The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of staff currently employed in local authority planning services, nor in other sectors.

Research commissioned by Skills Development Scotland, published in 2021, estimated that there were approximately 1600 people employed in the planning profession in Scotland and that over the next 10-15 years the planning sector would have demand for an additional 700 entrants into the sector.

More recently, the National Planning Improvement Champion has undertaken a workforce and capacity study and published the findings at: National Planning Improvement Workforce and Capacity Report Scotland. The RTPI has also published its report scotland-sotp-final.pdf. We are currently considering the findings of these reports.

The Scottish Government recognises the financial and capacity pressures on the planning system and is continuing to take forward a package of changes to provide authorities with additional resources. Planning fees were increased in line with inflation in December 2024, June 2025 and a further increase is scheduled for April 2026.

In addition, Scotland’s National Planning Hub continues to provide additional funding and targeted practical support to help authorities respond to pressing challenges, enabling them to accelerate key activities this financial year.

We are also supporting an increase in planners coming into the profession, having recruited 17 Student Planners on our Future Planners Programme, working across the Scottish Government for 23 months whilst undertaking a funded planning postgraduate degree, and we trebled the number of bursaries in 2025-26 to help 30 planning students with course fees and living expenses.

The figures are provided in the following tables.

Custodial

How many times a person has appeared in court on a charge of death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs, and received a custodial sentence:

The Scottish Government does not routinely monitor the progress of planning applications through the system.

However, we have worked closely with the housebuilding industry and planning authorities to remove barriers on stalled housing sites across Scotland. This has included addressing infrastructure issues, for example flooding and drainage, education, and transport, covering road and rail. We have taken actions that benefit multiple sites, for example sharing advice and best practice, and undertaken brokerage on specific sites.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The member may wish to contact NHS Grampian directly for this information.

Figures include the additional 122 offers of grant that will be made following validation checks.

The Scottish Government recognises the value of social care support to all who require additional support in living independently at home or in the community and appreciate the concerns that may arise following changes to this support.

Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships have a duty to assess the social care support needs of people both in hospital and the community, and decide in light of that assessment, to arrange or re-instate suitable services, if required.

While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland, it is Local Government who have the statutory responsibility to record and share decisions affecting a person’s choices and support, and to ensure that any decisions are made in line with the Self-directed Support (SDS) principles and duties set out in the statutory guidance.

Local Government will operate local eligibility criteria to prioritise responses to changes in care packages and reassessments based on risk and complexity of need. The eligibility criteria will usually prescribe standard waiting times for assessments, reassessment and reviews, including for exceptional and urgent circumstances, such as hospital admissions, individuals at risk and additional support for unpaid carers.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

NHS 24 have robust practices in place to ensure patient safety is paramount and that the appropriate procedures are in place for assessing risk.

Scottish Government monitor the performance of NHS 24 and regularly engage with the service to discuss performance related issues. NHS 24 is required to escalate any concerns about patient safety to the Scottish Government immediately, in line with agreed protocols.

In the event any businesses offered funding choose not to accept their offer of grant, offers will be made to the next highest scoring businesses to ensure full use of the scheme budget.

The Scottish Government does not record this data.