The Advisory Council for Economic Transformation was established in July 2021 to help shape the 10 year National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). Following its publication, the NSET Delivery Board was created to oversee the successful implementation of the strategy. In October 2022 NSET Delivery Plans were published which set out how the Scottish Government will work with partners to implement the strategy. The plans includes measures for assessing the impact of the 6 NSET programmes: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-national-strategy-economic-transformation-delivery-plans-october-2022/ .

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable funding for regeneration activity.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and derelict land and we launched the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) in 2021 to support place based approaches to delivering regeneration and sustainable inclusive growth, as part of a ‘just transition’ to net-zero.

The VDLIP complements our existing investment in support of place based regeneration across Scotland, including the Place Based Investment Programme. We are keen for South Lanarkshire Council to work with its communities and other partners to develop suitable project proposals and apply to the VDLIP.

We are also providing support for town centre regeneration through the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP), which aims to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration and community wealth building. The PBIP includes the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund which is providing funding for The Hamilton Hub which is transforming the formerly vacant Vogue cinema in Hamilton town centre.

Additionally South Lanarkshire Council are in receipt of an allocation of the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund. This is a ring-fenced element of the local government finance settlement which is allocated to five eligible Scottish local authorities where there is the greatest amount of long-term vacant and derelict land alongside deprivation. Each eligible local authority is responsible for developing proposals based on its local regeneration priorities in the area, and they must ensure that their proposals meet the aims and objectives of the fund.

Finally we are seeking to promote the reuse of vacant and derelict land and buildings across Scotland through revised Draft National Planning Framework 4 – which was laid in Parliament on 8 November 2022 for the Parliament to consider and approve. This sets out the priority given to the reuse of brownfield land, including vacant and derelict land and buildings, and seeks to proactively enable its reuse and limit greenfield expansion.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration, in response to changing circumstances and challenges to support their local towns. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable funding for regeneration activity.

The Scottish Government has a strong framework with clear priorities and actions to help facilitate and deliver change working collaboratively with partners. This includes the Town Centre Action Plan 2, the Retail Strategy, and subject to parliamentary approval, and subsequent adoption by the Scottish Ministers, the National Planning Framework 4. These recognise the critical importance of planning with and for communities and in diversifying the offer within our city and town centres, to help them thrive, improve their resilience and anticipate continuing societal, environmental and economic change. Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation contains bold and ambitious actions - within the powers currently available to us – and is a route to a strong, inclusive economy with good, secure and well-paid jobs and growing businesses.

The Government has committed in the recent budget to continue to deliver the Place-Based Investment Programme, which aims to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action and community wealth building. This included £1,740,00 in 2022-23 as a direct capital grant to South Lanarkshire Council.

The Scottish Government works with a variety of stakeholders, who support and shape work on rural affairs, agriculture and islands. The input from our stakeholders is invaluable and plays a vital role in helping deliver our ambitions for rural areas and islands, and agriculture.

The number and make-up of these working groups varies in line with government priorities. Examples of current working groups which fall under the remits requested are provided in the following table:

Scottish Water is required to test both drinking water and wastewater in line with legislative requirements and to submit these to the relevant regulator. Annual reports are provided by both the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency which provide a commentary on the levels of compliance with mandatory standards. Scottish Water also publishes water quality information which is searchable by postcode.

The Joint Working Group, which includes COSLA and the Scottish Green Party commenced it work, initially focussing on targeted changes to Council Tax to reflect the current circumstances created by the cost crisis. The group will also consider approaches to longer term reform, utilising the development of effective deliberative engagement, on sources of Local Government funding and Council Tax. I will ensure that Parliament is kept appraised of this work at suitable junctures.

Proposed impacts of individual projects are captured at both assessment stage and subsequent monitoring stages of each project.

The Recycling Improvement Fund has funded the following projects under these headings:

(a) increased frequency of recycling collections

The Control of Entry arrangement are set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. It is the responsibility of the NHS Boards to put in place a Pharmacy Practice Committee and require NHS Boards to undertake a formal 60-day consultation with local communities who may be affected when an application is made to open a community pharmacy.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Minister are entirely independent on the Control of Entry process. The Scottish Government do not undertake any assessment on the consultations carried out in considering applications for the opening of a community pharmacy. The role of the National Appeal Panel is to consider appeals against decisions made by Pharmacy Practice Committees.

The Scottish Government is committed to investing in Changing Places Toilets over this parliamentary term, in order to increase the number of these facilities across the South Scotland Region and country and to support mobile Changing Places Toilets to allow people easier access to events and outdoor venues.

Funding for the construction of Changing Places Toilets has not yet been allocated. We are progressing the first phase of work in order to design an investment programme that ensures that the Changing Places Toilets which are built are fit for purpose. Further information about this fund will be available next year. We have recently published our Changing Places Toilets: Planning Guide and an accompanying easy read for people who are planning to develop Changing Places Toilets now.

The analysis referred to was carried out by independent contractors, rather than internally by the Scottish Government. The approach of recording ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘no response’ was followed throughout the analysis for all of the questions asked by the consultation. Accurately representing ‘no response’ answers alongside the other options available reflects that some respondents to the full consultation may not have held views on certain areas, or may have had mixed views that did not fall into the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response categories. Most of those who answered Question 31 were in favour of changing the legislation.

As well as the analysis, we also published individual responses, where we had permission to do so, on the consultation website: https://consult.gov.scot/family-law/children-scotland-act/consultation/published_select_respondent .