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The Green Jobs Fund supported businesses and their supply chains to help them better transition to a low carbon economy. The support provided by the fund, all of which was capital, aimed to create green employment through investment in equipment, premises, and research and development.

Since its creation, the Green Jobs Fund has provided £38.7 million in grant funding to support 122 projects. Figures provided by the recipients of these awards estimated that these projects will support up to 7354 jobs over the life of the individual projects.

The Green Jobs Fund was discontinued in financial year 2023-24. It formed a relatively small part of the Scottish Government’s broader investment in the transition to net zero. This includes many institutions, funding packages and investment vehicles which provide advice, support, and financial assistance for businesses at the forefront to building Scotland’s green economy.

The Green Industrial Strategy provides further strategic direction on how such investment supports the development, growth and scale-up of existing and new businesses seeking to take advantage of the global opportunities of the transition.

The original policy intent of the powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 was to support local decision making around non-domestic rates reliefs. Local authorities are independent bodies, and it is for local authorities themselves to consider whether to use those powers. However, the Scottish Government includes information on these powers in its non-domestic rates relief guidance issued to local authorities annually, and routinely works with councils and the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation to ensure those powers are clearly understood.

The Scottish Government allocated £4 million in 2024-25 to support road authorities in the development and implementation of 20 mph speed limits on appropriate roads. A further £7.6 million is available in the current financial year, reflecting the Government’s ongoing commitment to the rollout of 20 mph speed limits on roads where it is appropriate to do so by March 2026.

The Scottish Government acknowledges Audit Scotland’s observation and is committed to ensuring that the governance framework for NHS Boards enables effective planning and delivery of reform. The recently published NHS Scotland Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework are key to supporting Boards to take a longer-term, whole-system view, with a greater focus on prevention, place-based care, and service redesign. These frameworks alongside our Operational Improvement Plan and are designed to reduce duplication, support local flexibility and strengthen alignment between national priorities and local delivery.

We continue to work closely with NHS Boards to identify and remove barriers to strategic decision-making that improves outcomes for patients and communities in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the governance challenges highlighted in Audit Scotland’s NHS in Scotland: Spotlight on Governance report and is committed to a continuous improvement approach to strengthening Board effectiveness, transparency and accountability. This includes for example, a refreshed Model Framework and strengthened national oversight mechanisms.

We are also embedding the principles of the NHS Scotland Service Renewal Framework and the Population Health Framework to support more joined-up, preventative, and locally accountable decision-making. These measures aim to ensure NHS Boards are equipped to lead transformational change and deliver improved outcomes for patients and communities.

Under Part 11 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, local authorities have very broad powers to reduce or remit any non-domestic rates bill for a property in their area. This part of the Act came into force on 31 October 2015.

Before using these powers, the local authority must take into consideration the council’s expenditure and income, as well as the interests of council tax payers. The local authority must also ensure that any use of the powers complies with obligations including those under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and other international commitments.

The Scottish Government remain deeply concerned about the current financial pressures facing the social care sector. We fully recognise the anxiety and growing concerns within the social care sector in light of the increasing financial viability pressures.

These pressures have been caused by recent policy decisions made by the UK Government, including the rise in employer National Insurance Contributions, increases in salary threshold levels and adjustments to the social care visa system, all of which have direct and significant implications for the sector’s workforce and financial sustainability.

The Scottish Government has been pressing the UK Government at every opportunity to reverse these decisions, which are potentially catastrophic for the social care sector in Scotland. Despite the lack of engagement from the UK Government, Scottish Government officials have undertaken a significant programme of work to consider how to respond to the current financial viability pressures in the sector, and to understand the impact that these challenges will have. The Scottish Government initially established the eNICS Working Group in February 2025, which has since developed into the Financial Viability Response Group (FVRG).

The FVRG includes representatives from COSLA, from Health and Social Care Partnerships, SOLACE, Scottish Care, CCPS and the SSSC and it meets weekly, subject to progress.

This includes ongoing engagement with local leaders through the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group (CRAG), alongside regular monthly roundtable discussions involving Scottish Ministers, COSLA, and other key partners. In addition, we are continuing to evaluate both the immediate and longer-term impacts of these changes on care providers, service delivery, and the social care workforce.

Our shared goal is to identify, understand and manage the immediate risks effectively, while also laying the groundwork for a more resilient and sustainable social care system in Scotland. This will be an ongoing process with a number of options under consideration, and we value the collaboration and insight of all stakeholders as we navigate these complex challenges together.

