved infrastructure including new raised beds, polytunnels etc. This year a further 14 eligible community groups across Scotland were successful and have been awarded a share of £100,000. This brings the total number of community organisations and projects supported over the last five rounds to 55.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-40018 on 8 September 2025, which outlines work that the Scottish Government is doing with all Health Boards, including NHS Lanarkshire. 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 right to demonstrate and protest are fundamental human rights which the Scottish Government is committed to upholding. Those simply going about their business should be able to do so without the fear of any form of abusive behaviour. Where such behaviour occurs it should be reported to the police to allow them to take action.

The Scottish Government fully supports Police Scotland to take appropriate and proportionate action to safeguard public safety including at protests. Police Scotland has powers to tackle any behaviour which is antisocial or criminal, as well as public order powers to impose directions or conditions on, or disperse, public assemblies where this is deemed necessary.

The Scottish Growth Scheme (SGS) was established in December 2018 and operational during financial year 2019-20, being set-up to provide early-stage equity and debt to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Scotland. To date, the Scottish Government has committed £97 million to the SGS, which is deployed via five commercial fund managers.

Scottish Government has invested the following totals across SGS fund managers:

• 2023-24 - £14.3 million
• 2024-25 - £5.9 million
• 2025-26 – anticipated to total £9.2 million

In summer 2024, at the end of the initial capitalisation period of the SGS, a decision was taken not recapitalise four of the five SGS fund managers. This decision was taken due to the presence of similar public investment offerings and recapitalisation of the SGS could be seen as duplicative which would not be an efficient use of public funds. It should be stated that this decision was taken at the end of the capitalisation period and all fund managers not recapitalised will continue to manage the existing investment portfolio until 2029, as originally agreed.

In closing the fund manager who was recapitalised offered a point of separation from other public sector supported investment offerings, focusing on supporting innovative globally ambitious Scottish companies access key growth equity investment from international markets. This fund manager will continue to manage their initial portfolio to completion until March 2029 but have also been recapitalised and are therefore able to make new investments into companies which align with their investment strategy.

The Scottish Government continues to support the development of our ports including the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe.

I have personally engaged with the UK Government and prospective ferry service promoters; Transport Scotland officials continue to liaise with Forth Ports and other interested parties on the issue. However, no detailed discussions have taken place on specific port infrastructure requirements and costs which are primarily matters for Forth Ports and potential service providers.

The Scottish Government and its agencies have supported a number of maritime initiatives across Scotland, including the establishment of a Green Freeport at Forth Ports, which includes the Port of Rosyth. This involves both seed capital funding, along with businesses locating within the ports being able to access a package of devolved and reserved tax incentives.

We will continue to work with potential service providers and Scotland’s main ports to explore opportunities for new commercial ferry services, so that Scottish exporters and passengers have more direct routes to and from Europe. However, the Scottish Government cannot subsidise routes in ways which would be anti-competitive beyond considering the availability of limited start-up grant funding opportunities for freight initiatives.

Some NHS Boards may have shared care policies, but it remains at the clinical discretion of each individual GP to decide the best course of action for their patients. A recommendation from a private specialist for a particular medicine does not entitle the patient to NHS prescriptions for that medicine.

The National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) published guidance on Prescribing ADHD medication to adults following private sector diagnosis in Scotland in April 2022. This guidance is available to practitioners and patients.

The Scottish Government continues to support the development of our ports including the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe.

Within the Scottish Government, the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is responsible for supporting Health and Care research.

CSO runs a number of project and fellowship funding schemes for Scottish-led research and this role is well known across the Health and Care research community here.

Grant Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Fellowship Funding – Chief Scientist Office

Applications on the potential use of Mifepristone to prevent women at high risk of breast cancer from developing the disease are welcomed. In common with all applications, these would go through CSO's standard independent expert review process to enable funding decisions to be made.

In addition, through UK-wide funding arrangements, the majority of funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are open to applications led by researchers based in Scotland.

Scottish Researchers to be able to access further NIHR research funding – Chief Scientist Office

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40003 on 8 September 2025. 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 Scottish Government’s expenditure on international letter postage for each year from 2021 is as follows.