Programme for Government 2026 to 2031

Year One Legislative Programme

The Scottish Government’s Year 1 legislative programme includes nine Bills. Those Bills will include key early priorities for the Scottish Government such as the Council Tax (Scotland) Bill, which will introduce new Council Tax bands for high-value residential properties by 1 April 2028, and the Public Service Renewal (Scotland) Bill, which will take the initial legislative steps to support the aims of the Government’s wider Public Service Reform Strategy.

Legislation will also be brought forward to reduce emissions via the Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill. Following high-profile events in recent months, the Scottish Government will bring forward a Bill to improve the Football Banning Order landscape to ensure topical issues such as the use of pyrotechnics and pitch incursions can be managed effectively.

The Scottish Government’s Year 1 programme seeks to make early progress on the serious issue of violence against women and girls through a Misogyny Bill and will modernise our legal aid framework, ensuring there is flexibility for the future.

Bill summaries

Budget Bill

The annual Budget Bill provides parliamentary approval for the Scottish Government’s spending plans, allocates resources to strategic objectives and supports progress towards the vision of a more successful country through increasing inclusive and sustainable economic growth and improving wellbeing.

Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill

The primary purpose of the Bill is to reduce direct emissions from heating Scotland’s buildings. Its proposed provisions are designed to bring this about in a timely way and contribute to the Climate Change Plan and the carbon budgets set out in the Change to Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Council Tax (Scotland) Bill

This Bill will deliver the Scottish Government’s commitment to introduce new council tax bands for high-value residential properties by 1 April 2028 and is a key component of Ministers’ wider programme of council tax reform.

The Bill will address a longstanding concern that the highest-value properties can currently pay the same level of council tax despite substantial differences in market value. It therefore improves fairness and proportionality at the upper end of the tax base whilst affecting only a small proportion of properties. The legislation also provides an opportunity to modernise aspects of the council tax framework and increase local flexibility through discretionary powers for local authorities.

Damages (Scotland) Bill

This Bill delivers the December 2024 SLC report on Damages for Personal Injury. It will reform the law relating to damages for services, deductions from damages, limitation and asbestos-related disease and management of children’s awards of damages. These changes would bring the law up-to-date with modern conditions and clarify and reform the law in important areas.

Food Prices (Scotland) Bill

This Bill will establish legal price ceilings on some essential food items, improving affordability of food for households facing cost of living pressures.

Football Banning Orders (Scotland) Bill

The Bill will amend and update current Football Banning Order legislation to improve effectiveness and response to football related disorder. The Bill will make targeted amendments on issues such as possession and misuse of pyrotechnics, pitch incursions and entering a stadium without a match ticket.

Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill

The Bill will establish a modernised legal aid framework that simplifies the current legal aid structure by enabling consolidation of aid types and greater consistency in means and merits testing, supporting a broader range of funding and commissioning mechanisms and increased flexibility in the administration of legal aid through enhanced decision-making powers for Scottish Legal Aid Board.

Misogyny (Criminal Law) (Scotland) Bill

The Bill will recognise misogyny as a distinct form of prejudice and abuse. Signalling that violence, harassment, and abuse rooted in hostility to women and girls is a serious societal problem.

Public Service Renewal (Scotland) Bill

The Bill will seek to give statutory backing, where required, to reform the public service delivery landscape in support of the aims of the Public Service Reform Strategy. The Bill will improve the fiscal sustainability of the public service delivery landscape through restructuring, including possible merging and abolitions of public bodies and the transfer of functions between core government and public bodies.