Publication of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government
Typically delivered in September, the Programme for Government was brought forward due to the Scottish Parliament election in May 2026. It outlines the Scottish Government’s plans for the period up to the election, including its legislative programme, with a focus on:
Growing the economy
Eradicating child poverty
Tackling the climate emergency
Providing high quality and sustainable public services
Growing Scotland’s tech sector is key to driving wider economic growth and techUK welcomes many of the actions outlined in the Programme for Government. This includes their plans to deliver a sector export plan for technology, establish a Technology Council and launch a new national programme in the form of AI Scotland.
Actions that will be of interest to techUK members and the wider technology sector are outlined below.
Innovation
Implementing the
in order to increase the number of women starting and scaling businesses. The author of the Pathways report will be speaking at techUK’s upcoming Meet the Investors event in Glasgow on 17 June.
Increasing the number of women participating in international trade missions in order to help them export more.
You can read more about the Scottish Government’s efforts to tackle the gender export gap here.
Launching a new national programme, AI Scotland - with input from key stakeholders such as industry - as well as an AI adoption programme for SMEs. techUK has a collection of UK AI adoption case studies showcasing examples of how organisations are Putting AI into Action.
To view the case studies, and find out more about our work on AI, click.
Creating a Technology Council consisting of academic and business experts who will offer guidance in relation to emerging technologies.
Launch the First Minister’s Start-up Challenge, supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to start and scale innovative businesses.
You can read more about the Scottish Government’s plans to support innovation on page eight of the Programme for Government.
Exports
The Scottish Government plans to implement a new Six Point Export Plan:
Helping organisations to grow internationally through an ‘International Growth Support Programme’
Delivering Sector Export Plans for Technology, Life Sciences, Renewables and Hydrogen, which will look at how challenges such as funding research and in-market promotion can be overcome
Demonstrating Scotland’s export market through inward missions and increasing overseas missions to help businesses access their target markets
Increasing access to business membership organisations who can now bid for support for trade missions to certain markets
Creating a US Export Plan and offering assistance to those exporting to the country
You can find more information on the Six Point Export Plan on page seven of the Programme for Government.
Capital Investment
Demonstrate investment opportunities to investors and offer a single point of entry to government through a new portal, ‘InvestScotland’
Enhancing inward investment activity, in order to bring more scaling companies to Scotland – with a focus on Silicon Valley and other tech hubs – and strengthen the fintech sector
You can read more about the Scottish Government’s plans in relation to capital investment on page seven of the Programme for Government.
Transport
By 2030, deliver more than 20,000 additional public EV charging points, with the introduction of new rural and island EV infrastructure grants.
Help to install cross-pavement EV charging solutions for those who do not have off-street parking, through a pilot grant scheme.
Find out more about the Scottish Government’s plans to decarbonise transport on page 26 of the Programme for Government.
Health and social care
By the end of 2025, the Scottish Government will launch the first version of its health and social care app and publish plans for the broader ‘personalised digital health and social care service’.
The roll-out of the National Digital Dermatology pathway to health boards across Scotland is due to be completed by the end of Spring 2025.
Over the next three years, approximately 3,000 people who have recently received a type 2 diabetes diagnosis will receive support from a national digital intensive weight management programme.
You can read more about this in the Scottish Government’s announcement from March.
To find out more about the Scottish Government’s plans in relation to health and social care, go to page 30 of the Programme for Government.
Education
Digital onscreen assessments for some subjects will be piloted from 2025/26
Support will be given to schools to help ensure children are able to counter the effects of disinformation and online hate.
You can read more about the Scottish Government’s plans in relation to education on page 33 of the Programme for Government.
Justice
Roll-outs of both the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability programme and Body Worn Video technology to police officers will continue.
GPS technology will be deployed for use with home detention curfews.
Read more about the Scottish Government’s plans in regards to justice on page 36 of the Programme for Government.
Legislation
As stated on page 42 of the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government plans to introduce a Digital Assets Bill in Year 5.
“The Bill will clarify the status of digital assets as property in Scots private law, to provide greater legal certainty for individuals and for businesses including those investing in digital assets, for technology and financial start-ups, as well as for the legal sector.”
The Bill follows a consultation on digital assets in Scots private law. You can view the consultation document and published responses here.
Get in touch
If you would like to find out more about techUK’s work in Scotland, please contact stephanie.barr@techuk.org
