Chamber and committees

Since the launch of Adult Disability Payment (ADP) in March 2022,45% of new applications have been approved–slightly higher than the 44% of new applications awarded Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in England and Wales over the same period.

The Planning Application Statistics are published for Q1&Q2 (midyear), Q3&Q4 (yearend) and annually (all quarters) by the Scottish Government and can be accessed at www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics.

The statistics for Quarters 1 and 2 of the 2025-26 reporting period are due to be published on 29 May 2026.

The Planning Application Statistics are not the sole indicators of the performance of the planning system. The National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC), a post funded by Scottish Government and hosted by the Improvement Service, has implemented the National Planning Improvement Framework which requires authorities to assess themselves against twelve attributes of a high performing planning authority.

The NPIC has recently published updates on the progress planning authorities have made with their National Planning Improvement Framework Improvement Action Plans. These can be viewed at: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/planning-and-place-based-approaches/national-planning-improvement/improvement-action-plans-and-performance-assessments.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring disabled people get the support they are entitled to and Social Security Scotland has robust quality assurance and evaluation processes to ensure the accuracy and integrity of decision making. Since the launch of ADP to October 2025, 45% of new applications have been approved, slightly higher than the 44% of new applications awarded PIP in England and Wales over the same period.

The Scottish Government reports its calendar-year official development assistance (ODA) to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) through the UK Government. These figures are published annually as part of the UK Statistics on International Development. Within these statistics, the Scottish Government’s contributions are reported under the category ‘Other contributors of UK ODA’. Provisional 2025 UK Official Development Assistance statistics will be published on 9 April 2026.

The Scottish Government has also separately reported through its regular series of “Contribution to International Development Reports” and its more recent International Strategy Annual Report 2025.

Details of how much the Scottish Government has spent on international development in each year since 2021 are therefore contained within these published ODA figures in the following table:

Under existing legislation, Dutyholders (the employer, as well as any other person who may have control to any extent of any part of the premises) are already responsible for complying with the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the associated Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 to ensure the safety of others from fire. As part of this, all relevant non-domestic premises must have an active fire risk assessment in place, carried out by a competent person. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) also work with dutyholders in relevant premises to achieve compliance in fire safety through partnership working, providing advice and support when requested.

The use of premises as a shop, including for vape sales, falls within Class 1A of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Scotland) Order 1997. Decisions on planning applications and other local planning matters are, in the first instance, the responsibility of the planning authority, in this case Glasgow City Council. This applies both to full planning applications and to associated listed building consent applications. It is for the authority to interpret and apply the development plan and any other material considerations as they consider appropriate in the circumstances of each case.

The Scottish Government recognises that there is a desire for enhanced legal protections for rail workers, and sees the merit in exploring future legislative option, which is why I have accepted the recommendations included in the report delivered by the Rail Enforcement Powers Working Group, in full.

Scottish Government officials (including transport and justice divisions) have been instructed to begin detailed legal, financial and policy analysis of the Working Group’s recommendations, which will involve exploring whether there is an appropriate legislative vehicle for implementing some of these outputs.

However, it is important to note that any future primary or secondary legislation will be for the future Government to agree to and take forward.

The Scottish Government has spoken with the Property Law Committee of the Law Society of Scotland and solicitors. The decision has been taken to set up a Conveyancing Review Working Group with the aim of making for a quicker and smoother conveyancing system that benefits buyers and sellers and are currently working to establish the group.

Scotland’s planning system has already undergone significant system changes including through the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and the adoption of National Planning Framework 4, Scotland’s long-term spatial strategy, which sets out where development and infrastructure is needed. Our package of reforms is focused on incentivising development and delivering clear and quicker decisions which provide greater confidence and predictability to those who are planning to develop.

We have also significantly extended permitted development rights (PDR), including for renewable energy equipment and thermal efficiency measures, and developments in town and city centres and in ports. PDR allow certain types of development to be carried out without a planning application. In doing so, they help provide certainty and save the time and expense associated with applying for planning permission.

Alongside system reform, we have been progressing a range of measures to increase capacity and skills and improve practice in planning authorities which are helping to accelerate development delivery. This includes providing direct support via the National Planning Hub for additional surge capacity and expertise within planning authorities and funding the National Planning Improvement Champion to help share knowledge and best practice across the planning system.

We have taken significant steps to simplify navigating the planning system through withdrawing 27 historical Planning Advice Notes (PANs) and 19 other pieces of obsolete guidance. This equates to 71% of the planning advice and guidance (over 1000 pages).

Health Boards are not required under the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 (HCSA) to report individual breaches of the legislation. Health Boards are, however, required under the Act to produce an annual report on how they have carried out their statutory staffing duties. These reports are intended to support transparency and local accountability, rather than to notify Ministers of individual instances of non-compliance.

Information from these reports is used to inform the Ministerial Annual Report. The first report can be accessed here: Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 2024/25 Ministerial Annual Report - gov.scot.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) has responsibility for monitoring and reviewing Health Board compliance with their duties, and for providing assurance on how organisations are meeting the requirements of the legislation. HIS provide assurance to Scottish Ministers via their inspection responsibilities, and their Health and Care Staffing Act Annual Report: Health and Care Staffing Act 2019 HIS functions in relation to staffing annual report 2024-2025: April 2025 – Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

HIS also provide support, if required, to Health Boards to aid them in their compliance with their duties under the Act.

I am aware of Print Scotland’s concerns over the funding differences in training contributions between England and Scotland. Print Scotland have written to Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and will meet to discuss this further.

Apprenticeship funding in Scotland follows a contribution model that differs from England, alongside often differing training and assessment requirements, so cannot be directly compared.

We have committed to reviewing apprenticeship contribution rates and published the scope of this review on Friday 13 March as part of wider work on Modern Apprenticeship (MA) reform. The scope and terms of reference can be found here: Modern apprenticeship contribution rates review: terms of reference - gov.scot

The review will be in two stages. The first stage has already started and this will include working with our delivery partners to gather the necessary evidence. We expect the second stage of this review to be undertaken from February 2027 and we intend to publish a report following the outcome of the review.