Chamber and committees

Final decisions on tenor will be confirmed closer to issuance.

Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, cat breeders must be licensed and comply with conditions that prohibit breeding where a cat’s genotype or conformation could have a detrimental effect on its welfare or that of its offspring.

These provisions already restrict the breeding of cats with known welfare concerns, including Scottish Folds, and can be applied to other breeds with extreme characteristics. The Scottish Government is committed to high standards of animal welfare and we will continue to keep the licensing framework under review, including consideration of recommendations from the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission and the UK Animal Welfare Committee.

The eligibility criteria for lodging a proposal to alter a Council Tax valuation band are set out in The Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (Scotland) Regulations 1993 and are administered by Scottish Assessors, who are independent of national and local government.

The current framework provides a number of routes through which valuation bands may be reviewed. Council Taxpayers may make a proposal in prescribed circumstances, including within six months of becoming liable for Council Tax at a property. Similar rules exist in England and Wales.

In addition, Assessors have an ongoing statutory duty to maintain accurate valuation lists and may alter a valuation band where they are satisfied that an error has been made. As such, Assessors may accept informal requests for the valuation of a property at any time, without time limit. The decision whether to undertake such informal consideration of council tax banding is discretionary and therefore is one for the Assessor alone to make.

The Scottish Government has worked with Local Government, including through a joint programme of engagement in the last parliamentary session, to build agreement and inform debate on the future of Council Tax. This has involved independent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a public consultation which closed in January 2026 and engagement with members of the public and tax professionals. Analysis of this engagement and consultation activity will be published later this year. This will help to provide a clear evidence base for further work to build agreement on the future of Council Tax.

In November 2025 the Scottish Government published a summary Outline Business Case (OBC) assessing the case for the Bonds Programme. This provides an assessment of the potential benefits generated by a bond issuance programme.

The Summary OBR can be accessed from Scottish Government bonds programme: outline business case summary - gov.scot

The Life Sciences Strategy for Scotland is primarily designed to maximise growth, innovation and competitiveness across Scotland's life sciences sector. The 3Rs are fundamental ethical principles which seek to minimise the use of animals in scientific research and improve animal welfare, while enhancing scientific quality. The Life Sciences Strategy does not position 3Rs adoption as a core driver of growth, however there are opportunities for Scotland to build a competitive advantage through leadership in alternative methods, AI-enabled modelling, organoids, human-relevant research technologies and responsible innovation.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken work to this end.

It is important to note that there is no single nationally agreed Scottish definition of ‘rapidly progressing cancer’ or ‘aggressive cancer’. Whilst clinicians may use terms such as these on occasion to support patients understand their diagnosis, they are not recognised as clinical descriptors.

However, our Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 includes a commitment to carry out a clinically led review of cancer waiting times. This will determine whether there is merit in additional or alternative standards, including for different types of cancer.

This review, being led by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, has been initiated with evidence reviews being commissioned through key partners such as Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and Cancer Research UK.

Strategic objectives for the Bond Programme were published in December 2023. These are:

1. To ensure the Scottish Government can access diverse and cost-effective sources of capital funding and enhance Scotland’s fiscal sustainability;

2. To raise Scotland’s profile to financial investors; and

3. To develop Scotland’s institutions and fiscal disciplines.

In NHS Scotland we have two cancer waiting times standards. These are:

• A 31-day standard from decision to treat until first treatment regardless of the route of referral.
• A 62-day standard from urgent referral with suspicion of cancer, including referrals from national cancer screening programmes, until first treatment.

For people with cancer, focussing on the cancer waiting times standards of 62 days from urgent referral to first treatment and 31 days from decision-to-treat to first treatment is supporting NHS Boards to consider how they best speed up the diagnostic pathway and reduce the period of uncertainty that can exist whilst trying to establish a diagnosis. The first treatment standards also provide assurance that any appropriate immediate measures are being started as soon as possible.

Our Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 includes a commitment to carry out a clinically led review of cancer waiting times. This will determine whether there is merit in additional or alternative standards.

This review, being led by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, has been initiated with evidence reviews being commissioned through key partners such as Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and Cancer Research UK.

The Scottish Government expects primary care clinicians to refer to the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer (SRGs) when reviewing an individual with any suspected cancer symptom.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02130 on 17 August 2026. 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.