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The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the transition to electric vehicles by ensuring that charging infrastructure is comprehensive, convenient, and accessible to all. We understand the importance of enabling those without access to off street parking to charge their vehicles conveniently and safely.

Three local authorities, Dundee, East Lothian and Stirling are currently trialling cross-pavement charging solutions and the Scottish Government is supporting the Scottish Collaboration of Transport Specialists (SCOTS), a network representing transport officers from Scotland’s local authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships, to develop guidance on cross-pavement charging which addresses legal and safety issues and supports all local authorities to enable cross-pavement charging.

This year’s Programme for Government also announced a new pilot grant scheme to help households without off-street parking to install cross-pavement EV charging solutions. Further details of this scheme will be announced soon.

The NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026 includes a target to deliver a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings compared to a 1990 baseline by 2030 and net-zero emissions from its estate by 2040. To support this, the Scottish Government is working with NHS Scotland Health Boards to implement a range of energy efficiency and decarbonisation measures, including onsite and offsite renewable energy systems such as solar panels.

The current funding approach for NHS Scotland decarbonisation involves leveraging both public capital and private investment as funding options for renewable energy schemes and to consider partnerships with suppliers through Power Purchase Agreements. Capital funding from the Scottish Government may also be made available for onsite arrays, although NHS Boards are expected to consider renewable energy and energy efficiency measures as part of their planning.

We know that some patients have waited too long for treatment but we are committed to ensuring patients receive the care they need as quickly as possible and across various specialities we will deliver over 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in the coming year. Surgical procedures, including cataract surgery are subject to the Treatment Time Guarantee.

Whilst PHS data can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment, data at a procedure level is unavailable. The records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, however this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect the procedure actually performed after the patient was admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the national datamart. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail.

Work is ongoing to support local surgical teams to increase efficiency and consequently the number of patients that can be treated across the cataract surgical pathway, in line with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ guidelines.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to support an increase in surgical throughput across cataract only surgical sessions. CfSD’s clinically-led Cataract Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG) promote multidisciplinary team working, and supports local adoption of service improvement programmes.

This short life working group has supported several new and innovative pathway developments, some of which are now being successfully scaled up in a number of sites across hospital eye services, including: high volume cataract surgery in ring-fenced sessions, and delivering one cataract every 30 mins, as per Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ guidelines. In tandem with this, The National Eyecare Workstream is undertaking clinically led peer reviews which supports new and efficient ways of working and shares best practices across the country across a number of ocular sub-specialties, including cataracts.

Police Scotland commenced its rollout of body worn cameras on 26 March 2025. Dealing with the footage submitted as evidence to the courts is an operational matter for SCTS. The Scottish Government continues to support the roll-out of the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability programme and if any additional resource requirements are identified this will form part of the normal budget setting process.

Transport Scotland is supporting colleges across Scotland to build capability and capacity to train people in the skills required for EV charge point installation, repair and maintenance. This has involved training college lecturers to deliver qualifications and providing the necessary equipment to support delivery to industry.

As a result, the number of colleges offering an EV charge point qualification increased from two to 12 in 2024-25. In 2025-26 a further eight colleges, particularly in rural areas, will be supported to develop the same capability, and we will increase the amount of shared equipment available to colleges. We will be funding a number of places for qualified electricians to undertake EV charge point training through the college network, helping to encourage uptake. In 2025-26, we will also focus on developing courses and building college capability in high-voltage installations, such as those required for rapid or heavy-duty vehicle charge points.

Investing in Scotland's colleges to deliver the required training will help more people become qualified in EV charge point installation, repair and maintenance.

Due to differences in education systems and school-leaving ages across the different countries of the UK, direct comparisons are not possible.

Analysis has been carried out for Scottish leavers and is available on the Scottish Government website. Infographic overview of evidence on school leavers in Scotland - gov.scot

Our previous 2024-25 Programme for Government, published in September 2024, committed to delivering around 20,000 extra orthopaedic, ophthalmology and general surgery procedures annually in our new National Treatment Centres.

The most recent Programme for Government 2025-26, published in May 2025, has a further commitment of delivering more surgical procedures in our network of National Treatment Centres – to over 30,000 planned procedures, up from 20,000 in 2024-25. This commitment is also outlined in our NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan published in March 2025.

These commitments are specifically focused on optimising the use of our network of National Treatment Centres (NTCs) located across Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Local authorities make their own decisions about how to prioritise the provision of holiday clubs based on local need.

Although there is currently no statutory duty to provide school age childcare to all families during the school holidays, we have committed to building a system of school age childcare in Scotland to provide support around the school day and during the holidays, and we want that future system to be accessible to all.

We have been investing in a range of early delivery projects within targeted communities across Scotland which are better informing us about the change needed to deliver a more accessible and affordable system in the future. This includes our Early Adopter Communities in 6 Local Authority areas, our ‘Extra Time’ Programme in partnership with the Scottish Football Association, and our Access to Childcare projects.

In the 2025 Programme for Government, we have also committed an additional £1m to support the provision of holiday playschemes for disabled children across all local authority areas.

My deepest thoughts and condolences are with those families affected by a death in prison custody. The Scottish Prison Service cares for and supports some of the most complex and vulnerable individuals in our society, often at times of personal crisis.

I regularly meet with the Chief Executive of Scottish Prison Service and the safety and wellbeing of people in custody remains part of a continued dialogue. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research report covers a range of distinct topics which will be considered individually.

The Scottish Prison Service have now developed a multiyear recovery plan to prioritise the delivery of offending behaviour programmes, including the introduction of new delivery sites to increase programme delivery and capacity.

The Scottish Government has secured £4.85m in funding from Great British Energy’s Local Power Plan in 2025-26. The Scottish Government will primarily deliver this funding directly through our Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), providing support through the ‘Community Energy Generation Growth Fund’ to boost community owned renewable energy across Scotland. The £8 million fund, including £4 million from GB Energy’s Local Power Plan, will support community groups to develop their own renewable energy projects, including wind and solar PV projects.

Last year’s £1.5 million pilot fund supported 23 community energy projects – including solar PV installations on public buildings – at various stages of project development.