Asked by: Kerr, Liam (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the response to FOI/1546-2025.26 on 7 January 2026, in which the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service stated that it did not hold a business case for the firefighting units project and maintained no formal minutes of the Asset Management Liaison Board discussions, what discussions it has had with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding the review of the governance, approval and delivery arrangements for the procurement of these units.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Scottish Ministers are assured that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has the appropriate governance, assurance and decision-making arrangements in place for the management of its resources and assets, consistent with its statutory responsibilities and the ministerial expectations set out in the Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2022.
The Scottish Government maintains regular engagement with SFRS on a range of strategic, operational and corporate matters. These meetings provide an opportunity to discuss issues relating to service delivery, performance, governance and organisational assurance as appropriate. Responsibility for the governance, approval and delivery arrangements for individual procurements rests with SFRS, who follow the Scottish Procurement Journey to ensure best practice.
Asked by: Burgess, Ariane (Scottish Green Party - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the availability of dentists in Shetland.
Answered by None
The latest Public Health Scotland statistics show that 4.4 million courses of treatment were delivered under the new dental payment system in the year up to 31 March 2026, highlighting that our significant and continuing investment in NHS dentistry is supporting access at a national level. However, we recognise areas of challenge remain, including rural and island areas such as Shetland. The 2025 NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan therefore committed to reviewing and refreshing existing financial incentives for the dental sector, to better support patient access in areas like Shetland, and this work is progressing well. The Scottish Government’s National Islands Plan also includes a commitment to explore alternative models of care and workforce incentives to further support the role of the Public Dental Service (PDS) in island areas. Additionally, in 2025-26, the Scottish Government provided £265,000 of extra funding to NHS Shetland to provide a temporary dental therapist and locum dentist support.
Asked by: McNeill, Pauline (Scottish Labour - Glasgow)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with UK Government on its proposals to introduce a licensing scheme for the sale of knives, and what assessment it has made of any implications of this scheme for Scotland.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
In May 2025, UK Government officials made the Scottish Government aware that the UK Government intended to publish a consultation relating to licensing of the sale of knives. This was subsequently published in December 2025 with the consultation finishing in February 2026. As yet, the Scottish Government is not aware of specific proposals from the UK Government to introduce such a scheme following the consultation and will be happy to discuss with the UK Government as any such proposals are developed in terms of any impact for Scotland. In particular, the need to consider the operation of any licensing scheme in respect of the importation of knives will be required by the UK Government for Scotland as this area of law is likely reserved under the Scotland Act 1998.
There is long-standing knife dealer licensing in Scotland operated by local authorities that applies to all retailers including online retailers who sell weapons covered by the licensing scheme. This is unlike the situation in England and Wales.
Asked by: Kerr, Liam (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the response to FOI/1547-2025.26 by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on 19 December 2025, what discussions it has had with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding delays to the operational deployment of the eight firefighting units referred to in that response.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Operational deployment of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s (SFRS) vehicles is a matter for the Service. Scottish Government officials have previously engaged with the SFRS regarding these assets in order to seek assurance regarding the Service’s ability to respond to incidents. SFRS previously advised officials of the circumstances affecting the deployment of these units and provided assurance that appropriate arrangements were in place to maintain operational response capability while the vehicles were being brought into service.
Asked by: Kerr, Liam (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42094 by Siobhian Brown on 26 November 2025, which stated that eight Ford Ranger Ultra-Light Pumping Units were procured at a total cost of £984,347.20, and the response to FOI/1858-2025.26 by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on 18 February 2026, what the total cost of the project is to date, including any expenditure on post-purchase remedial work, upgrades, modifications, stowage redesign or commissioning costs.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
The Scottish Government does not hold this operational information. The member may wish to contact the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service directly, as the Service is responsible for the deployment and operation of its vehicles.
Asked by: Kerr, Liam (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-42095 by Siobhian Brown on 26 November 2025, whether any of the eight Ford Ranger Ultra-Light Pumping Units are still awaiting commissioning, allocation, modification, pump upgrade, stowage refinement or other remedial work, and, if so, what the expected completion date is for each unit.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
The Scottish Government does not hold this operational information. The member may wish to contact the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service directly, as the Service is responsible for the deployment and operation of its vehicles.
Asked by:
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to ensure that care payments can be backdated when new applications experience delays due to processing backlogs.
Answered by None
The decision on whether care payments should be backdated due to processing backlogs rests with the relevant local authority. Where an assessment has been completed and a decision has been made on a person's eligibility and support needs, local authorities should consider the circumstances of any delay in implementing support. This includes considering whether support was provided within a reasonable period following the assessment and, where appropriate, whether backdating of payments is justified.
