Programme for Government 2025 to 2026

4 High Quality and Sustainable Public Services

To deliver for Scotland we have:

• Delivered more than 105,500 NHS appointments and procedures through our additional £30 million investment between April 2024 and March 2025, over 40,000 more than originally pledged
• Treated more patients with cancer on time, compared to the same quarter 10 years ago
• Increased residential rehabilitation bed capacity by 21% to 513 in 2024
• Met the national performance standard for CAMHS waiting times for the first time, with over 90% of children and young people seen within 18 weeks of referral
• A record number of pupils (647,773) currently taught in schools that are in ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ condition
• Seen the proportion of A-C grades at Higher being obtained by candidates with Additional Support Needs increase, compared to 2019, to 69% in 2024
• Record proportion of pupils achieving the expected level in literacy and numeracy across primary and secondary schools in 2023-24
• Invested over £19m through CashBack for Communities to support 70,000 young people at risk of entering the criminal justice system

Our precious public services are the engine that keeps our country running. We have improved people’s access and experience of these services – exceeding NHS targets, boosting school attainment, increasing the number of police officers on our streets, and reducing the total number of crimes.

We will equip public services to deliver for people when they need them – driving down waiting times, improving standards and making Scotland’s streets safer. At the heart of that will be reform – ensuring services efficient and financially sustainable.

A healthy NHS

Scotland’s NHS is our most cherished public service. Over the last year, we’ve seen reductions in NHS waiting times, faster support for children needing mental health support, and recent reductions in the levels of delayed discharges from hospital. In the year ahead we will reduce the time patients wait for treatment and ensure no one waits more than a year for surgical treatment by:

• Delivering more than 150,000 extra appointments and procedures, including surgeries and diagnostic tests, and target cancer pathways to tackle backlogs against the 62-day referral to treatment standard.
• Ensuring more people can see their GP and get cared for in the community – reducing pressures in hospitals – including:
  • Supporting 100,000 patients with enhanced service GP appointments by March 2026 for key risk factors including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, obesity and smoking.
  • Ensure more dentists by launching a training package by April 2026 that will support international dentists to join the NHS Scotland workforce.
  • Target financial incentives for dentists moving to work in rural areas from October 2025 and increase domestic dental student numbers by 7% from September 2025.
  • Bringing eye care closer to patients’ homes and away from hospital settings – rolling out the Community Glaucoma Service on a national basis.
  • Further expand our Pharmacy First Service, enabling community pharmacists to treat a greater number of clinical conditions and prevent the need for a GP visit.
• Ensuring delivery of 95% of referrals to radiology being seen within six weeks by March 2026.
• Delivering more surgical procedures in our network of National Treatment Centres – to over 30,000 planned procedures, up from 20,000 in 2024-25.
• Expanding our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) for people with non-specific symptoms of cancer with a sixth RCDS operational in NHS Forth Valley by spring 2025.
• Ensuring more people can be cared for at home, reducing pressures in hospitals – expanding the number of Hospital at Home beds to at least 2,000 by December 2026.
• Specialised frailty teams in every core Emergency Department by summer 2025 – ensuring frail patients with complex needs receive the wrap-around care they need to return home or into a care setting as soon as possible, improving hospital discharges.
• Providing £4.5 million in 2025/26 for new specialist support across Scotland for Long Covid, ME, Chronic Fatigue and other similar conditions.
• Ensuring NHS Boards progress implementation of the Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care, including starting to move to a graded model of miscarriage care, and ensuring all clinically appropriate women are offered progesterone treatment, backed by £1.5m funding to NHS Boards in 2025-26.
• Strengthening support for hospices through our commitment to provide £5m to independent hospices across Scotland.

Much of the pressure in our health system stems from conditions which are preventable earlier in life – but which are also often symptoms of inequality. Alongside our work to tackle poverty, in the coming year we will set out how we will support people to live longer, healthier and fulfilling lives, by:

• Rolling out Emergency Department opt-out testing for blood borne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B and C in NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde - the areas of highest diagnosed prevalence – and elsewhere as the evidence develops and supports this. Funding will be used to provide testing and support for patients who receive a positive result, ensuring that they can engage with treatment and prevent further health harms and onward transmission of infection.

• Improving mental health support for young people – clearing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services backlogs and meeting the 18-week standard nationally by December 2025 – backed by £123.5 million recurring funding for mental health.
• Improving access to adult mental health treatment – expanding the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub, by December 2025, to provide access to digitally enabled psychological interventions and therapies for people who may benefit from early treatments.
• Continuing to build on the offer of adult mental health early intervention and prevention support in local communities, through our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults, with a further commitment of £30m funding until 2027.
• Delivering our joint Scottish Government and COSLA Physical Activity for Health Framework, in pursuit of our target to achieve a 15% relative reduction in the prevalence of physical inactivity in adults and in adolescents by 2030.
• Reducing mental health demands on police officers and protect people in crisis, including improving frontline training and the development of national guidance to improve multi-agency working when responding to a person experiencing a psychiatric emergency.
• Establishing a Women’s Health Research Fund with the aim of closing gaps we know exist in women’s health research. The £250,000 fund will focus specifically on menstrual health and gynaecological conditions, menopause, pelvic floor health and healthy ageing and long-term conditions.
• Doing all we can to reduce harm and deaths caused by drugs and alcohol - developing a longer-term approach, with a further £2.5 million in drugs and alcohol services
  • Full implementation of the Medication Assisted Treatment Standards and the development of a national specification.
  • Increasing residential rehab capacity by 50%, to 650 beds, and being ambitious beyond our publicly funded placements to 1,000 per year by 2026.
  • Investing a further £2.5 million in person-centred alcohol and drug services, including £1m to provide specific support to develop services for mothers who use drugs and their babies.

Renewal and reform are crucial to futureproofing our health services – protecting patients and staff from the impacts of the growing demand the NHS faces, while making sure that people can continue to access services when most in need. We will take the next steps in reforming these vital services through:

• The innovative Barra and Vatersay Community Campus, including both NHS and Education facilities, will go ahead and we will work with NHS Western Isles, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Scottish Futures Trust to develop a sustainable, jointly funded plan.
• Launching the initial version of the health and social care app by the end of the year, with investment of £12 million and a published national roll-out programme setting out when the app will be made available progressively across Scotland as well as the longer-term plans for the wider ‘personalised digital health and social care service’.
• Taking the first steps in replacing the Belford Hospital, Monklands University Hospital, and Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion, by providing funding to recommence the business care processes.
• Our Accelerated National Innovation Adoption pathway, and working in partnership with the NHS, universities and industry, establishing:
  • National Digital Dermatology pathway, available to GPs across all territorial health boards by the end of Spring 2025.
  • Pathway for stroke patients to receive a lab-based genetic test to inform what drug they are given to reduce the risk of a secondary stroke, with the first patients benefiting in October 2025, rolled out to all territorial health boards within one year.
  • Pathway across Scotland for newborn babies to receive a genetic test to inform what drug they are given to manage an infection, with the first patients benefiting in October 2025 and rolled out to all territorial health boards within 18 months.
  • National digital intensive weight management programme to support 3,000 people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes over the next three years, with the first patients recruited in January 2026.
• Establishing a National Care Service Advisory Board, which will meet for the first time in May 2025 – giving people with lived experience a central role in identifying priorities for improvement and bring greater transparency to planning, funding and delivery.
• Establishing a National Scottish Pandemic Sciences Partnership, delivering on the recommendation of the Standing Committee for Pandemic Preparedness.
• Implementing the actions set out in Module 1 of the UK Covid Inquiry on resilience and preparedness.
• Publishing a Service Renewal Framework before summer – setting out a ten-year plan to deliver our vision for health and social care and the steps for implementation.
• Funding the payment of at least the Real Living Wage to all adult and children’s social care workers who are delivering direct care in commissioned services, and early learning and childcare workers delivering funded hours, backed by £950m.

Getting the A-B-Cs of education right

Education is at the heart of our four priorities. It isn’t just a public service, but a key driver in tackling child poverty and growing the economy, by improving life chances and developing life-long skills. We will work with local authorities to improve the A-B-Cs – Attainment, Attendance, Behaviour, and the Curriculum – to maximise achievement for all our children and young people. We will set out our priorities for future reform of school education by June 2025, appointing an experienced headteacher to lead this work.

Attainment in school has a significant bearing on the trajectory of a young person’s life– unlocking opportunities, tackling generational poverty, and contributing to our economic growth. In the year ahead, we will support all pupils to achieve their potential by:

• Investing up to £200 million in 2025/26 in the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme – with an aim to see the poverty related attainment gaps in primary school literacy and numeracy narrow by around 30% over 2016-2026.
• Supporting the recruitment, retention and training of the ASN workforce, backed by an additional £29 million in 2025-26 in local and national programmes.
• Holding a data summit with all local authorities in Scotland on Additional Support for Learning focused on recommending actions for improving consistency of identification, support and reporting of children’s needs at a local level.
• Commissioning Enquire, the National Advice and Information Service on ASL, to improve communication of the key information different audiences need to meet the needs of children with additional support needs.
• Providing local authorities £186.5 million to deliver our joint commitment to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels, freeze learning hours, and reduce class contact time.

