Chamber and committees

There can be many reasons for delays in determining applications including requests for and submission of additional information, delays with responses from statutory consultees and the requirement for a legal agreement. The specific reasons for the time taken to determine individual major planning applications would be held by the individual planning authority making the determination.

The average timescale for all major applications determined without a processing agreement was 35.2 weeks in Q1 and Q2 of 2023-24. Due to the low number of applications involved, average determination timescales are volatile and can be affected by one or two lengthy cases. In the same period, 23 of the 57 major applications not subject to processing agreements were determined within the statutory timescale, and 46 of those 57 major applications determined within the same period were determined in a time faster than the national average.

The Council Tax Freeze that was announced by the First Minister, and accepted by almost all Councils, relates only to the 2024-25 financial year. It will provide certainty to households during a time of economic uncertainty and rising prices.

The funding provided in 2024-25 for the purposes of freezing Council Tax will be baselined into the General Revenue Grant in future years for those councils which freeze their Council Tax.

The Scottish Government received a copy of the EIS report on violence in schools in Aberdeen on 26 February 2024. The First Minister and myself have both read the report.

The statutory minimum walking distances set out in legislation are a long-standing feature of our education system and there are no plans to change them. The Scottish Government published guidance for local authorities regarding home to school transport in 2021.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with representative bodies for local government on education related matters. However, no requests have been made to discuss local authorities’ obligations under section 42 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 in the last 12 months. The provision of home to school transport is responsibility of local authorities and decisions about changes to eligibility for free school transport are for local authorities to make, subject to the applicable statutory requirements.

The Scottish Government expects all women, at all times, to receive high-quality, person-centred maternity care, tailored to their needs, with quality and safety for mothers and babies central to decision-making. We recognise that every woman’s experience of pregnancy and birth is different and that, for a variety of reasons, some women may require support related to trauma.

We continue to participate in four UK-wide audits and confidential enquiries, including the MBRRACE-UK programme, to highlight quality and safety of maternity and neonatal care and where that can be improved. The Scottish Government considers the findings of all data reports and reviews carefully and expects all NHS Boards to do the same locally. Where areas for improvement are identified, the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) Perinatal arm provides support and guidance for NHS Boards to undertake focused quality improvement activity.

We are also committed to supporting the development of perinatal and infant mental health services across Scotland. We are working with NHS Boards to develop specialist Community Perinatal Mental Health services to provide assessment and care for women with moderate to severe mental illness, including psychological impact following the birth of a baby. All pregnant women in Scotland are provided with a copy of Ready, Steady, Baby! , a guide to pregnancy, labour and birth and early parenthood, during their routine antenatal care. This provides information for women on mental health and wellbeing in pregnancy and after birth, including signposting to other resources such as the Birth Trauma Association.

The Scottish Government is developing a place-based, industry specific Just Transition Plan for the region, committed to in our 2023 Programme for Government, that will outline the strategic long-term future of the industrial cluster.

The plan will outline a range of possibilities for operations at Grangemouth in 2045, including low-carbon hydrogen manufacture, carbon capture and Storage, bio-manufacturing and alternative low-carbon fuels as well as wider Just Transition impacts on the workforce, community and surrounding environment.

SG leads on this work, in partnership with the Grangemouth Future Industry Board, and has been working extensively with multiple industrial operators including Petroineos, and wider stakeholders to develop a baseline as well as a co-designed vision for the future Grangemouth Industrial Cluster.

A draft Grangemouth Just Transition Plan and Vision will be published in May 2024.

We have invested over £2m within this parliamentary term to deliver the Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery which looks to reduce the impact of chronic pain, including fibromyalgia, on quality of life and wellbeing and improve information, care and services for people in Scotland.

In 2022-23, as part of Section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, the Scottish Government provided grant funding of £7,920 to Pain Concern and Flippin’ Pain to host an online awareness raising event for people in Scotland living with fibromyalgia. The event was also open to healthcare staff.

Clinical outcomes are reported monthly and any clinical mental health incidents reported to NHS 24, through any feedback channel, will receive a full investigation and clinical review.

All frontline staff have monthly call reviews and one-to-one meetings with their line manager, real time clinical supervision and coaching with debrief sessions at the end of each shift. This is in addition to mandatory e-learning and personal development plans.

The Consolidated Accounts are published annually and include a Performance Report which includes a Performance Overview and Performance Analysis, with high level financial information split by portfolio. The Consolidated Accounts for the years noted can be found at the following links:

The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 (www.gov.scot)

I receive regular performance delivery updates on the three Policy Prospectus missions of equality, opportunity and community. I also engage regularly with Cabinet Secretaries to support strong collaboration across portfolios and budgets and enable effective delivery of Mandate Letter commitments. These arrangements are routinely reviewed and improved where appropriate.

The statutory review of the National Performance Framework National Outcomes is underway and reporting on progress towards the National Outcomes will continue to be delivered via the NPF website nationalperformance.gov.scot