Seòmar agus comataidhean

Following years of pressure from stakeholders and the Scottish Government, the UK Government has finally scrapped the two child limit. I can therefore confirm that we will not proceed with our regulations that would have, subject to Parliamentary approval, seen us launch our payment in March 2026. As the First Minister made clear back in January, we will be reinvesting funding freed up to contribute to our mission to eradicate child poverty.

This will include continuing to mitigate the benefit cap which the UK Government is keeping in place, with the result that Policy in Practice estimates one in ten children impacted by the 2 child limit won't benefit from its abolition, and a further one in ten will only benefit partially. Officials continue to engage with the Scottish Fiscal Commission to help inform its forecasts including on the benefit cap and increased caseload on the Scottish Child Payment following the end of the Two Child Limit. Our spending decisions will be set out in the Scottish Government Budget on 13 January.

Safety of Nuclear Power: The Civil Nuclear sector is wholly reserved by the United Kingdom Government(UKG)and is regulated by The Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR).The nuclear sector is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the UK.

Whilst the Scottish Government does not have any specific options that provide financial incentives for landowners to accommodate beaver wetlands, there are grant schemes that could be used to support complimentary and positive beaver management.

Agri-Environment Climate scheme (AECS) options could be used to for the creation and management of wetlands, water margins, and flood plain management. For example, if the edge of a field next to a burn or drainage channel regularly floods where beavers are present, having a larger water margin could help to reduce ongoing conflicts. For larger areas or naturally wet corners, wetland management options could be considered.

The Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) may also be able to provide financial support for suitable habitat creation or restoration particularly at a collaborative project, catchment or landscape level.

Through the NRF, the Scottish Government is committed to providing £65 million additional funding from 2021 to 2026 for projects that will restore nature, safeguard wildlife and tackle the causes of biodiversity loss and climate change.

Although outcomes related explicitly to beavers or wetlands are not specified, the priority themes of the NRF would permit the creation of this kind of habitat e.g:

• Habitat and species restoration - management for enhancement and connectivity.
• Freshwater restoration, including restoration of natural flows in rural catchments.

Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme also offers funding through the Woodland Creation and Woodland Improvement Grants for the creation of new woodlands and the sustainable management of existing woodlands. Payment rates relate to the kind of woodland being created, each of which has a prescribed planting density. A higher rate can be paid if the woodland is in a target area such as a Woodlands for Water and the Forestry Grant Scheme | Scottish Forestry target area.

For Woodland Improvement Grants specifically, the aim of this option is to provide capital grants for a range of activities that will:

• encourage natural regeneration and benefit priority habitats and species
• increase species and structural diversity through low impact silvicultural systems management
• support the preparation of forest and / or management plans that set out management objectives for the woodland
• improve the biodiversity, resilience, and structural diversity of even aged woodlands

Going forward, NatureScot will work with the Scottish Beaver Advisory Group (SBAG) to ensure there is continued support available to land managers for beaver mitigation and to influence the design of future schemes to support land managers in making space for nature and building ecosystem resilience.

NatureScot has also produced guidance which provides further details on these schemes on what existing measures could be used in support of living with beavers

Beaver Mitigation - Support through Government grant schemes | NatureScot.

Any land manager, farmer or crofter wishing to discuss positive beaver management should contact beavers@nature.scot for further advice.

The Future Farming Investment Scheme was a pilot scheme and we are now looking at what we do in the future, taking on board the concerns raised, to make sure we continue to support the agriculture sector. We will review the scheme to better understand what worked and where improvement to any potential future scheme could be made, to ensure it is more tightly targeted for any future rounds.

The Fire and Rescue Unit is part of the Scottish Government Safer Communities Division. In common with all Scottish Government Divisions, strategic oversight is provided through Directors and Director Generals reporting to the Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government has the utmost sympathy for the women who may have been harmed by stilbestrol. However, Scottish Ministers have had no discussions with NHS England, NHS Wales and HSC Northern Ireland on this issue as the regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

As you will already be aware, responsibility for the UK’s telecommunications network is reserved to the UK Government, with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology being the lead government department.

The move to digital-based services is an industry-led decision and process. The decision to upgrade the legacy PSTN network is driven by the increasing fragility of the 40-year old analogue landline technology and the increased difficulty in maintaining the current network, due to reduced availability of replacement parts and the reduction of expertise in these analogue systems.

Critical Systems

The Scottish Government continue to work across the full range of SG Directorates to ensure all sectoral areas and their relevant stakeholders are informed and have plans in place to mitigate any potential impacts of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) switch off.

Additionally, we have ensured that external responder agencies and categorised responders are appropriately briefed on the potential impacts by facilitating information sessions with telecoms operators.

We continue to work with industry, UK Government, the regulator (Ofcom) and other devolved governments through the Electronic Communications – Resilience and Response Group (EC-RRG) whose aim is to develop and maintain cooperation between the Communications Sector and Government on issues regarding resilience and emergency planning.

Telecare

Since 2018 we have had a local government programme under way to navigate and support migration of the telecare provision to 140,000 citizens across Scotland, in advance of the PSTN migration from analogue to digital.

Telecare providers across local authorities and housing associations have made excellent progress with more than 60% of lines and equipment now being fully digital. All telecare providers are engaged with the national programme and progressing their individual update programmes. In addition to this, a national call handling platform for telecare is being deployed, using the latest digital and cloud technology. As of November 2025, 18 organisations with more than 90,000 connections in total are delivering call handling services through this solution. While there is currently no concern with the migration plans of any telecare provider, the Digital Telecare Programme remains alert to the potential risk to the individual telecare users, who are often considered very vulnerable. There is a raised risk profile for those telecare users in rural areas for whom SIM-enabled devices may not be an option for continued telecare service from January 2027. Early mitigation of this, or alternative solutions, are being explored continuously.

On 14 February 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the final report of its market study into the UK infant and follow-on formula market. CMA set out 11 recommendations to the Scottish, Welsh and UK Governments and Northern Ireland Executive.

Today, I can confirm the four nations have published a joint response: Infant formula: government response to CMA market study - GOV.UK to CMA’s recommendations. This response complements the range of measures taking place in Scotland to support new parents and carers on their infant feeding journeys, including our five year plan: 4. Our Vision - Breastfeeding and infant feeding: strategic framework 2025-2030 - gov.scot for infant feeding and breastfeeding, country wide accreditation of the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative and our continued commitment to protect all parents from inappropriate marketing of infant formula. Scotland can play an important and leading role in addressing Infant Food Insecurity given our Government’s core mission to eradicate child poverty.

Whilst there are important measures to welcome, I have also reiterated to the UK Government the need to do more to address challenges which necessitate a strong four-nations response. This is particularly relevant for how and where retailers are located geographically, and where baby food and infant formula prices are further inflated in different parts of the UK. This has a particularly acute impact on rural and island communities in Scotland who already face higher prices for groceries, and I am considering how we may take rapid action to both assess and address how we might mitigate this for families.

Getting the right nutrition at the start is crucial for a baby’s healthy growth and development. While we remain fully committed to supporting breastfeeding, which brings significant benefits for mothers and babies, we recognise that some families cannot, or choose not to, breastfeed. For families that do not exclusively breastfeed, infant formula is an essential item. The CMA makes a strong case that action is needed to give parents and carers confidence to choose lower priced products and encourage manufacturers and retailers to compete more on price.

There are already regulations that require all infant formula and follow-on formula manufacturers to comply with robust nutritional and compositional standards, alongside rules on how formula milk products are labelled, presented and advertised to protect parents and carers from inappropriate claims or promotions. This means all infant formula sold on the UK market is safe, when used appropriately, and meets the nutritional needs of babies, regardless of the price or brand.

In this joint UK response to the CMA’s recommendations, the four nations set out a strong package of measures. This package seeks to support parents and carers to make better-informed decisions if they need, or choose, to use infant formula and place downward pressure on the price. It focuses on ensuring comprehensive and accessible information in healthcare and retail settings, and places emphasis on encouraging retailers to voluntarily implement measures to better enable product comparison and stimulate competition between brands. In Scotland we will consider existing enforcement processes and update and clarify guidance to strengthen adherence, where needed.

The UK Government has also committed to reviewing existing infant formula legislation to ensure retailers can accept food bank vouchers, gift cards and loyalty points as part or full payment for infant formula. The Scottish Government and Food Standards Scotland will work closely with the UK Department of Health and Social Care and the other Devolved Governments on guidance clarifying what is permissible under the existing legislation in Scotland. This is due to publish shortly.

We will continue working with the UK Government and Devolved Governments. However, we will keep this package of measures under review to consider whether further action can be taken in Scotland in line with our mission to end child poverty.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6O-05097 on 5 November 2025 and S6W-41741 on 21 November 2025.

Members of the Abortion Law Review Expert Group did not receive fees or honoraria for their work. Incidental travel for Expert Group members cost £272.39. No subsistence costs were incurred.