• Working with the teacher unions, and COSLA to agree our approach to delivering a reduction in class contact time at pace – helping to ease teacher workload and create space for them to drive improvement and reform and improve outcomes.
• Beginning construction of 6 new school building projects through the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP). By the end of 2027-28, this will have delivered 47 modern, state of the art schools, with a further 117 already delivered through the previous £1.8bn Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme.

Everyone should feel safe and respected in their place of study or work – and we know that relationships have an impact on wellbeing and attainment. While for many children this is the case, we know that the overall standard of behaviour and relationships in our schools are not where we want them to be. We will drive improvement in relationships and behaviour, and minimise its impact on learning experiences by:

• Launching a national campaign on attendance in autumn of 2025, to support improved attendance at school.
• Setting high expectations for all for learners, publishing new national guidelines on the use of consequences as part of positive approaches to relationships and behaviour.
• Supporting Time for Inclusive Education, including their new Digital Discourse Initiative – supporting schools to equip children and young people with skills to navigate digital media and counter the impacts of disinformation and online hate.
• Taking forward a Ministerial Online Safety Taskforce to strengthen our approach to keeping children safe online, providing oversight and direction across Scottish Government and identifying what more can be done to protect children and young people.
• Implementing the Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Joint Action Plan 2024-27 with local authorities, and report annually to Parliament on improvements.

Reforming the curriculum, qualifications and assessment will underpin our work to support improved attainment, building on strengths in the system while drawing on new opportunities in a changing world. We will set out a single combined timeline for this reform in June 2025, providing clarity about next steps for the education system, as well as:

• Establishing Qualifications Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, subject to passage of the Education (Scotland) Bill – with new measures to ensure more transparency and opportunities for involvement in decision making, restore the trust of people taking qualifications and delivering them, bring greater independence from government, and increase public reporting on areas for improvement in education.
• Establishing the Centre for Teaching Excellence, hosted by the University of Glasgow, and deliver its full offer to teachers in the 2025 school year, supporting excellent teaching and learning in Scotland’s classrooms to improve learning outcomes for children and young people.
• Continuing the Curriculum Improvement Cycle to update and strengthen Scotland’s national curriculum for every child and young person.
• Ensuring the removal of written exams in more practical subjects and the piloting of digital onscreen assessment from 2025/26 – further reducing reliance on high-stakes exams and introducing a more balanced approach to assessment.
• Working with Qualifications Scotland to rationalise the qualifications offer in the senior phase to support clearer learner pathways, more flexible modular courses and deliver an improved and more inclusive educational experience.

Ensuring a safer Scotland

The first duty of government is to keep people safe – recorded crime is down 40% since 2006-07, including a 53% fall in serious assault and attempted murder. But that will be cold comfort to the victims of crime.

Backed by £1.6 billion core funding for the police, modernising the workforce to prioritise frontline duties, and £20.3 million to support the improvement of our courts system, we will ensure our that communities are safe, and that victims and witnesses get the support they need.

The levels of antisocial crimes that plague our communities have been falling, evidenced by the 25% reduction in vandalism from 2014/15 to 2023/24, but we will do more by:

• Suspending use of concessionary travel cards on a temporary and potentially permanent basis as a result of anti-social behaviour when using the card. Detailed work on the timescale and best mechanism for achieving this is underway, including robust impact assessments, the development of a behaviour code and whether future primary or secondary legislation is required will be part of this process to ensure fair decision making.
• ScotRail will continue to implement measures to address anti-social behaviour to protect staff and passengers, particularly unacceptable behaviour targeted at women and girls. This will include further deployment of Travel Safe teams. As part of this continuing programme, we will respond to the concerns of railway staff and others that the current general ScotRail alcohol ban - a last legacy of Covid restrictions - is counterproductive and ineffective and remove the ban on alcohol on trains. We will replace it with new regulations that focus restrictions more effectively on particular times and locations, similar to previous restrictions.
• Providing a full response to the Anti-Social Behaviour Working Group Report.
• Consulting on revising the current legislation on Football Banning Orders to improve their effectiveness, make sure that they can be applied in response to the misuse of pyrotechnics at football and ensure they remain fit for purpose.
• Implementing year three of the Violence Prevention Framework, which includes the delivery of a range of partnership violence prevention and harm reduction activity.
• Delivering the final year of Phase 6 of the Cashback for Communities programme and commit to a further three-year phase of the programme between 2026 and 2029, alongside increased funding of £26 million for the period – supporting young people who may be at risk of becoming involved in antisocial behaviour, offending or reoffending.
• Tackling retail crime – backed by £3 million funding this year – supporting the development of Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Action Plan and the creation of a Retail Crime Task Force (RTC), enabling Police Scotland to establish a visible and measurable impact on retail crime, and preventing people from becoming perpetrators.

To ensure that victims and witnesses of crime feel supported, in the year ahead we will:

• Carry out a comprehensive assessment of the law in relation to non-fatal strangulation to determine if there is further action that needs to be taken beyond existing provisions in law that could be used to tackle this issue.
• Pilot specialist independent legal advice for complainers in rape and attempted rape cases, to help them to understand their rights and feel more prepared for giving evidence.
• Implement a presumption that children under the age of 16 should pre-record their evidence ahead of trial in serious sexual or violent offences heard in the sheriff courts.
• Subject to their Parliamentary passage, work with justice partners and victims’ representatives to implement of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, including abolishing the not proven verdict, improving the operation of Non-Harassment Orders and the Victim Notification Scheme, and establishing a Sexual Offences Court and a Victims and Witnesses Commissioner; and the Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, including introducing the first Domestic Homicide and Suicide Reviews.
• Consult on reforms to the parole system to improve transparency, the provision of information for victims, and improvements to processes within the parole system.
• Take forward actions set out in the recently published Legal Aid Reform Discussion Paper – including bringing forward regulations to simplify the judicare system.
• Support the continued roll-out of the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability programme – which will mean fewer victims and witnesses having to attend court – and the roll out of Body Worn Video technology to police officers – increasing public confidence in policing.
• Appoint 25 new panel members to Redress Scotland – increasing decision making capacity, with the overall average number of decisions made increasing monthly – alongside a Board-led plan to take forward improvement initiatives, ensuring that all options to improve waiting times for survivors are explored.

Our prisons need to be well run, safe and orderly to accommodate those who present the greatest risk to the public. We have taken a range of actions over the last two years to address a rising prison population. We will now go further to secure a more sustainable population long-term, including:

• Changing the eligibility criteria for home detention curfew (HDC) and deploying GPS technology for use with HDC.
• Providing £347 million in 2025-26 to invest in our prison estate to progress the next delivery phase of HMP Glasgow and HMP Highland which will increase design capacity in the estate by 464 places.
• Working with justice partners to strengthen alternatives to remand through continued investment for bail services.
• Scoping the feasibility of new specialist models of imprisonment for groups such as older and younger people.
• Working with the Scottish Prison Service on improving employability outcomes and therefore reducing reoffending, by piloting Employment Advisory Boards to better connect individuals in custody to wrap around support from a variety of services prior to release.

Protecting the safety and wellbeing of everybody in custody is one of the core roles of our prison service. We will establish a Ministerial Board to oversee reforms in relation to deaths in custody, focussed on systemic improvement and prevention, as well as improving the experiences of individuals in custody and their families, including:

• Implementing the recommendations from the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay.
• Improving information sharing between courts and prisons, bringing forward a package of measures including non-means-tested legal aid for families in deaths in custody FAIs, strengthening family advocacy, and establishing an independent review of the FAI process as it applies to deaths in custody.
• Pursuing with the UK Government the lifting of Corporate Crown Immunity from prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
• Creating, subject to parliamentary approval where necessary, a new, independent National Oversight Mechanism to enhance accountability, transparency, and drive systemic improvements in relation to deaths in custody.

We are also supporting the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to modernise its service provision to meet the changing risks in communities by ensuring its resources are in the right place and are available at the right time.

