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The Scottish Government is progressing the digital transformation of health and care through the Digital Health and Care Strategy, with timelines set out in the Care in the Digital Age delivery plan on gov.scot: https://www.gov.scot/publications/care-digital-age-delivery-plan-2025-2026/.

A key deliverable is MyCare.scot, the new Digital Front Door. It will be introduced in phases to ensure safety, security and clinical robustness. Delivery is on track for full population rollout from April 2026. A national plan published in September 2025 sets the strategic direction, with further detail on national scaling due in Spring 2026.

MyCare.scot is being developed using shared Scottish public-sector digital infrastructure, including ScotAccount and the Digital Mailbox, supporting alignment with wider public services and integration across health and social care.

We continue to engage regularly with NHS England and partners across the UK to share learning as digital services evolve.

In 2026-27, we will build on the progress already achieved, with £100 million available to support further reductions in waiting times and to enhance patient flow across the Health System. This will ensure continued improvements in timely access to care for patients.

The 2026-27 budget has not yet been passed by Parliament and is at draft stage. Spending plans are still being developed by policy leads, therefore there we are not in a position at this point to provide a detailed breakdown of what the budget will deliver.

The Scottish Government welcomes innovative approaches to improve patient outcomes and service sustainability.

Commercial companies can submit proposals for innovative products and services for the public sector via the Scotland Innovates service.

The Endometriosis Care Pathway for NHS Scotland is based on guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Currently, these guidelines do not currently recommend the use of diagnostic tests such as the Ziwig Endotest.

In 2026-27, NHS Grampian will receive nearly £1.5 billion in baseline funding, which equates to increased investment of £130.7 million from 2025-26 and ensures the Board is no further than 0.6% from its target share. Since 2021-22, NHS Grampian has received additional funding of £15.5 million specifically to support the Board's movement towards NRAC parity.

Onshore renewable energy projects under 50MW are determined under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and are handled by the relevant planning authority. Fees are set by the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Regulations and vary depending on the size of the application. The maximum fee for a generating station application is £178,560.

For projects 50MW and over, consent is required from Scottish Ministers under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. Fees are prescribed by the TheElectricity (Applications for Consent and Variation of Consent) (Fees) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 and vary depending on the MW capacity of the application. There is no maximum fee.

The Scottish Government uses a public health approach to substance use. This means decisions are based on evidence, respect for human rights, and compassion.

The additional £250 million invested through the National Mission has strengthened services so they can better support people and communities. This includes rolling out the Medication Assisted Treatment standards, funding residential rehabilitation and naloxone, providing multi-year funding for third sector alcohol and drug organisations, and delivering the Workforce Development Plan.

As the National Mission comes to an end, we remain committed to reducing harm and improving lives. We have been working closely with stakeholders, including people with lived and living experience, to develop a new alcohol and drug Strategic Plan to follow the National Mission. This will be published in the coming weeks.

In 2025, Police Scotland seized drugs with a street value of almost £80 million including a haul of cannabis worth an estimated £12 million.

We welcome DEFRA's strategic assessment report on Nature security and the attention it brings to the critical importance of biodiversity both domestically and globally. We will take these findings into consideration as we work to deliver our biodiversity ambitions through the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and its first five year delivery plan.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to supporting a just transition to net zero for workers, communities and businesses. Through initiatives such as the Just Transition Fund and the Energy Transition Fund, we have invested £120m in the North East and helped leverage in tens of millions in extra investment, create green jobs, support innovation, and secure the highly skilled workforce of the future.

Budget positions reflect the challenging overall fiscal context. Despite this, the Scottish Government has maintained support for key Energy Transitions initiatives such as the Grangemouth Just Transition Fund, the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund and Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage. The Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray is crucial in realising our just transition ambitions and is just one part of a wider package of support for the region. The Just Transition Fund’s multi-year settlement, set out in the Spending Review, underlines the Scottish Government’s commitment to the Fund.

We have allocated more than £135.5 million over 2025-26 to cut waits and the latest figures show our plan is delivering for the people of Scotland.

A further £20 million funding has been made available to support waiting times for the last quarter of the year, with the focus on Boards and specialities with long waits. This year’s funding includes over £500,000 for Cardiology services.

Our plan is working and delivering for the people of Scotland, and we are now seeing the tangible impact of our significant investment. The latest data shows NHS waiting lists have fallen and waits of more than a year have reduced for the seventh month in a row for New Outpatients.

The total list size for Cardiology New Outpatients has reduced by 12.5% from 31 July 2025- 31 December 2025 and waits over 52 weeks for Cardiology New Outpatients have reduced by 58.7% from 31 July 2025- 31 December 2025.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with Health Boards to maximise capacity and reduce the length of time people are waiting for appointments and treatment.

Details of Section 36 applications in each local authority area currently live and awaiting determination by the Scottish Ministers are as follows: