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Officer wellbeing and retention are operational matters for Police Scotland. I refer the member to my response to S6W-35420 on 17 March.

The Chief Constable has stated to the Criminal Justice Committee that the wellbeing of police officers and staff is one of her main priorities. Police Scotland has made a £17 million investment in wellbeing, which includes a 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and enhanced occupational health services, to support officers and staff wellbeing.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The operation of Police Scotland, including staffing, is a matter for the Chief Constable, who is supported by the Scottish Government to shape the workforce in response to operational needs. Police Scotland’s 2024-25 Annual Policing Plan outlines a future model focused on strengthened community policing. As of 31 March 2025, there were 16,553 FTE officers and 5,929 support staff, totalling 22,482 FTE. The Chief Constable has confirmed that the 2025-26 budget will maintain officer numbers between 16,500 and 16,600. We are increasing policing investment by £90 million this year, bringing total funding to a record £1.64 billion.

The recruitment and deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable. The Scottish Government has increased police funding year-on-year since 2016-17, investing more than £14.6 billion since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013, with £1.64 billion being invested this year. Scottish Government funding in 2024-25 enabled Police Scotland to undertake the highest level of recruitment since its inception and Scotland continues to have more police officers per capita than England and Wales.

The Chief Constable has made it clear that she intends to bring the frontline of policing to its strongest possible position and that frontline strength goes beyond an overall officer headcount to focus on the whole policing workforce. Police Scotland’s three-year Business Plan 2024-2027 sets out an ambitious programme of workforce modernisation, reducing back-office duplication and creating capacity to deal with new and emerging threats. The current Police Scotland workforce figures indicate that the total policing workforce stands at 22,482 (FTE).

The recruitment and deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police Scotland’s three-year Business Plan 2024-2027 sets out the Chief Constable’s vision of a thriving workforce which goes beyond an overall officer headcount and that of a police workforce which includes police staff.

The Chief Constable aims to make maximum impact with a workforce that has the right skills and capacity to keep people safe. Through the Chief Constable’s workforce modernisation plan, Police Scotland are developing an operating model that will create capacity to deal with new and increasing threats by moving more officers to frontline roles, to strengthen community confidence.

The Scottish Government is clear in its support for a just transition for Scotland’s valued oil and gas sector, which recognises the maturity of the North Sea basin and is in line with our climate change commitments and energy security.

We welcome this report from the Just Transition Commission. I set out the Scottish Government response to this report in my ministerial statement on Tuesday 3 June, confirming that we accept the headline recommendations in principle. Ahead of further just transition planning, we need clarity on the UK Government’s intentions in a range of key reserved areas, including the future regulatory and fiscal regimes for North Sea oil and gas and support for the Acorn CCUS project.

We continue to provide support to the region, including through the new £8.5 million round of the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray, our £125 million investment in the Aberdeen City Region Deal as well as up to £26.3m for the Energy Transition Zone through the Energy Transition Fund.

No concerns were raised at any point.

The Scottish Government is committed to working across Scottish society, and the Scottish Parliament, to guard against the threat of polarising forces and ensure we empower people who feel distant from politics or on the margins of society.

The recent Gathering was an important milestone in this work – bringing together more than 50 leaders to assess the robustness of Scotland’s democratic system and examine the root causes that might undermine shared values. It secured a commitment, across civic, faith, and political leaders, to foundational principles which will guide our collective response and to working in a shared endeavour to give life to these principles. But this was only ever a starting point.

As set out in Programme for Government 2025-26, Scottish Government will now work with partners to develop specific, targeted actions in response to these issues, including:

• Developing counter interventions to the threats to our democratic system.
• Creating positive relationships and engage people across society on the issues.
• Working with partners to engage their own networks to strengthen democratic.
• Using the Scottish Government’s convening power to advance the dialogue around, and progress the solutions to, the issues identified.

Further detail on the outcomes of this work will be provided in due course.

Costs for The Gathering were met from within relevant portfolio budgets which include budget cover for a range of day-to-day spend, including events and engagements.

We sympathise with the pressure the social care sector is facing and that is one of the reasons that the 2025-26 budget includes almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration – exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% by almost £350 million. At £21.7 billion, the overall financial envelope for Health and Social Care also reached record levels.

However it is important to note that while the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland, it is for local authorities and health boards to work with the Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to ensure that social care support services are in place to provide people with the appropriate support.

While agreeing budgets is the responsibility of partnerships, The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with the health and social care sector to understand key pressures and opportunities to ensure we achieve best value of money and improve the outcomes of our population.