• Police submit first charge file relating to Mohamed Fayed
• Rennie urges Dalzell investigation amid reports of misuse of taxpayer money
• Almost 10,000 waiting on care package or assessment
• SNP urged to change course to get 770,000 Scots treated
• Harley: Pause GP walk-in centres as low attendance rates persist
• Chou Turvey responds to recorded crime increases
• Green: SFC report shows public sector reform falling short

Police submit first charge file relating to Mohamed Fayed

Commenting on the update from the Metropolitan Police that Operation Cornpoppy detectives have submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for a Charge decision, Dave Robertson MP and Wendy Chamberlain MP, Co-Chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Survivors of Fayed and Harrods – the cross-party campaign in Parliament – said:

This will be a huge moment for many survivors – whether this first charging decision relates to them or not.

As a group they have been waiting years, and in some cases decades, for justice.

We are pleased to see the Metropolitan Police pushing ahead in its investigation by referring this charging decision to the Crown Prosecution Service.

We recently met with the force, who assured us that progress on the investigation is accelerating, and we will keep supporting survivors to be heard by the all the institutions involved in this case.

They deserve certainty that every aspect of the abuse they suffered at the hands of this trafficking network will be pursued to the fullest extent possible.

Rennie urges Dalzell investigation amid reports of misuse of taxpayer money

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie has today written to Cabinet Secretary Stephen Flynn urging him to investigate significant allegations about the operation of the Dalzell steel plant, including misuse of taxpayer money, non-payment of pension payments, theft, collapsing maintenance standards and the sourcing of steel slab from Kazakhstan, after he was approached by a number of sources at the plant over recent goings on.

Mr Rennie’s letter is as follows:

Dear Stephen,

I am writing with regard to the Dalzell steel plant.

This is an issue that I have taken an interest in over the years as I wish to see Scotland maintain domestic steel capacity.

At this stage you will be familiar with the travails of the site’s present owner Sanjeev Gupta and his GFG Alliance business empire. I understand from recent media coverage that the Scottish Government are now investigating misuse of loans provided in respect to the Lochaber aluminium plant, also part of Mr Gupta’s network.

I have recently been contacted by a number of sources at the Dalzell plant who raised a number of concerning issues and I am now writing to you to seek confirmation as to the following points and to ask what action your government will now take to ensure fair treatment for Scottish taxpayers and the workers at the plant:

• Whether it is correct that rather than sourcing steel slab from British steelmakers, the Dalzell plant has been sourcing raw materials from Kazakhstan?

• What engagement the Scottish Government has had with bosses at the Dalzell plant given that the plant has been effectively mothballed for the past twelve months with workers on reduced payments?

• Whether it is correct that payments into the employees pensions have stopped as Aviva will not accept the payments that the plant’s operators are forwarding due to concerns over the source of these payments?

• Whether the Scottish Government assesses that there are major issues that will stop the plant from running in the very near future? My contact is warning that the furnaces that heat the slabs are on their knees due to lack of maintenance and investment.

• Whether it is accurate to say that there is now a shortage of fitters and electricians?

• What action the Scottish Government has taken in response to reports that the plant was ransacked and nearly every piece of copper stolen from it preventing the installation of key equipment?

• My contacts have also warned that the £7 million owed to the Scottish Government was not spent on the Dalzell plant but was in fact transferred elsewhere.

In my previous exchanges with Scottish Government ministers on this matter, I have been left concerned that no one has ever been able to explain whether or when government loans are likely to be paid back, whether Mr Gupta’s businesses are in breach of their deals with the government and what this could all mean for Scottish taxpayers.

I hope you will be able to furnish me with some answers,

Yours sincerely,

Willie Rennie

Almost 10,000 waiting on care package or assessment

Responding to new figures that show, 9,736 people were waiting to receive a social care package or to be assessed for one at the beginning of July, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Adam Harley MSP said:

There are so many Scots waiting in hospital, unable to get home, despite being medically ready because the care package or assessment they need is not available.

In turn this leads to a shortage of available beds across our NHS, driving up waits in A&Es and leaving ambulances stacking up outside.

If we want to fix our NHS, we need to fix our broken care system, allow people to return home with the proper care in place and ease the pressure on hospitals.

That’s why my party wants to boost pay and condition for care workers, recruit more people into caring professions and deliver new key worker housing to help them live and work in communities they serve.

SNP urged to change course to get 770,000 Scots treated

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Adam Harley MSP has called on the SNP government to “change course” as new figures revealed that there are over 770,000 waits for treatment across the NHS, including thousands of waits lasting more than a year.

New figures published today reveal:

• There are 772,609 ongoing waits for NHS tests and treatments.
• For outpatients, there were more than 14,000 waiting more than a year and more than 1,000 waiting more than two years.
• For inpatients, there more than 16,000 waiting more than a year and more than 2,000 waiting more than two years.

