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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. Local Authority reserve balances in Scotland remain considerably higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The record funding settlement for Local Government in 2025-26 was the result of early and meaningful engagement between Scottish Government, COSLA and Councils. We remain committed to ensuring the sustainability of local services going forward and budget engagement ahead of the 2026-27 Scottish Budget has already commenced.

The three NHS Regional Chief Executives leading implementation for the North, East and West established a Task and Finish Group in March 2025. The Group’s membership comprises of the NHS Regional Chief executives, regional planners and service leaders bringing working knowledge and understanding of current services, to lead delivery of the work.

The remit of the group is to oversee and support national action and coordination required for delivery of Regional Implementation Plans to implement the move to three Neonatal Intensive Care units across Scotland. This includes work to develop a funding model, and work to model the additional impact on capacity in maternity services.

The group met on the 2 June 2025 and will meet monthly thereafter.

The Task and Finish Group will provide updates to and seek any collective agreement through the Board Chief Executives and Planning and Delivery Board reporting to NHS Scotland Executive Group.

Transport Scotland considers it good practice for local authorities to refer applicants for an independent mobility assessment, if that is required to make a clear and robust decision on eligibility.

An independent mobility assessment should be conducted by a regulated healthcare professional, such as an occupational therapist, who acts upon the instruction of the local authority to provide an assessment of blue badge entitlement.

Occupational therapists or physiotherapists are best placed to assess an applicant's eligibility, (independent of the applicants GP) due to their specific training courses, accredited by their professional bodies and subsequent registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Transport Scotland does not collect data on the numbers of assessors or their training records. This information would be held by individual local authorities.

The potential harbour purchase sits within the ‘Vessels and Piers’ budget for 2025-26, which also includes a number of port improvements and upgrades. As previously stated in Parliament, whilst we await the outcome of the commercial negotiations between CMAL and Peel Ports, we cannot provide further information during this confidential process. I will of course update Parliament once there is progress and an outcome reached.

Ministers are considering the scope and structure of the review, including how the views of stakeholders can best be taken into account.

Transport Scotland does not hold this data. This information would be held by individual local authorities.

A core principle of the Blue Badge scheme in Scotland is that access to the scheme is based on the applicant’s functional mobility, whether visible or not, and it is important to note that people with fluctuating conditions or hidden disabilities can apply under the eligibility criteria in the same way as people with visible disabilities. There are no plans to change or expand the eligibility criteria for Blue Badge.

Forestry is a major land use in Scotland for positive economic, social and environmental outcomes. Forests and woodland are some of the most biodiverse habitats in Scotland. Scotland’s forests are for example home to 172 priority species including pine marten, Scottish Crossbill, black grouse and 75% of the UK red squirrel population.

All our woodlands of all types - be it productive broadleaved, conifer, native or mixed - have the potential to contribute to biodiversity gain in Scotland. The UK Forestry Standard sets out the requirements and guidelines to achieve this. In Scotland, we are currently creating nearly 75% of all the new woodland in the UK. In 2023/24 Scotland created 15,000 ha which was the highest level in 34 years. Native woodland planting, with biodiversity outcomes as a primary objective, was at 7,700 ha which was the highest since 2001.

Degraded peatlands emit rather than capture and store carbon and lose the unique and biodiverse ecosystems they host when in good condition. That is why this government has committed £250 million to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030 as an essential element of mitigating and adapting to the linked climate and nature emergencies.

Through our flagship Peatland ACTION programme, we are making good progress towards that target. To date we have put around 90,000 hectares of degraded peat on the road to recovery including almost 15,000 hectares in 2024-25 alone – the highest amount in any single year and more than 40% up on the previous year.

Every hectare of peatland restored locks up the carbon it contains, reducing its contribution to climate change which is driving some biodiversity loss across Scotland. The rewetting, revegetating and reprofiling carried out during restoration also benefits nature directly by reinstating lost habitats and species and increasing the resilience of these wetland ecosystems to future climate change.

Integrating peatland protection, management and restoration within farming, crofting and other land uses brings benefits for climate, for nature and for people.

Scotland’s resilience to acute food security challenges comes largely from its diversity of supply. Scotland’s food and farming sectors have a critical role to play in Scotland’s food security, producing food for consumption in Scotland, and increasing our economic resilience through exports of food and drink.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) on a number of energy related matters in Scotland, including wind energy infrastructure and grid connection.

In October, the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments jointly commissioned the NESO to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for Great Britain, which is intended to help accelerate and optimise the transition to clean, affordable and secure energy in Great Britain by providing greater clarity on the shape of our future reformed energy system. Scottish Government officials meet regularly with NESO to shape the plan as it develops, including providing representation at formal governance groups.

The Scottish Energy Statistics Hub provides the progress of Scotland’s renewable electricity projects.