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We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. We are determined do more and our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care. More than £106 million additional funding has been allocated to Health Boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations, including more than £5 million targeted funding for General Surgery (the speciality that covers hernia operations).

In her role as Chair of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland, Baroness Helena Kennedy KC was paid £109,117.20.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million to develop ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) with the aim of encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles (EV). To grow CPS, Scottish Ministers have provided grant funding to over 400 organisations across the public, private and third sectors to install charge points and make them publicly available on the CPS network. The grantees are the owners of the charge points on CPS and responsible for tariffs, ongoing maintenance and upgrades. CPS’ role as the operator is to make them available to the public so that drivers can easily locate and pay for charging sessions.

As a direct result of this funding and increasing private sector investment Scotland now has over 6,900 public charge points. A target for 6,000 public charge points was met in October 2024, two years ahead of schedule.

In addition to investment in public charge points, Scottish Ministers have also provided over £19 million for the installation of over 23,000 lower powered charge points at homes and at workplaces, complementing the public charging network. Ministers remain committed to supporting drivers in the year ahead, setting aside further funding to support consumer incentive schemes for the installation of EV infrastructure at people’s homes, workplaces and public places.

Scottish Ministers’ vision: Vision for world class public electric vehicle charging network | Transport Scotland for the future of public EV charging and the accompanying Draft Implementation Plan: Vision for Scotland's public electric vehicle charging network - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space both set out a clear direction for the future of EV infrastructure in Scotland. The Scottish Government will continue to enable increasing private sector investment, whilst targeting public funding towards those parts of Scotland less likely to benefit from standalone private sector investment in public EV charging. This includes the £30 million provided to local authorities through our EV Infrastructure Fund which is on track secure additional private sector investment in public EV charging and support the provision of a further 6,000 public charge points across Scotland.

When applying for funding, colleges and universities submit a projected budget which provides a detailed breakdown of costs relating to the implementation and delivery of the project. However, the information is not recorded in the manner requested.

An external evaluation due to be published later in the summer will provide an analysis of the SEEP projects which will include costs associated with the development and delivery of projects and funding allocated to student mobility.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of multi-year budgets to the agriculture sector and consistently makes the case to the UK Government that a single year budget settlement does not give the stability and certainty that we need. If the UK Government Spending Review provides multi-year funding, SG would expect to be able to provide that certainty in turn to the agriculture and marine sectors.

Youth work falls within the scope of The Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. This regulation, in effect, requires local authorities to identify need and plan provision of Community Learning and Development in their areas.

As the regulatory requirements for Community Learning and Development are placed with education authorities, the Scottish Government does not collate information on youth workers.

The Scottish Government is working hard to crack down on scammers and deliver better support for those targeted by scams.

We provided funding of £500,000 in 2021-22 to various members of Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy Group to carry out targeted scams prevention and awareness work.

Our supported work includes the roll out by Trading Standards Scotland (TSS) of nearly 1,000 free call blocking devices to vulnerable individuals who were most at risk from scammers and rogue traders. The Scottish Government has also supported a project carried out by Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) to enhance the referral pathways available for connecting victims of scams to appropriate sources of support, and has provided separate funding to ADS to raise awareness of romance and companionship scams.

Since 2023, Consumer Scotland, which is funded by the Scottish Government, has been working with consumer organisations such as TSS to fund scams awareness campaigns, including the yearly Shut Out Scammers campaign. In April 2025, Consumer Scotland formally assumed responsibility for scams prevention and awareness work, supported by £175,000 of funding for this financial year.

The Scottish Government also funds the national consumer helpline, delivered by ADS and contactable at consumer advice or on 0808 164 6000. Suspicious activity can be reported to ADS or, where appropriate, to Police Scotland by calling 101.

The Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment published alongside the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill sets out Scottish Government’s assumptions on the likely impact of a Building Safety Levy in Scotland.

New build house sales make up just 9% of all Scottish residential sales in 2024-25. This, in addition to the existence of the secondary market for housing, means that residential housing developers do not have significant price setting power over the market as a whole. The Scottish Government’s assessment is, therefore, that the likelihood of the costs of the Levy leading to increased house prices is low.

With limited scope for developers to pass through the cost of the levy onto house buyers, the more likely scenario is that developers will seek to pass on the costs of the Levy on through paying a lower price for the land to be developed. This reflects evidence from the Competition and Markets Authority and the Scottish Land Commission, and was underlined in feedback provided by stakeholders as part of the consultation and engagement undertaken prior to the introduction of the Bill.

Treatment outcomes for people on medication assisted treatment are recorded on the Drugs and Alcohol Information System.

Public Health Scotland uses its DAISy system as the basis for many regular reports.

The Scottish Government holds no information on long term recovery outcomes.

Since the publication of the Stroke Improvement Plan, each NHS Board now has a named individual with responsibility for stroke care. The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health chaired a roundtable meeting with these individuals in October 2024, outlining the Scottish Government’s priorities and expectations regarding stroke care.

A National Stroke Engagement Forum, which met for the first time on 2 October 2024, has been established. This forum, attended by stroke service representatives from every NHS Board, is helping to drive improvement work and facilitate the sharing of best practice across NHS Board boundaries.

An increased focus on rehabilitation is a key component of our Stroke Improvement Plan. We are now asking stroke services in all NHS Boards to offer a formal review to everyone who has had a stroke, taking place six months after the stroke event and allowing re-referral into stroke services where required. In addition, empirical measures of rehabilitation and stroke-specific Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMS) are being developed and these will further enhance our ability to gauge the delivery of stroke care and rehabilitation.

Since the publication of the Stroke Improvement Plan, NHS Boards are now required to demonstrate adequate provision of psychological support for those who have suffered a stroke, and this is assessed via NHS Board reviews.

In terms of stroke prevention, the Scottish Government has launched the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Risk Factors programme to improve CVD outcomes with an aim to reduce avoidable CVD death by 20% in 20 years. This work focuses on improving the identification and management of key risk factors which are high blood pressure, high cholesterol, raised blood sugars, obesity and smoking. We have also established a new GP enhanced service from the 2025-26 Reform Fund to support 100,000 patients who are at risk of developing CVD.