The Scottish Government has no powers over the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS). It is the responsibility of the UK Government, Ofgem, and energy suppliers to carry out analysis of the impact of the RTS switch-off and take appropriate action.

However, we are committed to raising awareness and working with those responsible to ensure that consumers are not negatively affected by the switch-off. This includes contributing to RTS related engagement, consultations, and roundtables as well as raising the profile of the switch-off across the media.

We have written to and engaged with the UK Government, Ofgem, and industry on several occasions to press them to take the necessary steps to protect consumers in Scotland from detriment. This includes highlighting the unacceptable situation whereby consumers are unwittingly penalised for upgrading their meter.

The recent Ofgem consultation on RTS related changes to license conditions proposed that suppliers must take all reasonable steps to provide a tariff that leaves the consumer ‘no worse off’ than their existing arrangements as a result of a RTS meter replacement. The Scottish Government supports this position and has also been pressing for the introduction of a fund to support households and businesses facing expensive re-wiring through no fault of their own.

Any consumers experiencing difficulties with their supplier, including questions relating to tariffs, should contact Advice Direct Scotland (ADS). ADS receives funding from the Scottish Government as part of our devolved responsibilities for consumer advocacy and advice. Services include the free national energy advice helpline, available on 0808 196 8660 or at energyadvice.scot.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

There are a number of factors that impact on how long it takes Social Security Scotland to make a decision on disability benefit applications, including the time taken to gather the supporting information required to make a decision on an application.

Social Security Scotland continues to work with Local Authorities, Health Boards and GP practices across the country to make it faster and easier for them to send supporting information, and is seeing improvements.

The last nine months of official statistics for Child Disability Payment shows Social Security Scotland has made decisions on new applications almost twice as fast as in the previous financial year. The latest official statistics publication can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Child Disability Payment: high level statistics to 31 December 2024.

The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publication shows Social Security Scotland has made faster decisions on applications over the last year, with average processing times decreasing significantly in the last ten months, when compared to the previous financial year. Latest Adult Disability Payment statistics can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Adult Disability Payment statistics to 31 January 2025

Social Security Scotland has a dedicated application route for terminally ill children and young people, and anyone in Scotland diagnosed with a terminal illness by their healthcare professional can apply for disability benefits under Special Rules for Terminal Illness. Published data shows that applications under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness are currently processed within three working days for Child Disability Payment and two working days for Adult Disability Payment.

Section 6 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 makes it unlawful for a public authority to act, or to fail to act, in a way that is incompatible with the UNCRC requirements. The section 6 compatibility duty in that Act applies when a public authority is delivering functions conferred by or under an Act of the Scottish Parliament or common law. All of the free standing provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Bill and those provisions that amend Acts of the Scottish Parliament will be in scope for this compatibility duty. This includes protections for tenants and provisions to help prevent homelessness.

There are some provisions on homelessness that are conferred by Acts of the UK Parliament. As housing is devolved to the Scottish Parliament, it would be possible to bring these provisions into the scope of the section 6 compatibility duty by re-enacting them in Acts of the Scottish Parliament. (The same is true of all devolved measures that are conferred by Acts of the UK Parliament.) However, that would be a time-consuming task that would have a significant impact on the Scottish Parliament’s law-making capacity.

Our hope is that, through engagement with the UK Government, there may be a more straightforward way of extending the reach of the compatibility duty in the UNCRC Act (and other future human rights protections), which would not require the re-enactment of individual Acts of the UK Parliament. Next steps are being considered.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop a set of maternity standards, designed to drive improvements in care at a local level and support consistency of service design and delivery across Scotland. This process has started, and we expect the standards to be completed in late 2025.

In addition, we welcomed the announcement from Healthcare Improvement Scotland in 2024 that they would initiate inspections of maternity services as part of the Safe Care Inspection process. These inspections started in late January 2025.

Our Best Start programme described a range of measures to improve care, the vast majority of which are now in place. We continue to work closely with NHS Boards, clinical leaders, the third sector and national partners to share learning, respond to emerging evidence and identify opportunities for continuous improvement at the national level.

AI has a huge potential to help deliver better and more efficient public services and work is on-going across the Scottish Government to make best use of the opportunities AI presents.

At the heart of good AI is good data. As part of the Open Government Action Plan work is already underway to share the data required to deliver more joined up and efficient public services. Modelling on public transport, climate change and government expenditure is already delivering results. Our Data Maturity Programme and Communities of Practice are ensuring that public sector organisations have the capabilities to make best use of data, along with our technical solutions for data cataloguing and secure data sharing.

Along side work on good data management, we are also making use of the CivTech challenge process to deliver innovative and ground breaking technical solutions to real world public service challenges. The current challenge round, CivTech 10, focuses on AI, reflecting its importance across multiple sectors, including government.

Current challenges include work to improve situational awareness for emergency responders, and how we can better support and encourage public participation in decision-making. These challenges also help us meet our commitment to ensuring that a large part of our technical spend goes to small, innovative businesses, making the most of Scotland’s natural desire to innovate and improve.

Out Intelligent Automation team is also making use of AI in a number of cross Scotland projects, all designed to identify areas where a Once for Scotland approach to system design can reduce the admin burden across the public sector. Reducing costs and increasing efficiency are key drivers behind our increasing use of AI. Machine Learning has been integrated into invoice processing procedures, application processing for child and disability payments and in document redaction.

We continue to engage with the UK Government around the development and introduction of regulation around the use of AI. We are very keen to see regulation which protects our citizens and their data, but which at the same time creates an environment where innovation can flourish. We want Scotland to continue to be regarded as an attractive place for businesses to invest, and where our workforce can benefit from the increased opportunities new technology can offer.

Scottish Government works closely with the AI industry to ensure its policies are pro-innovation and meet the needs of businesses. Industry was a key partner in developing Scotland's 2021 Strategy, and our recently launched governance group includes senior business leaders from the AI start-up and business community.

As AI regulation is reserved to UK Government we continue to engage with its officials to advocate that their approach to AI regulation considers the interests of the citizens and businesses of Scotland.

Techscaler, our national support programme for start-ups has been actively engaged with the AI industry since its inception in 2022. Over the past two years, Techscaler has provided essential resources to numerous AI-focused start-ups helping them thrive. Techscaler holds no formal engagement with the AI Industry on regulation but recognises the importance of AI for new and upcoming start-ups, and therefore is incorporating AI into their programme and education courses in 2025.

As part of the independent review into AI, which I commissioned and which was published last year, engagement took place with the AI industry on investment. Officials regularly engage with investors on AI, however this is not specific to discussing the impact of regulation. However, we have been continuously engaging with the UK Government to advocate that their approach to the regulation of AI considers the interests of the citizens and businesses of Scotland.