Adam Harley MSP said:

The Scottish Government urgently needs to change course to meet the challenges facing our NHS.

Being stuck on a waiting list is bad for your mental health and also increases the chances of your condition deteriorating.

Staff shortages and a neglect of social care are a big part of why people are waiting so long for the treatment they need.

I want the government to listen to my party’s plan for a rolling 10-year NHS Workforce Plan, so we can identify gaps in staffing and resolve them early on.

We’ve also set out plans to make sure care workers and care packages are in place for patients who are medically ready to return home from hospitals. That’s how we free up more space inside hospitals and get people the treatment they need in good time.

Harley: Pause GP walk-in centres as low attendance rates persist

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Adam Harley MSP has today said that the Scottish Government need to urgently rethink their plans to open 20 more GP walk-in centres, as figures continue to show very few patients attending them.

New figures published today by Public Health Scotland reveal that for the nine walk-in centres that had been open for the full month of July:

• Only 3,732 cases were reported.
• The new facility in Dundee saw just 4 patients a day in July.
• For the same month, the new facilities in Benbecula, Hawick, Dunoon and Lerwick all saw less than 10 a day.

The plan for walk-in centres was launched with a promise from John Swinney that they would provide “one million additional GP and nurse appointments”.

However, they have been criticised by GPs and medical bodies including the BMA who warned the centres “offer a fraction of the services of a standard GP surgery, at greatly increased cost”.

Scottish Liberal Democrats would make it easier for everyone to see a GP and skilled staff locally by:

• Embedding 900 new multidisciplinary patient-facing staff based in GP practices and neighbourhood health teams, including nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists and mental health professionals.
• 
Freeing up GPs’ time by empowering pharmacists to do more prescribing, making use of secure health records.

• Establishing a rolling 10-year NHS Workforce Plan, ensuring issues are addressed early on.
• Boosting access to housing for health workers to enable them to take up posts, creating new dedicated key worker housing.

• Creating a Health and Social Care Staff Assembly, putting the experience and exercise of those who know their service best at the heart of the Scottish Government’s response to the crises they face.

Adam Harley said:

There is increasing evidence that these walk-in centres are not reducing the enormous pressure on GPs.

The SNP government must listen to doctors and nurses, who have warned about this scheme being a costly distraction.

It doesn’t make sense to spend millions rolling out more centres when several of the existing one are seeing very few patients and people are still experiencing an 8am rush to speak to their GP.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see the government putting these plans on hold so that the learning from the first centres can be taken seriously.

The focus needs to be on easing the burden on GPs so that we can free up their time and get everybody seen quicker.

By hiring more specialist staff to work alongside GPs and enabling pharmacists to do more prescribing, we can get everyone the first-rate healthcare they need when they need it.

Chou Turvey responds to recorded crime increases

Responding to a 7% increase in recorded crime in the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period the previous year, including sexual crimes rising by 9%, crimes of dishonesty by 10% and crimes of shoplifting by 20%, Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey MSP said:

These figures illustrate the enormous demand on police officers and our wider justice system.

Scotland’s police service is being asked to perform miracles, despite officer numbers plummeting and stations across the country closing.

The Scottish Government need to make sure officers are well-resourced to do their jobs, helping to prevent crime and allowing investigations to be properly carried out.

Ministers must also step up efforts to bring down overcrowding in prisons so that we can successfully rehabilitate people and cut the rate of reoffending.

On the number of domestic abuse crimes increasing by 19% in the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period the previous year, and by 81% compared to the same period in 2022, Yi-pei Chou Turvey added:

This extremely disturbing increases raises a lot of questions about whether enough is being done to tackle domestic abuse.

The Scottish Government have dragged their heels over implementing important domestic abuse protections that were passed by parliament over five years ago. These delays fall utterly short of what we need to protect victims and survivors.

If tackling violence against women and girls is to be more than a nice soundbite for John Swinney, he will need to start translating his words into action.

Green: SFC report shows public sector reform falling short

Responding to the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s fiscal update showing a weakening economic outlook, next year’s budget being hit by a £720m income tax reconciliation, and the public sector workforce growing despite ministers promising they’d shrink it (including in the devolved civil service), Scottish Liberal Democrat public service reform spokesperson David Green MSP said:

The Scottish Government has never truly faced up to the looming £5 billion black hole in its spending plans. Today’s report shows that it is falling short of its already piecemeal measures.

If ministers can’t make the changes they’d planned to the civil service offices around them, what does that say about their ability to reshape the rest of the public sector?

Despite record UK funding and people paying higher taxes in Scotland, the SNP aren’t delivering when it comes to health, education and the other services our communities rely upon.

Scottish Liberal Democrats believe fair economic growth is the only credible way out of the cost of living crisis. That means backing business, helping people into better-paid work and making long-term investments – not erecting new trade barriers. It also means addressing the drag on our economy caused by poor policy in planning, skills and housing.