Programme for Government 2025-26: Summary
- Area of Work: Policy and Research
- Type: News Item
- Published: 13th May 2025
The Scottish Government have set out their priorities for the last year of this Scottish Parliament term.
Last week, the First Minister John Swinney MSP delivered the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government for 2025-26. Themed around “Building the Best Future for Scotland“, this year’s Programme for Government focuses on child poverty, economic growth, the climate emergency, and sustainable public service delivery.
Across each of these areas, there are several pledges which may be of interest to ALLIANCE members:
- Reconfirmed earlier plans to re-introduce a universal Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, with a higher rate for lower income households.
- Draft a Good Food Nation Plan before summer.
- Reviewing and improving school-age and adult carers support.
- Developing the systems to mitigate the two-child cap, as previously committed to.
- A pilot scheme for a £2 bus fare cap in one transport region and re-scrapping peak fares on ScotRail trains.
- Completing the case transfer process for disability and carer payments and launching the Carer’s Additional Person Payment.
- Launch a Fairer Funding Pilot for multi-year funding for Third Sector organisations, and identifying lessons from an interim evaluation by May 2026.
- Increase to £21 million (from £8.25 million) of the budget to deliver housing adaptations for disabled tenants.
- Publish an equalities and human rights mainstreaming framework, as previously consulted on.
- 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in the NHS and 100,000 enhanced GP service appointments for people with key risk factors.
- Establishing a Women’s Health Research Fund of £250,000.
In addition to the above actions, the Programme for Government also set out the legislative agenda for the remaining year of this parliament, ahead of elections in May 2026. Bills planned include the Children and Young People (Care) Bill to deliver on The Promise and a Non-surgical Cosmetic Procedures Bill to regulate such procedures.
The ALLIANCE issued a statement following the publication of the Programme for Government, available here, reflecting our disappointment at the lack of meaningful focus on social care.
You can read the full Programme for Government 2025-26 on the Scottish Government’s website.
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