Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the impact of changes to working patterns, including the recent transition to a 35-hour working week within the organisation.

Previous Public Sector Pay Policies have set an expectation that employers work towards standardising a 35-hour working week. Public bodies retain the flexibility to adopt working patterns that support operational efficiency, employee wellbeing, and service delivery, provided these are delivered within existing budgets and do not adversely affect public services. It remains the responsibility of individual public bodies to assess the impact of any reduction in working hours in their organisation.

Research published by The Autonomy Institute in relation to the private sector A four-day week in Scotland’s private sector? A spotlight on precedents and opportunities - The Autonomy Institute represents their assessment of the impact and opportunity of 4 day working week for private sector. The Scottish Government has not carried out any assessment in relation to this.

Evidence shows that employers benefit from offering flexibility in working arrangements which can result in happier, more engaged workers, improved recruitment and retention, improved innovation, productivity and business reputation, helping to attract new customers.

The Scottish Government committed, in the Framework for Tax 2021, to reducing the combined poundage rate for the largest properties to match the equivalent rate in England over the course of the Parliament.

The Intermediate Property Rate was introduced in April 2020 and we have since increased the rateable value threshold at which the Higher Property Rate applies from £95,000 to £100,000. Alongside maintaining the lowest Basic Property Rate for the seventh year in a row, this ensures that over 95% of non-domestic properties in Scotland are liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK.

Tax policy decisions are made annually at budget in line with prevailing economic decisions and Government priorities.

NHS 24 is working to ensure calls to its 111 service are answered quickly and safely. Some calls may go unanswered due to callers disengaging after automated messaging, being signposted to other services, or opting for a callback during peak times.

While data on abandoned calls is collected, the specific reasons for call termination are not identifiable.

The Scottish Government continues to support NHS 24 in reducing unanswered calls, including revising performance indicators to better reflect demand and improve service delivery.

Over the past two financial years, NHS 24 has received £28.3 million in additional funding, enabling the recruitment of 22 extra clinicians and achieving its highest-ever treatment capacity.

It is an important principle of the planning system that each application is determined on its own merits, in line with the Development Plan and taking account of material considerations.

As part of the Development Plan, National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) includes a strong policy position regarding affordable housing provision and provides more flexibility for affordable housing proposals, explicitly as one of the circumstances where proposals can be supported on sites not allocated in a Local Development Plan.

A letter, I co-signed with the Scottish Government's Chief Planner in June 2024, stresses how NPF4 policy can be used to support proposals that improve affordability and choice to address recognised priorities of an area.

Everyone involved in planning has a role to play in supporting a national push to deliver more homes, including affordable homes. To address capacity and performance issues in planning services, we have raised planning fees and continue to invest in the resourcing, skills and resilience of the planning system, for example, through the National Planning Hub and the role of the National Planning Improvement Champion, to improve consenting timescales and support faster delivery of new homes where they are needed.

A fairer, well-managed private rented sector is in the interest of both tenants and landlords, and the private rented sector measures in the Housing (Scotland) Bill have been developed following extensive engagement with the sector.

The Scottish Government carried out a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment of the suite of rented sector reform measures included in the Bill, which included consideration of the potential cumulative impacts of rented sector reforms.

This was published in October 2024 on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with stakeholders from across the sector during the remainder of the Bill’s Parliamentary passage and beyond.

The Scottish Government aims to raise around £30 million per annum from the Scottish Building Safety Levy. This is in proportion to the revenue that the equivalent UK Government Levy for England is intended to generate and in line with the Barnett consequentials that the Scottish Government might have received had the UK Government Levy been extended UK-wide.

The Bill Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill includes provision for a regular review of the Levy, which will be an opportunity to consider the revenue target in light of the prevailing housing market and wider economic conditions, as well as the emerging position on the scale and profile of spending on cladding remediation work.

The Bill also sets out that proceeds from the Levy must be used for the purposes of improving the safety of persons in or about buildings in Scotland. This is intended to mirror, as closely as possible, the provisions for the use of funds for the UK Government’s Building Safety Levy, as set out in the Building Safety Act 2022 and reflected in the Scotland Act 1998 (Specification of Devolved Tax) (Building Safety) Order 2024 which devolved the powers necessary to introduce legislation for a devolved Levy.

Our position is unchanged on waiting times – by March 2026 no one will wait more than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment or inpatient/daycase treatment.

We are investing more than £110 million this year to cut waits, and we expect to see the full impact of our targeted funding in the coming months. This targeted funding is expected to deliver more than 213,000 additional procedures and appointments this year.

Our plan is clearly working with a record number of hip and knee operations last year and the highest level of operations performed in July since February 2020.

All wholetime fire stations have some form of segregated washing facilities for staff and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) estates strategy ensures all premises are risk assessed and that suitable alternative washing facility arrangements and mitigations are implemented. SFRS recognises the need for investment in dignified facilities and for contaminant control measures and prioritises its budget accordingly, for example as part of ongoing work. SFRS has recently upgraded facilities at Galashiels, Newcraighall, McDonald Road, Edinburgh and Inverness.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has 456 rescue pump appliances in operation. 211 of these are more than 15 years old, however all SFRS appliances are properly maintained to ensure they remain fully operational, and the oldest vehicles are placed in locations where they will be least used.

We recognise the challenges facing Scotland’s health and social care system. That is why we have already taken significant steps to set out clear, short and longer term actions to improve access to treatment, shift the balance of care, harness digital innovation, and strengthen prevention.

We recently published the, Foreword - NHS Scotland operational improvement plan - gov.scot the Scotland's Population Health Framework - gov.scot and the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework - gov.scot in which we outline our shared vision for reforming and renewing health and social care services to ensure they are more sustainable, preventative, and equitable.

We remain committed to engaging with leaders across health and social care, including clinical leaders, to design and deliver the change needed in our NHS.

With regard to charging for services, the Scottish Government’s policy could not be clearer: our National Health Service must be maintained on its founding principles – publicly owned, publicly operated, and free at the point of need. As we have previously said, the provision of health services must always be based on the individual needs of a patient.