As part of the 2024-25 Scottish Budget, Scottish Government made available £144 million to councils who chose to maintain Council Tax liabilities at 2023-24 levels. This funding, equivalent to a 5 per cent increase nationally, ensured that councils agreeing to maintain rates were fully funded for that decision thereby protecting both local government budgets and household incomes.

Throughout engagement with COSLA, Councils and opposition parties ahead of the 2025-26 Scottish Budget, there was a clear consensus that Councils should have full flexibility for decisions on council tax rates. The Scottish Budget delivered that ask in full as part of a record Local Government Settlement worth over £15 billion including real terms protection of General Revenue Grant, another key ask of COSLA and opposition parties.

Decisions on Council Tax are therefore a matter for Local Authorities to take in consultation with local communities.

As councils apply that discretion and the impact on low and middle-income households becomes clearer, the most financially vulnerable will continue to be protected through the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme. The CTR scheme exists to ensure that nobody in Scotland should have to meet a council tax liability they cannot be expected to afford, and reduces a household’s liability based on an assessment of their income, capital, and other circumstances. Over 460,000 households receive some level of CTR, and on average recipients save over £850 a year.

Scottish Government continues to engage with local authorities to understand the impact on the Scottish state sector to date.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-35046 on 5 March 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35046 on 5 March 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

More frequent and meaningful budget engagement with COSLA and Councils was fundamental to informing the record funding settlement made available to Local Government in the Scottish Budget 2025-26. Scottish Ministers remain committed to deepening and broadening that partnership to ensure the sustainability of local services.

The needs-based formula used to distribute the funding available for local government is agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year. Scottish Ministers are open to exploring the funding formula through that meaningful engagement but any proposals for a formal review should properly come through COSLA in the first instance.

While ring-fenced funding is provided to support increased investment in services such as our schools, inter-island connectivity and criminal justice social work, this represents only 2.7% or £0.4 billion of the overall Local Government Settlement in 2025-26.

Comparisons prior to the historic Concordat agreement in November 2007 do not represent a like for like comparison as Local Government funding changed significantly in 2008-09 when the majority of the former ring-fenced grants provided in the previous year were baselined into to the settlement.

Whilst not directly comparable, the best available data, as published in the Local Government Finance Circular 19/1998 indicates that specific grants worth £543 million were allocated to councils in 1999-00. This was equivalent to 8.29% of ‘Total Aggregate External Finance’.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35102 on 5 March 2025:

The Scottish Government’s approach to dealing with RAAC is to follow the guidance set out by Institute of Structural Engineers.

The Scottish Government funded a survey of all NHS facilities suspected of RAAC and it is known where RAAC is present. These phase 1 surveys did not identify any immediate concerns that have not already been acted on.

We are funding a second more detailed phase of surveys of all sites with RAAC to ensure that the right approach is being taken to dealing with it. As a result of this type of detailed survey, necessary remedial works at Knoll Hospital have been identified and are being actioned – in line with the systematic approach to RAAC discovery and investigation across the NHS.

NHS Borders notified the Scottish Government on 27 January 2025 that there was an evolving situation regarding RAAC at Knoll Community Hospital. When a health facility is assessed as requiring maintenance work this does not automatically mean the facility is not safe, and the specialist Structural Engineers who conducted this survey on behalf of NHS Borders, and who are the survey partner for the NHS RAAC programme, have not reported that Knoll Hospital is unsafe.

Phase 2 surveys will be carried out across all NHS properties known to contain RAAC. Where any previously unidentified issues are found during phase 2 surveys, Health Boards are expected to assess, communicate and action with appropriate pace to ensure safety.

For all instances of RAAC identified as requiring an annual reinspection from the Phase 1, Discovery Survey programme, a programme of annual reinspection is currently underway and due to complete in March 2025.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As set out in answer S6W-29116 on 6 September 2024, the cost incurred to date in relation to the planned National Treatment Centre in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside is as follows.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The SPS engaged the services of legal advisers and cost consultants to advise on cost controls within the contract. It would not be appropriate for SPS to publish this advice as it is commercially sensitive information, however, SPS will publish a summary of their Business Case on their website.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35102 on 5 March 2025:

The Scottish Government’s approach to dealing with RAAC is to follow the guidance set out by Institute of Structural Engineers.

The Scottish Government funded a survey of all NHS facilities suspected of RAAC and it is known where RAAC is present. These phase 1 surveys did not identify any immediate concerns that have not already been acted on.

We are funding a second more detailed phase of surveys of all sites with RAAC to ensure that the right approach is being taken to dealing with it. As a result of this type of detailed survey, necessary remedial works at Knoll Hospital have been identified and are being actioned – in line with the systematic approach to RAAC discovery and investigation across the NHS.

NHS Borders notified the Scottish Government on 27 January 2025 that there was an evolving situation regarding RAAC at Knoll Community Hospital. When a health facility is assessed as requiring maintenance work this does not automatically mean the facility is not safe, and the specialist Structural Engineers who conducted this survey on behalf of NHS Borders, and who are the survey partner for the NHS RAAC programme, have not reported that Knoll Hospital is unsafe.

Phase 2 surveys will be carried out across all NHS properties known to contain RAAC. Where any previously unidentified issues are found during phase 2 surveys, Health Boards are expected to assess, communicate and action with appropriate pace to ensure safety.

For all instances of RAAC identified as requiring an annual reinspection from the Phase 1, Discovery Survey programme, a programme of annual reinspection is currently underway and due to complete in March 2025.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers