Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

Private landlords in Scotland are required to register with their local authority which has responsibility to investigate and take any necessary action arising from complaints from tenants of private rented properties.

Where a tenant believes their rented property does not meet the legal repairing standard, they can take their landlord to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing & Property Chamber). The Tribunal can enforce repairs by issuing the landlord with a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order (RSEO) which compels the landlord to carry out specific repairs within a set timeframe.

Where a landlord fails to comply with an RSEO the Tribunal will send a copy of the failure to comply decision to the local authority. The Tribunal may also issue a Rent Relief Order restricting the rent payable until the RSEO has been complied with. A local authority has powers to apply to the tribunal on behalf of vulnerable tenants.

I have asked Colin Lancaster, Chief Executive of the Scottish Legal Aid Board to respond. His response is as follows:-

The Solicitor Contact Line (SCL) is a team of publicly funded criminal defence lawyers who provide telephone advice and in-person representation to suspects in police custody. The majority of publicly funded advice for those in police custody is provided by solicitors in private practice: SCL assists the around 30% who do not already have a solicitor, mostly by way of telephone advice.

Where SCL identify that in-person representation is needed, this will normally be provided by duty solicitors from either the private sector or the Public Defence Solicitors’ Office. The SCL provides contingency cover which is called upon in a small proportion of cases.

There has been no formal ballot for industrial action and it is unclear whether or when any such a ballot might take place. If the result of any ballot supports action, the form or extent of that action is also unclear. At this stage it is therefore not possible to comment on potential impacts.

The Scottish Government has no formal role in Local Government pay negotiations, although we recognise workers’ desire for an agreement to be reached between COSLA – as the employer – and trade unions as soon as possible. I have engaged closely with Cllr Katie Hagmann, COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson, to agree additional support available from the Scottish Government. This allowed COSLA to make a fair and affordable multi-year offer on 12 June which will now be considered by members of all three SJC unions.

Local authorities have responsibility for the delivery of education, which includes ensuring all employees receive adequate training.

In August, we published our action plan on relationships and behaviour in schools, jointly with COSLA. This includes a specific action on empowering staff through provision of relevant professional learning to support relationships and behaviour approaches and practice and to respond to emerging trends in behaviour.

Our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR) 2023 highlighted a number of barriers faced by support staff in accessing training. Support staff themselves requested appropriate training in order to support them in their roles. To further support school staff, as part of our response to BISSR we provided £900,000 for local councils to aid training of support staff respond to the new challenges in our schools, post-Covid.

Education Scotland has a national professional learning framework to help pupil support staff access and engage in their own professional development. This includes a range of professional learning relating to relationships and behaviour in schools. The national framework can be accessed at Pupil support staff framework | Self-directed professional learning | Professional Learning | Education Scotland. A Pupil Support Staff induction resource will also be published for the next academic session, aligned with the PSS professional learning framework.

Education Scotland’s Inclusion, Wellbeing and Equalities professional learning framework offers a range of resources to support relational approaches at the Informed level of the Relationships theme. The learning can be accessed at Inclusion, wellbeing and equalities framework | Leading professional learning | Professional Learning | Education Scotland.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide vital assistance to enable older people to heat their homes, to help disabled people live independent lives and will keep thousands of children out of poverty. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s May 2025 forecasts show that our investment in Social Security over and above the money we get from the UK Government is projected to be less than 3.5% of the total Scottish Government Resource Budget by 2029-30.

As part of our Medium-Term Financial Strategy, which we will publish on 25 June, we consider the medium to longer-term drivers of public spending and assess these against forecast funding. It is then for Ministers to prioritise expenditure, as part of the annual budget process and Spending Reviews, in line with the principles and policies on the use of borrowing and reserve powers.

The Fiscal Sustainability Delivery Plan which will publish alongside the Medium-Term Financial Strategy on 25 June will set out the actions we’re taking to improve the sustainability of the public finances over the medium-term.

Contingency planning in the event of industrial action is a matter for individual local authorities.

In previous years, the Scottish Government has worked collaboratively with Local Government when needed to act in order to prevent industrial action.

Scottish Income Tax is forecast to raise a record £20.5 billion in 2025-26 with the latest SFC forecast showing a positive contribution to the 2025-26 Scottish Budget of £616 million. This is additional revenue raised to support our investment in public services.

Scotland’s tax base continues to grow strongly, with the SFC forecasting higher average earnings growth in Scotland over the next five years compared to the OBR’s outlook for the UK.

The Scottish Government is working across the economy to maximise opportunities that prioritise economic growth, using our limited devolved powers.

Scotland’s economy remains one of the best performing parts of the UK with GDP per person in Scotland growing by 10.3%, compared to 6.1% in the UK and productivity has grown at an average rate of 1.1% per year compared to the UK average of 0.4% since 2007.

The Scottish Government published its National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) in 2022, setting out a ten year transformation plan with the objective of creating a fair, green and growing economy. This year’s Programme for Government places economic growth and working to create business opportunities, sustainable fair work, higher wages, more housing and better infrastructure, at the forefront.

However, our limited powers mean we also require decisive action from the UK Government to counter the damaging economic impacts of Brexit and the employers national insurance increases, and tackle the economic uncertainty currently being felt by business.

Assessing the total economic impact of cybercrime losses on households in Scotland is challenging, as a significant proportion of these crimes are not reported to the police. In recognising the value of improving the evidence base on this topic, new questions were added to the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) for 2023-24 onwards. New headline findings were then published on the 10th June 2025 (Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24 - gov.scot).

Further analysis of the survey shows that 2.2% of adults (aged 16+) living in private households in 2023-24 lost money as victims of a cyber-enabled fraud or computer misuse crime. The vast majority of these crimes were fraud. The median amount lost was £103 per crime, though a minority lost significantly more with 9% of crimes above £1,000. In around half of all cases (48%), the ultimate direct economic impact on the household was limited, as they received a full or partial refund (most often from a bank or building society).

The Scottish Government remains committed to tackling school violence and supporting staff wellbeing.

In 2025-26, we are providing over £2m to implement the Violence Prevention Framework, delivering actions including addressing youth violence, the carrying of weapons and violence in and around schools.

The 2025-26 budget also sets out an additional £29 million of investment for Additional Support Needs (ASN). This will include an allocation for both local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce, with £28 million directed to local government and £1 million retained for national work. This investment will continue to be a joint endeavour with local authorities, who retain the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education in Scotland.

An agreement reached with COSLA will see local government and the Scottish Government working together to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels in 2025, freeze learning hours, and make meaningful progress on reducing class contact time for teachers. To support this, we are providing £186.5 million to local authorities in 2025/26 to restore overall teacher numbers across the country to 2023 levels and maximise the number of teaching posts available.