Programme for Government 2026 to 2031
2 Sep 2026 11:54 AM
This Programme for Government lasts for five years. The focus of this programme for government is eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, tackling the climate emergency, delivering high quality and sustainable public services.
Part of
First Minister’s Foreword
In May, the people of Scotland once again entrusted my government with the privilege of serving them. That is a trust we will honour by relentlessly delivering for people now and in the future.
This is a Programme with the highest ambitions for Scotland. It is about delivering tangible improvements in the lives of our people and creating new opportunities for all to succeed.
Our Programme will focus on:
Eradicating child poverty, investing in young people and their families so they can reach their full potential – backed by the most generous cost-of-living package in the UK, including:
- Putting more money into people’s pockets through a strong social safety net and reducing everyday costs.
- Helping more people get a warm, safe, affordable home and ending the use of unsafe and harmful temporary accommodation for children.
- Supporting people to learn new skills, find good, fair work and increase their earnings, backed by a brand-new childcare offering from 9 months to the end of primary school.
Making Scotland the best place to do business, including:
- Attracting more investment and better backing of home-grown businesses and markets with the greatest growth potential – removing barriers to progress, increasing business and investor confidence, and securing growth in priority sectors.
- Delivering economic growth that reflects the unique strengths, opportunities, and ambitions of each part of Scotland.
Tackling the climate and nature crises, ensuring more green jobs and lower costs, while protecting our beautiful and valuable landscapes and environment, and building resilience to the impacts of the climate emergency being felt now, including:
- Ensuring our economy, climate, and communities all benefit from the transition and become more resilient to the damaging impacts of climate change being felt now – realising the twin benefits of emissions reductions and economic opportunity.
Stronger public services, with lower NHS waiting times and easier access to GP services, including:
- Ending long waits in our hospitals and ensuring nobody waits more than 26 weeks for the treatment they need.
- Shifting more care out of hospitals and into communities – reducing unnecessary stays in hospitals and seeing more people cared for in their homes.
- Ending Scotland’s unacceptably high rate of drug-related deaths, treating it as a public health emergency.
- Giving children a safe and positive future – supporting early childhood development and improving the ABCs in our schools, attendance, attainment, behaviour and curriculum.
- Strengthening public protection and helping people feel safe in their communities through earlier, joined-up action to prevent crime and reduce reoffending, while achieving a sustainable prison population.
Click here for the full press release