Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is aware of three economic impact assessments undertaken for the 7stanes mountain bike network in 2004, 2007 and 2012. Those studies found that the network generated significant economic benefits for the South of Scotland, including Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders.

The most recent assessment, undertaken in 2012, estimated that the 7stanes network generated approximately £11 million of net additional visitor expenditure across the South of Scotland and helped attract almost 400,000 visits annually, with around 82% of visitors originating from outside the region.

The studies also found that the network supported local businesses, increased overnight stays and contributed to employment in rural communities.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken a more recent economic impact assessment of the 7stanes network.

Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division are processing received applications in a timely and robust manner to ensure the safeguarding of public funds. The deadline for submitting evidence is 30 September 2026. As of 15 September 2026, 423 beneficiaries are still to provide evidence that the funded investment was carried out.

Planning work being undertaken by Public Services Delivery Scotland will provide the information necessary to develop a 24/7 thrombectomy service across Scotland.

This work will include consideration of the specific requirements of rural and island communities, including those of people living in Dumfries and Galloway.

Future Farming Investment Scheme grants were paid in advance specifically to give businesses the cash flow to make the approved investments, which was one of the main barriers experienced with previous schemes. Verification before Basic Payment Scheme payment protects public funds by ensuring funds were used as agreed, and establishing whether any grant is recoverable before further support is paid. The Scottish Government has extended the deadline for businesses to submit evidence to 30 September, providing additional flexibility. As of 15 September 2026, 423 beneficiaries are still to provide evidence that the funded investment was carried out.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) monitors visitor numbers at several sites within the 7stanes network. Available data shows that visitor trends have varied across the network over the last five years, with some sites recording increases and others experiencing periods of decline before recovering.

For example, recorded visits to Glentress increased by 12% between 2023 and 2025, while visits at Dalbeattie declined between 2021 and 2024 before recovering by 29% in 2025 compared with the previous year.

FLS considers that a range of factors have influenced these trends, including increased participation in outdoor recreation during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, storm damage and associated trail closures, forestry operations affecting site access, the introduction of parking charges at some locations, and investment in new trails, visitor facilities and major events such as the UCI Cycling World Championships at Glentress.

As visitor counters are not currently in place at every 7stanes location, it is not possible to determine a single overall trend for the whole network. However, FLS have recently approved investment to expand and improve its visitor number monitoring infrastructure next year.

The Scottish Government supports a range of initiatives to improve health and wellbeing among people working in agriculture and other land-based industries. This includes funding for RSABI, which provides practical, financial and emotional support to Scotland’s agricultural community, and funding for Farmstrong, which promotes physical and mental wellbeing to those working in farming and crofting.

Mental Health is vital to rural wellbeing and prosperity, and factors impacting rural wellbeing are many and varied. That is why the Scottish Government funds the National Rural Mental Health Forum, responds agilely to ensure lived experience of mental wellbeing in our rural communities and businesses is understood and feeds into developing policy.

RSABI, Farmstrong and the National Rural Mental Health Forum operate across Scotland, including in rural areas such as Dumfries and Galloway, helping ensure that support to improve health outcomes is available to men working in agriculture.

Scottish Forestry has a network of active Mental Health First Aiders to help reduce the stigma of mental health, offer initial support and signpost to appropriate help. Scottish Forestry has offered (summer/autumn 2026) all staff the opportunity for a well-being health screening with an external provider. There has been cross forestry sector support for the Royal Forestry Society’s Breaking Points survey and subsequent animations created (“Every Interaction Matters” and “Healthy Trees Need Healthy People”) to enable conversations around mental health. We Listened: Public perception of forestry is harming mental health - Royal Forestry Society.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

The member may wish to consult Public Health Scotland’s Cancer Incidence Data Set publication. This is available at the following link: Cancer incidence in Scotland - to December 2024 - Cancer incidence in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

Regarding early diagnosis, Our Detect Cancer Earlier Programme takes a whole-systems approach to early detection and encompasses primary care, diagnostics, public education, data, innovation and screening.

In addition, a clinically reviewed refresh of our Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer was published in August 2025. For this first time this now includes guidelines for key groups who should consider speaking to their GP about PSA testing from age 45.

The Scottish Government is continuing to take action to improve waiting times, with over £14m of the £135.5m in additional planned care funding for 2025-26 to Cancer Waiting Times, focussed on colorectal, urological and breast as our most challenged pathways.

Deployment of specific firefighting assets, including aerial support, is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

There is currently a Public Sector Framework contract in place for the provision of helicopter services, including for the use of firefighting.

Although arrangements for the next wildfire season are currently under review, new improved standby arrangements will maximise the availability of aerial support, including wherever possible, the locality of that support.

The Public Sector Food Procurement Taskforce has been established to make recommendations to Ministers on strengthening public sector food procurement of local food.

The Taskforce's remit includes identifying barriers to local procurement, considering the capacity and capability of Scottish producers and processors to meet public sector demand, and identifying opportunities to strengthen routes to market for local suppliers.

Whilst decisions on menu content are made locally, the Scottish Government is undertaking a range of activity to support greater uptake of venison across the public sector. The Scottish Government is already working with industry partners to support growth in the venison sector and explore opportunities to increase demand, including through public sector catering and procurement routes.

The Scottish Government is supporting activity to strengthen the Scottish venison sector and increase market opportunities. This includes funding of £75,000 in
2026-07 to Scottish Venison and Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS), for a range of marketing and supply chain activities including work to increase awareness of venison amongst public sector buyers.

Alongside this, recent awards through the Food and Drink Processing Scheme Scotland have provided over £200,000 to three venison processing businesses to support equipment and infrastructure upgrades.