Chamber and committees

From 1 August to 31 December 2024, 33 charges under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 have been reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) which make reference to ownership of XL Bully Dogs.

It should be noted that COPFS use a live, operational database to manage the process of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. Information provided is at date of extract and may therefore be subject to change as data and systems are updated for operational reasons.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked their Chief Executive, Adrian Gillespie, to contact you directly with a response.

The total estimated remaining unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) across the public sector in Scotland from 2023-24 onwards are contained within the following table.

The total unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) which were paid across the public sector in Scotland from 2006-07 to 2022-23 are contained within the following table.

As set out in the Programme for Government 2024-25: Serving Scotland the Natural Environment Bill will include provisions to modernise the way in which deer are managed in Scotland.

In January 2024 the Scottish Government consulted on a range of potential reforms to deer management Managing deer for climate and nature: Consultation, including the introduction of new powers designed to secure effective deer management that supports Scottish Government nature and climate objectives. In addition to the formal consultation, Ministers and officials have met with deer managers and their representatives to discuss issues arising from the consultation.

The circumstances in which any new intervention powers could be used will be set out on the face of the Bill and in the accompanying documents.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Adult Disability Payment applications and caseload, broken down by disability condition. No information on the number of indefinite awards made as a result of Adult Disability Payment applications is currently published.

From 21 March 2022 to 31 October 2024, there were 282,930 part 1 Adult Disability Payment applications received from new applicants, of which 86,275 had the primary disability condition “Mental and Behavioural Disorders”.

The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication can be found at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics. The next release of Adult Disability Payment statistics which will cover the period to the end of January 2024, is due to be published on 18 March 2024.

The Scottish Government has increased revenue funding for inter-island connectivity by £8.6 million in 2025-26, including extending free ferry travel between islands to under 22s. Provisional local authority allocations are included in Annex E of Local Government Finance Circular 10/2024.

Comparisons of 2024-25 Autumn Budget Revision (ABR) to 2025-26 Budget are misleading in the context of local government funding as the 2024-25 ABR includes an agreed transfer of £13.9 million. This transfer will also be processed at the 2025-26 ABR, increasing the Inter Island Connectivity funding included in table 4.14 of the 2025-26 Scottish Budget from £36.4 million to £50.3 million.

The core Scottish Government workforce has been following a strategy to reduce in size since March 2022, to adjust to the budgetary context and the change in the profile of its work following the Covid-19 pandemic. This direction accords with the wider work on medium term financial planning and in-year path to balance, as well as aligning with wider Public Service Reform ambitions. Enhanced recruitment controls were introduced at the start of the 2022-23 financial year to achieve this strategy.

In 2022-23 and 2023-24 the total Scottish Government workforce (i.e. directly employed and contingent workers) reduced by 0.4% and 3% respectively. This is the first time the workforce has reduced in consecutive years since SG began publishing workforce statistics in 2012. For the remainder of 2024-25, the presumption against external recruitment has been further strengthened in line with the spending controls announced in August 2024. Workforce planning for 25-26 will get underway across SG teams in early 2025. The size of the corporate functions within the Scottish Government, and the services they offer to wider public sector bodies, has been part of the consideration of the optimal size and deployment of the total Scottish Government workforce.

Ongoing assessment of the size of the corporate functions, both within the Scottish Government and across the wider public body landscape, is underway and opportunities will continue to be reviewed to ensure the those functions are as efficient and effective as possible to enable the delivery of public services.

The Scottish Government is taking action to support effective workforce planning in public bodies to, including providing guidance on redeployment.

The Scottish Government does not collate data on dog attacks. There is no central database within Scotland or the UK that provides data on dog attacks by type/breed of dog.

However, Public Health Scotland collects data provided by NHS Health Boards on the number of inpatient and day case admissions to hospital where a diagnosis of dog attack (bite or strike) was recorded.

I would refer you to the answer given to question S6W-24486 on 24 January 2024 for the available data from 2004 to 2022.

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.

Further to the response to S6W - 32031, the Scottish Government has taken a number of measures within the draft budget to help grow the economy.

The budget freezes the Non-Domestic Rates Basic Property Rate at 49.8p (for properties with a rateable value up to and including £51,000), and is expected to save ratepayers £9 million next year. We are maintaining the Small Business Bonus Scheme, the most generous scheme of its kind in the UK, at the rates and thresholds introduced in 2023-24. Together, these measures will protect over 200,000 small properties, with an estimated half of properties in the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure sectors continuing to be eligible for 100% relief next year.

The Intermediate Property Rate and Higher Property Rate have received inflationary increases (1.7%) however, this still ensures that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK. On top of these measures, a new 40% relief will be introduced for Hospitality premises in 2025-26,

To support tourism, culture and hospitality we will continue to offer 100% relief in 2025-26 for hospitality businesses located on islands as defined by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, and in prescribed remote areas, capped at £110,000 per business.

The new 40% relief for Hospitality premises includes Grassroots Music Venues with capacity up to 1,500, where the property is liable for the Basic Property Rate (rateable value up to and including £51,000) capped at £110,000 per business.

On regulation, the budget was informed by our continued engagement with business representative organisations, industry bodies and business leaders. That approach will continue to ensure meaningful engagement as part of policy development. This includes supporting our programme of regulatory improvement, delivering the New Deal for Business Group recommendations and continuing our work with businesses and regulators through the Regulatory Review Group. Considering the cumulative regulatory burden remains an important consideration in policy development, which is why following engagement with stakeholders we confirmed in the budget that there are no plans to introduce the Public Health Supplement for large retailers.