Asked by: Burgess, Ariane (Scottish Green Party - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what dialogue it has had with local authorities and health boards to encourage collaboration, especially in cases where there is policy or geographical overlap between them.
Answered by None
The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 established the framework for integrating health and social care services in Scotland. It required local authorities and NHS boards to create Integration Authorities responsible for the governance, planning and funding of integrated services.
Integration aims to improve care and support for people who use services, their carers and their families. It does this by putting a greater emphasis on collaboration, joining up services, and focussing on anticipatory and preventative care. We support Integration Authorities to do this through regular dialogue between officials, myself, the Cabinet Secretary and the networks of Integration Authority Chief Officers, Chairs and Vice-chairs.
For 2025-26, we provided £144,812.30 in Scottish Government funding to Health and Social Care Scotland (HSCS) for their work supporting key networks, including IJB Chief Officers. HSCS work closely with IJBs and Chief Officers to promote good practice, strengthen IJB leadership networks, support meaningful engagement with communities and the third sector, and enhance independent sector involvement in local governance.
More recently I met with the leadership of the IJB Chief Officer network to discuss current priorities and challenges facing integration authorities, and to support continued collaborative working across the health and social care system. I look forward to continued engagement with them.
Asked by: Kerr, Liam (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-42094 and S6W-42095 by Siobhian Brown on 26 November 2025, on what date each of the eight Ford Ranger Ultra-Light Pumping Units entered operational service.
Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice
The Scottish Government does not hold this operational information. The member may wish to contact the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service directly, as the Service is responsible for the deployment and operation of its vehicles.
Asked by: Briggs, Miles (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Edinburgh and Lothians East)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many carers' breaks have been delivered in each local authority area since the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force.
Answered by None
The number of unpaid carers who receive short breaks or respite is reported in the Scottish Government’s Carers Census. This collection covers unpaid carers of all ages who have a support plan and/or those receiving support from local services, rather than the total caring population.
Information from the Carers Census is collected on a local level, however local-level figures are not published as, despite the increase in the number of organisations returning data, coverage remains incomplete across Scotland. Differences in local carer support arrangements and recording practices also mean the data is not sufficiently robust to allow direct local comparisons.
National-level data is reported in the Carers Census publications, however the results likely represent an undercount of the true number of unpaid carers being supported by local services in Scotland, given that not all organisations are able to provide submissions, and there is no non-response estimation. This is noted within the publications, where figures are framed as representing carers included in the Carers Census from submitting data providers, as opposed to being estimated Scotland-level totals.
Table 1: Number and percentage of people who received short breaks or respite in 2019-20 to 2023-24 (all areas submitted) (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)
Year | Number of people that received short breaks or respite | Percentage of people who received support that received short breaks or respite |
2019-20 | 4,450 | 29% |
2020-21 | 5,360 | 29% |
2021-22 | 11,570 | 37% |
2022-23 | 9,120 | 40% |
2023-24 | 11,100 | 40% |
Notes: data from the initial 2018-19 Carers Census is not included as it is not comparable to subsequent years.
Data for 2019-20 and 2020-21 were collected at the same time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and changes between 2022-23 and 2023-24 are likely to be more reflective of the greater completeness and improved data quality in 2023-24 rather than actual change in provision.
Table 2: Percentage of people who were assessed as needing, and assessed as needing and were eligible for, a short break or respite that received one, 2019-20 to 2023-24 (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)
Year | Percentage of people who were assessed as needing a short break or respite that received one, regardless of eligibility | Percentage of people who were assessed as needing, and were eligible for, a short break or respite that received one |
2019-20 | 86% | 88% |
2020-21 | 83% | 86% |
2021-22 | 76% | 79% |
2022-23 | 89% | 90% |
2023-24 | 91% | 92% |
Notes:
1. Data for 2018-19 is not included as it is not comparable to subsequent years.
2. These proportions are not based on the figures shown in Table 1, as those figures relate to all carers recorded as receiving a short break or respite, rather than only those with recorded needs and eligibility.
Unpaid carers are considered to be eligible to receive a short break if they are a) assessed as needing one and b) meet local eligibility criteria. However, many carer centres do not operate using eligibility criteria and will provide the support needed to the carers that they are in contact with. As such, information on whether a carer is eligible for support is poorly returned in the Carers Census. In 2023-24, information on eligibility was missing for almost 60% of records.
In addition, there were a number of carers in the Carers Census data who were recorded as receiving a short break or respite but who weren’t recorded as needing one. This could be due to a number of reasons such as differences in data recording or changes in the carers’ circumstances.