Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39481 on 7 August 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.

NHS 24 is working to ensure calls to its 111 service are answered quickly and safely. Some calls may go unanswered due to callers disengaging after automated messaging, being signposted to other services, or opting for a callback during peak times.

While data on abandoned calls is collected, the specific reasons for call termination are not identifiable.

The Scottish Government continues to support NHS 24 in reducing unanswered calls, including revising performance indicators to better reflect demand and improve service delivery.

Over the past two financial years, NHS 24 has received £28.3 million in additional funding, enabling the recruitment of 22 extra clinicians and achieving its highest-ever treatment capacity.

I most recently met with the Scottish Trades Union Congress, and relevant member trade union representatives, to discuss a range of matters relating to the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill and skills reform programme on 24 July 2025.

The Education, Children and Young People Committee took evidence from trade union representatives on the Bill on 21 May 2025. The Scottish Government will carefully consider the Stage 1 report from the Committee and points made in the Stage 1 debate, as well as the views of unions and other stakeholders, before considering what, if any, amendments to lodge for consideration by the Committee or the Parliament.

The Minister, alongside the public bodies impacted by the changes set out in the Bill, remain committed to continued and meaningful engagement with trade unions as the Bill progresses.

Social Security Scotland is committed to transparency and accountability and routinely publishes statistics on its benefits, including Adult Disability Payment reviews in its quarterly Adult Disability Payment Official Statistics publication.

As of 30 April 2025, 345,955 people had their benefits transferred from Personal Independence Payment to Adult Disability Payment. Social Security Scotland has completed reviews for 142,100 of these awards:

• 20% of awards resulted in an increase in award (28,145 cases)
• 2% resulted in a decrease in award (2,365 cases)
• 79% stayed the same (111,590 cases)

It is not possible to directly calculate the percentage of clients who have had a review, as a small number have had more than one review since their benefit was transferred.

The initial review date for transferred Adult Disability Payment awards is based on the Personal Independence Payment review date set by the Department for Work and Pensions, so many transferred Adult Disability Payment awards are not yet due to be reviewed. The next Adult Disability Payment statistics will be published on 16 September 2025, covering up to 31 July 2025.

The new hybrid working policy for core Scottish Government staff was developed following a lengthy period of consultation with the Council of Scottish Government Unions (CSGU). From the end of October 2025, staff in hybrid-compatible roles should aim to spend 40% of their contracted hours working in person – either in our workplaces, with stakeholders or in communities.

Every planning application must be determined on its own merits. When applying planning judgement all relevant policies and material considerations need to be weighed, following the requirements set by section 25 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1997. As such, it would not be appropriate to set a target number for approval of individual applications. Nevertheless, the planning application approval rate has stayed consistently high for a number of years, with over 92% of applications approved in 2023-24.

A range of planning improvements have and are being progressed to support the housing emergency, including those in the Planning and the Housing Emergency Delivery Plan (November 2024), the Programme for Government (May 2025) and Housing Emergency Action Plan (September 2025). These build on the substantial reforms to legislation and national policy in recent years.

For example, and as committed in the Housing Emergency Action Plan, the Scottish Government issued a notification direction on 2 September to enable close monitoring of the implementation of national planning policy on housing, where a planning application is for 10 or more proposed new homes on land not allocated for housing. This activity will enable Ministerial intervention where required and inform whether further policy action is required.

We regularly engage with stakeholders, including planning authorities and industry representatives to monitor feedback on the impact of changes made through planning reforms.

A full Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA) has been completed for the new hybrid working policy for core Scottish Government staff in hybrid-compatible roles should aim to spend 40% of their contracted hours working in person either in our workplaces, with stakeholders or in communities.

The EQIA has been published on the Scottish Government’s intranet for all affected staff to access, and will continue to be reviewed.

Diversity and inclusion have been central to the Scottish Government’s approach: alongside working with, and formally consulting, recognised trade unions, officials engaged Scottish Government staff diversity networks, who also input to the EQIA.

Substantial progress has been made by building owners in taking forward the commissioning of Single Building Assessments for these buildings, making use of the financial support available from the Scottish Government. In a small number of cases where building owners/factors are yet to engage in the Single Open Call process we are strongly pressing them to do so and considering what further action may be required. We will publish further information in due course on this cohort of buildings.

The Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment published alongside the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill sets out Scottish Government’s assumptions on the likely impact of a Building Safety Levy in Scotland, including those relating to homebuyers.

All of the Single Building Assessments directly commissioned by the Scottish Government were returned by 31 August. A minority of these have yet to complete the final peer review stage of the process; this is expected to be concluded for all by 19 September.