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This information currently is not held by the Scottish Government.

The £60 million play park renewal funding is allocated to local authorities to use across their whole play estate during the course of this Parliament term. It is the responsibility of the individual Local Authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them based on local needs and priorities. The Scottish Government recognise that the extent of renewal and refurbishment will be influenced by local plans and investment priorities and engagement with children and young people.

Local authorities have a general responsibility to maintain play parks that serve their communities and this investment provides a boost in funding to accelerate local plans and improve play experiences for all children in Scotland.

The Scottish Government worked with COSLA on the national principles for the play park renewal programme, which is used to guide Local Authorities’ renewal programme. The national principles set out that Local Authorities should review their existing estate, prioritise renewal work, and design play parks that offer improved play opportunities for children and families. The national principles state that access to play should be as wide-reaching and inclusive as possible, ensuring all children have access to play spaces where they feel safe and comfortable to use them.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to delivering all recommendations of the Independent Care Review, as part of its pledge to Keep The Promise by 2030.

The Promise Implementation Plan, published in March 2022, set out the Government’s approach to fulfilling these recommendations. A comprehensive update on progress was provided in the Implementation Plan Update published in September 2024, which outlined the actions taken and the ongoing work required.

Implementation of the Care Review’s recommendations is an ongoing and evolving process, and as such, it reflects the Government’s strategic approach to systemic change, with milestones and actions being continuously developed in collaboration with partners, stakeholders, and care-experienced people. Examples of this include the Promise Scotland’s Plan 24-30 and the Promise Progress Framework, which was published jointly by COSLA, the Scottish Government and The Promise Scotland in December 2024.

The Scottish Government continues to lead from the front and remains resolute in its commitment to ensuring that all children and young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe, and respected, with full delivery of the Care Review’s recommendations by 2030.

The Scottish Government has not incurred any spend on consultancy fees in relation to The Promise since 2020. Martin Whitfield may wish to refer to the recent Freedom of Information (FOI) response which provides a full breakdown of expenditure associated with The Promise Scottish Government spend on The Promise: FOI release - gov.scot

The Scottish Social Services Council publishes data annually on vacancies in social care services. The latest report, published on 10 March 2025, showed that as of 31 December 2023, 32% of Day Care of Children services reported a vacancy.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on how many children have been injured in play areas operated by local authorities in the last 12 months. Responsibility for the safety, management and maintenance of play parks rests with individual Local Authorities.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on how many playparks have been closed due to safety concerns in the last five years. Responsibility for the safety, management and maintenance of play parks rests with individual Local Authorities.

The Scottish Government encourages local authorities to carefully consider the impact of council tax increases on local residents and their household finances.

Engaging with council taxpayers on the levels of tax proposed is a matter for local authorities. The Scottish Government is aware that local authorities often do so with residents in their areas, including formal consultation as part of annual budget-setting processes.

The Scottish Government’s means-tested Council Tax Reduction scheme continues to provide vital support to eligible households, helping to mitigate the impact of council tax increases on household budgets.

The Scottish Government recognises how vital the retail sector is to Scotland’s economy. It is committed to supporting the industry and will continue to engage directly with the sector, monitor the evolving impacts of the ongoing cost crisis and work with the UK Government to support Scottish businesses.

The Scottish Government offers a competitive non-domestic rates regime delivering the lowest property rate in the UK for the seventh year in a row and ensuring that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK. As part of our package of reliefs to support businesses and communities worth a forecast £733 million in 2025-26, the Small Business Bonus Scheme remains the most generous scheme of its kind in the UK. The retail sector remains the largest beneficiary of that scheme.

No projects within the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme have been required to pay back any monies to the Scottish Government.

The Community Energy Generation Growth Fund, administered through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), was first launched in 2024 and supports community groups to develop their own renewable energy projects, including wind and solar PV projects.

As of 30 October 2025, a total of 122 applications have been received to the fund since inception. Of this, 95 applications were approved for funding and 25 were not approved, and 2 were deferred for further consideration

A breakdown by local authority area is provided in the following table: