Seòmar agus comataidhean

Transport Scotland is able to manage the funding required within the existing Ferries budget allocation for 2025-26.

The Scottish Government provides core funding to Consumer Scotland to advocate on behalf of Scottish consumers and consider Scottish specific issues, such as those highlighted in this report. My officials will continue to meet regularly with Consumer Scotland to discuss, and provide support, to address the issues raised.

We also see a key role for Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), which are developed and delivered by local authorities, to help aid public awareness of the likely future heating solutions in their area.

Heat network consumer advice is provided by Advice Direct Scotland, funded by Consumer Scotland.

Following the GB wide authorisations which came into force on 27 January 2026 and included consumer protections, Consumer Scotland, Advice Direct Scotland, and Citizen’s Advice Extra Help Unit will advocate for Scottish consumers and escalate key issues. Consumer Scotland are creating content to raise awareness of this with Scottish consumers.

Heat network consumers are able to access direct support through Advice Direct Scotland either via Energy Advice | Energy Advice | energyadvice.scot or through the helpline (0808 196 8660).

The Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray’s initial year of funding began in May 2022.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on job losses by year in any given sector of the economy. We do, however, monitor a range of sources of evidence around employment in the Scottish energy sector. For example, independent analysis has shown that over the period 2019 to 2022 the numbers of direct and indirect jobs supported by the Scottish offshore oil and gas sector decreased from 57,000 to 53,000.

We recognise that the energy transition will have particular impacts in the NE region. Alongside the JTF for NE and Moray, other examples of support provided by SG include the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund for offshore oil and gas workers and the North East Scotland Investment Zone.

In 2025-26 we allocated £315,000 to FareShare to redistribute high quality surplus food to community organisations with an emphasis on shared meals and promoting cash-first.

We also allocated a total of almost £200,000 to the four established regional community food networks in Scotland, which are Community Food Initiatives North East, Lanarkshire Community Food and Health Partnership, Edinburgh Community Food and the Glasgow Community Food Network. This funding helps tackle food insecurity, promotes community food and supports improved health and wellbeing.

Through our Investing in Communities Fund, we have provided around £2.8 million of funding each year between 2023-26 to 32 organisations to enable them to provide holistic support services to address poverty and inequality, including activities to directly tackle food insecurity.

The Scottish Government has no plans to produce guidelines on how BID levies should be set or enforced, as this is a matter for individual BIDs operating within the existing framework of the Business Improvement Districts (Scotland) Regulations 2007.

We do, however, provide funding support for Scotland’s Improvement Districts (SIDs), which delivers advice and governance support for BIDs, including best practice and guidance on levy arrangements.

There are no plans to introduce a public record of the levies charged by BIDs. Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally, local authorities are responsible for administering and collecting BID levies.

Royal Mail and postal delivery services are reserved policy areas for the UK Government.

However, the Scottish Government engages regularly with Royal Mail, raising concerns around staffing, service performance, and local delivery issues. We continue to provide constructive challenge to ensure that postal services meet the specific needs of communities across Scotland.

The First Minister visited the Glasgow Mail Centre on 22 December to see operations first-hand and to reinforce the importance of maintaining high service standards for Scotland’s communities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40093 on 4 September 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Following the publication of the draft Scottish Budget, we have agreed funding to support an extension of the Investing in Communities Fund for the existing organisations supported by the Fund. This transition funding will provide support for 2026-27, and we are working with eligible organisations to assess their funding needs.

Road safety is a priority for The Scottish Government and we recognise the important work that delivery partners undertake.

Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2030 (the Framework) sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050. It sets challenging targets for the years ahead, with a 50 per cent reduction in fatal and serious injuries and a 60 per cent reduction in child fatal and serious injuries by 2030. Mode and user specific targets for key priority groups have been created to focus attention by partners on our priority areas, this includes a target to reduce by 70% the number of 17-25 year olds killed or seriously injured.

To support the framework, The Scottish Government is investing a record £48m in road safety in 2025-26, to reduce casualties and promote local investment.

On 12 January 2026, a national behavioural change campaign launched which targets risky driving behaviours among young drivers. This is supported by a full suite of learning resources for 3-18 year-olds. In addition to this, a stakeholder group, which last met on 12th February 2025, is in place to identify and deliver targeted measures to enhance the safety of young and older road users.

Additionally, the annual Road Safety Framework Fund is underway which allows partners the opportunity to delivery targeted road safety initiatives which help to reduce casualties on Scotland’s roads. Partners can apply for funding through this fund when 2026-27 bids open later this year.