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Since its establishment in 2022, the Scottish Government has allocated Just Transition Fund support to the North East and Moray as follows:

• 2022 - 2023: £10 million
• 2023 - 2024: £50 million
• 2024 - 2025: £12.172 million
• 2025 - 2026: £15.9 million

A preliminary version of the Code of Practice on Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture which has been co-developed with the industry was launched on 19th June at the Royal Highland Show.

This is an opportunity to gather real world feedback from the industry which will be taken into consideration for the next iteration.

The Code will be updated in accordance with the Act at a minimum of every five years but if evidence suggests a change would be beneficial it could be updated more regularly. Government officials are continuing to engage with industry through existing regular consultation on the development and refinement of the Code.

The current The Chief Financial Officer David Dishon has confirmed to the Scottish Government that there are no informal pay arrangements at Ferguson Marine.

Should any pay settlements be required, Ferguson Marine have to go through the Remuneration Committee, the FMPG Board, and also Scottish Government officials for clearance.

Education Scotland, the national education agency, promotes the benefits of outdoor learning by sharing a range of resources, guidance and case studies via their new Learning for Sustainability webpage and by facilitating peer-to-peer learning through the Learning for Sustainability mentors’ network. The Scottish Government also provides funding to the Scottish Advisory Panel for Outdoor Education to maintain and update its “Going Out There” website which provides a range of toolkits, risk assessment guidance and online learning.

Outdoor learning features strongly in the government’s Learning for Sustainability Action Plan. As part of that plan, a dedicated outdoor learning national working group has been considering further ways to support and promote outdoor learning. The group will provide its final report and recommendations to Ministers later this year.

In relation to access to green spaces in schools, the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) is being delivered in partnership with local authorities and will benefit tens of thousands of pupils across Scotland. Through the LEIP, projects are encouraged to maximise the use of the outdoor environment for learning, social activities and recreation.

The waiting time information available to the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) does not provide details on the reason an individual has been referred into a NHS service, including if the patient is experiencing age-related hearing loss. It is therefore not possible to make an assessment of what the waiting times for ear, nose and throat (ENT) and hospital audiology would be if a community audiology service had been treating the majority of age-related hearing loss patients since 2021.

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.

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.

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.

Data is available on the share of SME employers that report a profit. These estimates, sourced from the Small Business Survey, are shown in Table 1. In 2019, 78% of SME employers in Scotland reported generating a profit, this fell to 70% in 2020, with the latest data for 2023 putting the share back at 78%.

Table 1: Taking into account all sources of income in the last financial year, did you generate a profit or surplus? – SME Employers - Scotland

The Scottish Government is awaiting the final business case from the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Once received, it will be reviewed through the relevant governance processes.