Chamber and committees

Trading standards officers are appointed by local authorities in order to deliver their statutory obligations. Scottish Government does not centrally record workforce data.

Whilst it is up to each local authority to manage its own day-to-day business, including decisions in relation to the delivery of statutory services locally, the Scottish Government has a strategic interest in the effective delivery of trading standards services across Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local government to meet their statutory obligations in relation to trading standards. Scottish Ministers have asked Consumer Scotland to develop recommendations that will inform the Scottish Government’s approach to supporting local authorities to deliver effective, well resourced, services.

Owners of tenement properties have a shared responsibility to maintain the tenement. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 introduced powers for local authorities to pay a missing share on behalf of an owner who is unwilling or unable to contribute to costs of common works. From October 2018, these powers were extended to registered social housing.

However, we know that tenement properties with multiple owners often still struggle to organise and finance shared repairs, maintenance and enhancement works.

This Government has committed to reform the Tenement (Scotland) Act 2004 and Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 by the end of this parliament, to better meet the needs of relevant owners and tenants to enable repairs, maintenance and enhancement of such properties, and improve delivery of services by factoring organisations, including considering costs, where they manage properties.

We are currently considering a report from the Scottish Law Commission on potential new measures and, should ministers consider that change is necessary to existing tenement law, primary legislation will be required to enable the introduction of new measures.

The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the Scottish Assessors who are independent of central and local government and are accountable to the courts. Proposals (the first stage of the appeals system) against revaluation can be lodged with the Assessor until 31 July 2026 or four months after the valuation notice has been received, whichever is later. Proposals can then be appealed in given circumstances and timescales to the Scottish Tribunals.

Local authorities hold statutory responsibility for managing and maintaining their school estate, and we expect them to provide safe environments for all school users.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressures that many school staff are currently facing in relation to behaviour. Whilst the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research 2023 reported behaviour is generally good overall, it also reported increases in a range of disruptive and other negative behaviours in school.

In response, the Scottish Government and COSLA published a joint action plan on relationships and behaviour in schools in August 2024, setting out actions to support positive behaviour and reduce violence in schools. We have made significant progress on the delivery of these commitments and continue to do so. We are also committed to go further, and have committed to legislating to ban mobile phones in classrooms, as part of a wider and holistic approach to improving behaviour, reducing disruption and supporting positive learning environments for both pupils and staff.

We remain committed to the delivery of a 24-7 thrombectomy service and Public Services Delivery Scotland are currently working with NHS Boards to fully establish the resources required to deliver this. Once this is established, we will work at pace to develop a delivery plan and timescales for service expansion.

I recognise the significant pressures facing our Emergency Departments. The challenges we see in A&E are due to blockages across the whole-system, including high hospital occupancy, delays in discharge and increasing patient complexity.

This may result in patients waiting longer than we would wish, however we are clear every Health Boards focus on delivery of the A&E target through collaboration and efficiency.

That is why, this government will act immediately to drive improvements on A&E performance and reduce delays for patients, where we are working closely with Health Boards to ensure they have the support in place to cope with peaks in demand.

Building on the improvements made through the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan (OIP), this government will publish a plan to improving flow within the first 100 days of parliament where our approach will be to take early actions focus on improving access to care, reducing waiting times and easing pressure on hospitals, particularly through strengthening primary and community care.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to undertake an independent scalability assessment of our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service Pilots. This project will explore what our options are to expand access to non-specific symptom pathways for cancer in the most efficient and effective way, ensuring we reach population level coverage.

This initial phase of work is due to be complete by Spring 2027 after which point the we will work with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, the Centre for Sustainability and NHS Boards to develop an appropriate plan for service expansion.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor and consider a range of evidence in relation to the energy sector.

As part of this approach, we commissioned and published in 2023 a package of independent analysis on Scotland’s Energy System and Just Transition. This analysis considers the economic impact of Scotland’s oil and gas industry, including in terms of employment, during the transition to net zero. A partial update of the baseline data underpinning the analysis was published in 2025.

Decisions on licensing, consenting and the associated fiscal regime for offshore oil and gas are all matters currently reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government will continue to support the energy workforce with the powers available to us.

We are continuing to work with NHS Boards, local authorities, COSLA, the third sector and other delivery partners to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children, young people and adults.

For children and young people, this includes continuing our work with COSLA and the Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopment Taskforce to deliver on the actions set out in the implementation review of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People. Additional investment in 2025/26 is funding an ongoing project to supplement health board diagnostic assessment capacity throughout Scotland, particularly for young people approaching transition to adult services.

For adults, we will also ensure we work with partners across Scotland to take forward the proposals from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland’s 4-tier national pathway for neurodevelopmental conditions; ensuring anyone with or without a formal neurodevelopmental diagnosis can access the support they need when and where they need it. A timetable and route map for this work will be published in the first 100 days of this Government.

Information on how much money the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has spent on employment settlement agreements (taken to mean a contract entered into by employer and employee to resolve an employment dispute); associated legal advice; and settlements in relation to employment tribunals (which account for employment dispute costs) in each of the four financial years since 2022-23 can be found at the following link: FOI - Legal Counsel and Settlements | WICS

For financial year 2021-22, there were no employee settlement agreements paid by WICS. Information on costs relating to employment disputes and associated legal advice are not held centrally.