Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00937 on 25 June 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.

Domestic and intimate partner violence, in all its forms, has no place in Scotland. Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls, recognises that men and boys can also be victims of violence and abuse.

We are providing almost £46 million over 2026-2028 through our Delivering Equally Safe Fund, to allow all fund recipients to continue the vital work they undertake to prevent violence and support survivors. In addition, the Victim Centred Approach fund will provide £6 million for specialist advocacy support for survivors of gender-based violence in 2026-27. This includes services which support male survivors -

• Men’s Advice Line, who provide emotional support and practical advice and information for male victims of domestic abuse in Scotland.
• SACRO’s FearFree Project which supports male and LGBTI survivors of domestic violence.
• AMIS, a charity that support men experiencing domestic abuse through their national helpline, website and training services.
• The Scottish Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline to support both male and female victims and survivors.
• ASSIST, who as part of their work provide advocacy support to male survivors of domestic abuse in the West of Scotland and the Lothians.
• LGBT Domestic Abuse project, which works across Scotland to raise awareness and improve service responses of LGBT people's experiences of domestic abuse and other forms of gender based violence.

Our Equally Safe delivery plan commits to the development of a more sustainable funding model aligned to the ambitions of Equally Safe, which will include appropriate national provision of support to male victims of domestic abuse.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S7W-01423 and S7W-01517 on 28 July 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

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many missed GP appointments there have been in each year since 2021, broken down by NHS board.

PHS publishes information relevant to this question using GP encounters data as part of the General Practice in-hours activity visualisation publication. Encounters are not the same as appointments as not all encounters will be recorded on an appointment booking system. Further information on the limitations of this data can be found on the publication website.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressures facing Local Government and that is why the Local Government Settlement provided record funding of £15.7 billion for 2026-27. Local authorities also have a range of revenue raising powers that are not available to other public services and the ability to borrow to fund their capital programme.

The vast majority of funding allocated by the Scottish Government is provided by means of a block grant and it is then for individual Local Authorities to allocate the total resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The Scottish Government have had to take difficult decisions in light of the disappointing capital settlement from the UK Government’s Spending Review. However, the Scottish Government has a long history of working with COSLA and Local Authorities to make sure Council finances are sustainable and that available resources can meet long-term commitments.

Decisions on future Local Government Settlements will be the subject of negotiations with COSLA on behalf of all 32 Local Authorities and announced as part of the outcome of future Scottish Budgets.

As of 14 July 2026, at the time of answering, the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) has the following live caseload of development applications which are yet to be determined:

Decisions on council tax levels and charges for local services are a matter for Councils to determine locally.

The Scottish Government encourages Local Government to consult with their communities to inform decisions and consider the potential impacts of charges or taxation, particularly on low-income households and vulnerable groups. However, as long as they act lawfully, it is up to each local authority how it manages its day-to-day business and decision-making processes.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has an existing empty homes officer, which was originally funded through a matched contribution of just over £38,000 from the Scottish Government. In 2025-2026 the Scottish Government provided £750,000 towards match-funding for additional empty homes officer posts, which resulted in an extra 15 posts within Scottish local authorities. That funding was allocated, and is supported, via the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership and discussions were held with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to explore options for funding to support empty homes work across the islands. These discussions continue (they last met on 24 June 2026) and, as well as the option to recruit an additional officer, include the offer of capital funding in 2026-27, which would contribute towards the creation of a local authority run grant scheme for empty homeowners.

There are currently more than 70 members of staff in the Energy Consents Unit (ECU).

We are committed to ensuring that the ECU has sufficient resources to respond to future demand.

The aim of consolidation legislation is to bring together, restate and simplify existing legislation, not to review or change the underlying policy framework or levels of protection afforded to particular species.

The Scottish Government has therefore not asked the Scottish Law Commission to consider strengthening or harmonising protections for different species as part of their consolidation of nature legislation project.