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The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year. The baseline used to calculate the additional £160 million was the National Living Wage rate of £12.71 per hour.

Local authorities are responsible for food safety sampling to ensure food producers comply with food safety legislation, however, it is the responsibility of food businesses to demonstrate the safety of their products. Sampling data is recorded centrally by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) on the Scottish Food Sampling Database to find data, spot trends and guide sampling and interventions.

The Scottish Government does not hold any data on microplastics in farmed salmon. There are currently no regulatory standards for microplastics in food and animal feed and methods for measuring microplastics in these matrices have not yet been standardised and harmonised.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), an agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), is responsible for the analysis of chemical contaminants in salmon and organises the testing of salmon samples for heavy metals, per and polyfluoroalkyl substances and antibiotic residues. Details of the testing outputs can be found on the VMD's webpage.

Access to toilet facilities is a fundamental human right. Changing Places Toilets (CPT) offer a vital facility for people with disabilities and their families and carers whose needs cannot be met through standard accessible toilet provision.

The Scottish Government committed £10 million over two years through its Changing Places Toilets Fund for the development of new facilities across Scotland.

In December 2025, I announced awards of £4.7 million from the first tranche of funding for 59 projects across Scotland. I am delighted to confirm that I have now approved funding for an additional 25 projects, bringing total confirmed awards to over £7 million for 84 projects.

I am very grateful to Mr Balfour for his continued commitment to and engagement on this issue. As Mr Balfour is aware, the Scottish Government has included in its draft budget an additional £10 million for Changing Places Toilets over the next three financial years, which would bring total investment to £20 million.

There has been no request made by NHS NSS to cease NHS funding of non-therapeutic male circumcision. The reference contained in a recent FOI release to NHS NSS requesting the cessation of NHS funding of NTMC was a factual error within internal Scottish Government correspondence due to two organisations using similar acronyms. The National Secular Society (also referred to as NSS) was the organisation which made this request.

NHS guidelines on how non-therapeutic male circumcision should be performed have been in place since 2008 in Scotland to ensure procedures are carried out safely. Non-therapeutic male circumcision is carried out in one of the four Paediatric Centres by trained paediatric surgeons, under general anaesthesia, as part of a regulated NHS system.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-05505 on 12 February 2026. All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Meeting of the Parliament: 12/02/2026 | Scottish Parliament Website

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-05505 on 12 February 2026. All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Meeting of the Parliament: 12/02/2026 | Scottish Parliament Website

Statistics on the Forestry Grant Scheme are published monthly on the Scottish Forestry website, the January 2026 statistics are the latest available.

A breakdown of how many woodland creation schemes of (a) up to two, (b) two to five, (c) six to 10, (d) 11 to 20, (e) 21 to 50, (f) 51 to 100, (g) 101 to 200 and (h) over 200 hectares have been approved in each complete financial year from 2017 to 2025 is shown in Table 1.

We put child poverty at the heart of the 2026-27 Scottish Budget and of the Scottish Spending Review, which outline how we will tackle the cost of living and drive continued progress to break the cycle of poverty. This includes a package of measures to reduce child poverty and target support to those who need it most.

Recognising that families with a baby are more likely to live in poverty, we have announced our intention to introduce a Scottish Child Payment premium bringing the total Payment to £40 per week for all eligible children under the age of one, commencing during 2027-28.

Further measures to reduce child poverty will be set out in the forthcoming Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan by the end of March 2026. This will set out the actions to be taken between 2026-2031 to drive continued progress toward the 2030 targets set in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role that solar energy plays in contributing to the decarbonisation of Scotland’s energy system and supporting a just transition to net zero. Solar generation, alongside other forms of renewable energy, will continue to contribute meaningfully to Scotland’s future energy mix.

Since the publication of our draft solar vision there have been several policy developments at a UK level that require careful consideration. These include the UK Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and Warm Homes Plan, as well as the creation of the National Energy System Operator and associated reforms to grid connections.

In addition, the Scottish Government has co-commissioned the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan, which will provide an updated assessment of Scotland’s future energy system needs including for solar. This is due for publication in 2027.

The Forestry Grant Scheme has funded 13 woodland creation projects over 500 hectares since 2015, the year the grant scheme opened.