A safe, sustainable, transport system for Scotland

Our transport infrastructure is the backbone of our economy but also a lifeline for our rural and island communities. Backed by more than £2.6 billion to support public transport in 2025-26, we will support our network to become more available, affordable, and accessible, maintaining vital links between communities and across Scotland, including:

• Abolishing peak rail fares permanently from 1 September, to encourage more people to travel by train, reduce car journeys, and help existing peak time rail passengers with the cost of living. A significant marketing programme will support the abolition.
• Continuing to deliver the major vessels programme with MV Glen Rosa at the Ferguson Marine shipyard, MV Isle of Islay and three other vessels at the Cemre shipyard expected by summer 2026, and beginning work to deliver seven new electric ferries.
• Taking forward plans to directly award the next generation of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract to CalMacFerries Ltd and make these services more resilient.
• Progressing business cases for infrastructure works at major ports including Port Ellen, Gasaigh and Ardrossan.
• Making it easier for people to walk, wheel, and cycle on everyday journeys by delivering projects through our 2025-26 sustainable travel programmes, including the new Bus Infrastructure Fund.
• Completing electrification and enhancement of the East Kilbride rail line in 2025-26, enabling the introduction of electric trains on the route from December 2025.
• Upgrading and reconfiguring rail power supplies to support existing and future electrification, with a new ‘feeder station’ planned to enter service at Newton in Lanarkshire during 2025-26.
• Continuing procurement of ScotRail’s Intercity Fleet Replacement Programme and explore options around replacement of ScotRail’s suburban fleet.
• Making our roads safer and reducing the numbers killed or injured, through delivery of 20 mph speed limits on appropriate roads by the end 2025-26 and of road safety funding for road authorities.
• Building on having met all milestones set out in the delivery plan to dual the A9 since it was published in December 2023, in the coming year we will:
  • Publish draft Orders for the Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing in Spring 2025.
  • Award the fourth construction contract, for the Tay Crossing to Ballinluig, and commence procurement of the fifth construction contract, Pitlochry to Killiecrankie, both in summer 2025.
  • Conclude decision-making on the use of Mutual Investment Model contracts on the Dualling programme.
• Considering the outcomes of local and regional proposals for new stations on Scotland’s railway network, for example at Newburgh and Winchburgh, including assessing the case for investment, alignment with our rail investment strategy, public value and contribution to government priorities.
• Progressing work to determine the most suitable procurement option for delivering the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass).
• Progressing delivery of the next phase of the medium-term improvements at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful and on the statutory authorisation process for the remaining elements of the medium-term improvements and the long-term solution.

Reforming services for the future

We will publish our strategy for Public Service Reform in June 2025, which will set out the actions we will take, with local government, public bodies, the third sector and trade unions, to improve public services. Delivery of the actions in the strategy will improve outcomes, particularly for people with the greatest need, help to eradicate child poverty and reduce inequalities, and ensure fiscal sustainability, with strong focus on efficiency and a prevention-first approach, including through:

• Digitisation, automation, sharing, and reduction of back-office functions and estates, and leveraging procurement opportunities.
• Public bodies working closer together through our clusters programme and, where appropriate, starting consolidation of public bodies through our review of the service delivery landscape – ensuring we protect resources that support front line services.
• Streamlining service delivery, using data and evidence, to join up services, reduce duplication and make it easier for people to access the services they need.
• Empowering staff and organisations to remove barriers and deliver more effectively including supporting the third sector as a key delivery partner.
• Shifting focus and expenditure towards agencies and services which take a prevention-first approach.

The Scottish Government continues to recognise the invaluable role local government plays as a crucial partner in the delivery of our shared priorities for the people of Scotland. Effective partnership working is essential, and we have made significant progress in strengthening the foundations of the relationship between our two spheres of government since the signing of the Verity House Agreement nearly two years ago. Maintaining and strengthening this partnership, remains a key priority to ensure we can work collaboratively to meet the needs of our local communities.

We will also make it easier for communities to make decisions about the places they know best and empower local systems to integrate and transform services in line with local priorities. As part of the conclusion of our joint review of local governance with COSLA, by the end of the Parliament, we will publish:

• A blueprint for democratic community decision-making models and test aspects of these models including by supporting the piloting of a citizens’ assembly in Dunfermline.
• Preferred models for Single Authority Models in Argyll and Bute, Orkney and Western Isles that have been developed jointly by local government and health and enable a shift towards prevention. This will include a plan and timeline for implementation, with at least one area transitioning to shadow arrangements.
• Alongside this, we will also undertake a further public consultation exercise in Summer 2025 on devolving parking fines to local authorities.

So much of our national progress is built on partnerships across business, communities, and the public sector – working together towards a shared vision. In the coming year, we will further cement this collaboration on our long-term vision – working with stakeholders to reform our National Performance Framework, to set out the kind of Scotland we want to build for current and future generations.