While we will continue to provide as much support as possible to the sector, we are also confident in the ability of our local partners to ensure that appropriate contingency planning is being undertaken effectively and to respond to both national and local level pressures.

Local Authorities, Integration Authorities, and NHS Boards each play a key role in developing contingency plans at the local level. As Category One Responders under the Civil Contingencies Act, they undertake significant and robust planning and preparation, in order to fully respond effectively to a range of scenarios.

The Scottish Government has a long-standing commitment to support social care workers rates of pay. For the 2025-26 financial year, the Scottish Government are investing £125 million to enable adult social care workers, delivering direct care in the third and private sectors, to be paid at least the Real Living Wage. This takes the estimated total investment to deliver this policy up to £950 million this financial year.

This policy is to enable the Real Living Wage to be paid to these workers as a minimum, and employers and commissioners have the locus to set rates in excess of this where local circumstances allow.

In addition, the Scottish Government is committed to establish voluntary sectoral bargaining arrangements for the commissioned adult social care sector in Scotland and we have been working with stakeholder partners, through the Fair Work in Social Care Group, to progress this. We have also been engaging with the UK Government on their Employment Rights Bill, which we hope will extend the scope for the option of a regulatory Social Care Negotiating Body, and associated Fair Pay Agreements, to Scotland.

Once developed and introduced, sectoral bargaining arrangements will encourage improvements in pay, and terms and conditions for the social care workforce.

We know that there are a number of factors which can compound the relationship between work and poverty, including in sectors such as social care. That is why we are taking action to tackle child poverty and make a real difference to families. On average, households with children in the poorest 10% of households are estimated to be £2,600 a year better off in 2025-26 as a result of Scottish Government policies like the Scottish Child Payment. This value is projected to grow to an average of £3,700 a year by 2029-30.

We are also taking decisive action to end the impact of the two-child limit in Scotland. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary legislation, the new Two Child Limit Payment will open for applications on 2 March 2026, with payments beginning as soon as possible thereafter. Worth up to more than £3,500 a year for each eligible child, these payments will make a significant difference to larger families who are currently denied support, and Scottish Government modelling published in March estimates this will result in 20,000 fewer children living in relative poverty in 2026-27.

While the Joseph Rowntree Foundation predict child poverty will rise in other parts of the UK by 2029, they highlight that policies such as our Scottish Child Payment, and our commitment to mitigate the two-child limit, are behind Scotland bucking the trend.

We want everyone eligible for disability benefits to access their entitlements. Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment provide financial support to help mitigate the additional costs of being disabled or living with a long-term health condition. We take a person-centred approach to decision making, based on individuals’ level of need, rather than on the specific condition or disability.

The Scottish Government have abolished anxiety inducing private sector assessments for Adult Disability Payment. Instead, Social Security Scotland make decisions on the information provided in the application form and any supporting information.

If more information is needed, a consultation with a Social Security Scotland health and social care practitioner may be carried out. Consultations are based on trust and they do not involve degrading examinations.

The figures published by Scottish Government on 5 June (available here: Key points - Scotland’s cladding remediation estimates: June 2025 - gov.scot) are estimates of the number of residential buildings in Scotland 11 metres or more in height, across all forms of residential ownership, which may require work to bring the building to a tolerable level of risk. As noted in the publication, data quality and the assumptions used could overstate or understate the actual numbers. They represent our current best estimates, and will be subject to change as more information becomes available. They are not based on a specific list of buildings that have been identified as needing work.

The Cladding Remediation Programme is our response to this challenge. Following the coming into effect of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 at the start of this year, we published on 25 March a Plan of Action setting how we would increase the pace and breadth of that programme. On the same day we launched the first stage of the Single Open Call (SOC), backed by £10m funding, to support building owners in commissioning assessments of their buildings. There has been a positive response to this scheme. We will shortly be launching the second stage of this scheme, supporting mitigation and remediation, and publishing a report on progress and an updated Plan of Action.

We have also sought information from Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords about the status of buildings within their ownership, and encouraging them to apply to the Single Open Call where required. We are following up on this information to seek assurance that appropriate action is being taken. In relation to those properties for which developers are responsible, we are seeking an early conclusion to negotiations on a Developer Remediation Contract, to enable those developers to take forward necessary works.