Chamber and committees

Royal Mail and postal delivery services are reserved to the UK Government.

The First Minister visited the Glasgow Mail Centre on 22 December where he reiterated the importance of maintaining high service standards across Scotland.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with Royal Mail to provide constructive challenge and ensure that services meet the specific needs of communities in Scotland.

Royal Mail and postal delivery services are reserved to the UK Government. It is the UK Government’s responsibility to conduct risk and impact assessments of its postal policies on Scottish communities.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with Royal Mail to provide constructive challenge and to ensure that postal services meet the specific needs of communities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not been informed by any public body of any delays or disruptions to Royal Mail postal deliveries.

Scottish Government has no plans to provide specific funding for the initiatives proposed by FSB in their 2024 report The Future of the High Street. However, we remain committed to supporting vibrant, thriving towns and town centres, and we are continuing our long standing commitment to regeneration with investment of up to £52 million in 2026-27.

This investment supports the revitalisation of our towns and town centres, helps to bring vacant properties back into productive use, and unlocks opportunities for town centre living, business and community enterprise activity. It also includes support for the Scotland Loves Local programme and Business Improvement Districts.

Since 2014, South Lanarkshire Council has received £25.8 million in regeneration capital funding. This investment has supported a number of projects, including the recently completed Carnwath Business and Community Hub which has transformed a vacant and derelict site in Carnwath town centre.

All Scottish Government funding provided to Argyll and Bute Women’s Aid is subject to monitoring and reporting requirements to ensure it is being used for agreed purposes. From 2016, oversight by the Voluntary Action Fund included project visits and six-monthly progress reports. Since late 2020, Inspiring Scotland has reviewed quarterly financial and forecast reports for this funding.

We are satisfied that the current oversight arrangements are proportionate and robust. Funded organisations are subject to random financial spot checks to verify reported spend, or to more in-depth financial monitoring visits to review financial procedures against best practice. In addition, all registered charities are required to submit annual accounts to the charity regulator, OSCR, and companies must file their annual accounts with Companies House.

It is not appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on individual organisations’ employment and grievance handling processes, other than to note that all organisations should ensure that they comply with relevant legislation. These are a matter for the Board of Argyll and Bute Women’s Aid and I will not comment on individual cases. As such, the Scottish Government has not engaged Audit Scotland, the Care Inspectorate or the Pensions Regulator in relation to the historic financial mismanagement at Argyll and Bute Women’s Aid.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-44387 on 20 March 2026. 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.

On 14 March, the First Minister announced a financial package worth up to £10 million to help businesses rebuild and renew the part of Glasgow affected by the Union Corner fire. Glasgow City Council will administer the scheme based on engagement with local businesses to understand how they have been affected.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-44387 on 20 March 2026. 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.

On 14 March, the First Minister announced a financial package worth up to £10 million to help businesses rebuild and renew the part of Glasgow affected by the Union Corner fire. Glasgow City Council will administer the scheme based on engagement with local businesses to understand how they have been affected.

In addition, up to £1 million will be made available to help the council with demolition costs.

Local authorities can also award up to 100% non-domestic rates Hardship Relief to ratepayers if they are satisfied that the ratepayer would be in financial difficulty without it and awarding it is in the interests of local people.

Scottish Government’s contribution to discretionary non-domestic rates Hardship Relief in Glasgow City Council for those impacted will increase from 75% to 95%.

Police Scotland have a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) capability and rightly make operational decisions on how that is deployed. Police Scotland have advised this capability is within the development and evaluation phase, and future deployment will depend on their ongoing operational assessment and further technological development. Police Scotland also note that Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems cannot be used to pursue vehicles, and Civil Aviation Authority regulations can restrict operation to within visual line of sight.

Police Scotland have confirmed that, to date, one off-road motorcycle has been seized as a result of this activity in Lanarkshire and no vehicle seizures are attributable to such activity in Greater Glasgow.