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The following table gives the number of households who received support through the Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS) scheme in the financial year 2024-25, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Law Commission published its report on mandatory owners’ associations on 11 December 2025. The Scottish Government will now fully consider the contents of this report before setting out the next steps.

We are proud of Scotland’s world class strengths in semiconductors technologies which form a part of our critical technologies supercluster. We are committed to supporting its growth through our national cluster building initiative to support economic growth and resilience. The supercluster is a significant economic asset of strategic importance for both Scotland and the UK and is on track to reach £10 billion turnover by 2035.

As global leaders like Micron focus on advanced memory and AI chips, there will be rising demand for high-end packaging, testing, and integration. This is a Scottish strength and makes the new National Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Integration Centre (NASPIC) under NMIS more important and valuable.

The global semiconductor market has long been vulnerable to market fluctuations and we believe there is much the UK Government can do to strengthen national supply chain sovereignty, particularly on energy costs and greater capital investment in semiconductor fabs.

The preferred source for data on business deaths is the annual Office for National Statistics (ONS) Business Demography series, the latest edition is available at: Business demography, UK - Office for National Statistics. Business deaths are a proxy for the number of businesses closed down. Business deaths are measured as businesses removed from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), which is a database of all businesses registered for Value-Added-Tax (VAT) and/or Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) income tax. A business is removed from the IDBR if its turnover and employment are zero for several periods, or if the ONS is notified that the business has ceased trading through an administrative or survey source. Business deaths data for East Dunbartonshire are provided in Table 1. Note that we do not have information on why these businesses have ceased trading.

Table 1: Business Deaths, East Dunbartonshire, 2020 to 2024

Funding for local government is distributed to councils on the basis of a needs-based formula agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities. Any changes to that funding, including new funding or changes to distribution, are subject to formal financial governance processes through the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Officers’ Settlement and Distribution Group (SDG). SDG recommendations are then subject to political sign-off from Scottish Ministers and COSLA Leaders.

This mechanism allows for the costs of targeted interventions to be shared across Local Authorities if Leaders accept recommendations from SDG to do so.

Similarly, in the past the Scottish Government has sought to prioritise funding for specific Local Authorities to reflect unique situations or circumstances or to recognise their contribution to the roll-out of national policies such as Ukraine resettlement funding. However, it is important to note that targeting of funding in this way can be at odds with the principles set out in the Verity House Agreement.

The vast majority of funding to Local Government is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. Should councils wish to work together to share costs on a regional or national basis, they are at liberty to do so outside the auspices of SDG.

Local authorities must use the financial resources available to them as efficiently as possible to ensure the best possible value. How this is done is a matter for each council.

The Scottish government has provided local government in Scotland with record funding of over £15.1 billion, an increase of over £1 billion or 5.5 per cent in real terms compared to 2024-25. Decisions on the use of reserves for specific services are rightly the responsibility of councils to take where it is prudent and sustainable to do so.

The Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with local government to address the challenges facing councils and ensure we are operating sustainable people centred public services that communities expect and deserve.

I am pleased to announce that the Scottish Government will support the initial implementation of much-needed testing for cholangiocarcinoma, with funding to be released in December and reassurance from NHS National Services Division (NSD), the national commissioner of genomic testing in NHS Scotland, that this will be available to patients across Scotland from February 2026.

This is a single test for a relatively rare form of cancer. However, I want to assure you that the Scottish Government is fully committed to improving access to the full range of genomic testing needed and to building the foundations required to allow Scotland to take full advantage of developments in genomic medicine, including data and digital infrastructure and skilled workforce requirements. This is part of our long-term approach to deliver bold and ambitious action to reform and renew our health and care systems in Scotland within a fiscal position that remains extremely challenging.

Information on the number of men who have received BRCA gene tests since 1999 is not held by Scottish Government but by the NHS services who support this testing across Scotland.

Scottish Ministers remain committed to working collaboratively with stakeholders as part of the Squid Pilot Co-Management Group to develop and undertake a limited squid pilot project.

The squid pilot project will involve a number of inshore vessels and will gather information on the potential impacts of squid fishing on cod stocks and bycatch of non-target stocks. The outcomes of the pilot project will be analysed to support longer-term policy decisions on fishing for squid under the North Sea Cod Avoidance Plan (NCAP).

Work is currently underway on the design and scope of the project based on best available evidence, this includes detailed advice that has been produced by Nature Scot, with the intention of introducing the squid pilot project in 2026.

Scottish Government officials have continued to undertake the work necessary to develop a squid pilot project to support longer-term policy decisions on fishing for squid under the North Sea Cod Avoidance Plan (NCAP). This has involved detailed analysis of the best available evidence and continued collaboration with stakeholders as part of the Squid Pilot Co-Management Group.

Officials in Marine Directorate are aiming to establish the parameters of the pilot project over the coming months with the aim of squid pilot taking place in certain trial areas in 2026. Further updates will be provided once the pilot project has commenced and data has been gathered.