Chamber and committees

The requested information on how many working days have been lost in the NHS in the last five years due to staff stress and other mental health conditions is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government offers a competitive non-domestic rates regime delivering the lowest property rate in the UK for the seventh year in a row and ensuring that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK. As part of our package of reliefs to support businesses and communities worth a forecast £733 million in 2025-26, the Small Business Bonus Scheme remains the most generous scheme of its kind in the UK. The retail sector remains the largest beneficiary of that scheme.

The Scottish Government encourages local authorities to carefully consider the impact of council tax increases on local residents and their household finances.

Engaging with council taxpayers on the levels of tax proposed is a matter for local authorities. The Scottish Government is aware that local authorities often do so with residents in their areas, including formal consultation as part of annual budget-setting processes.

The Scottish Government’s means-tested Council Tax Reduction scheme continues to provide vital support to eligible households, helping to mitigate the impact of council tax increases on household budgets.

The Scottish Government recognises how vital the retail sector is to Scotland’s economy. It is committed to supporting the industry and will continue to engage directly with the sector, monitor the evolving impacts of the ongoing cost crisis and work with the UK Government to support Scottish businesses.

The Scottish Government continues to consider relevant evidence and analysis as part of our ongoing policy development for a cruise ship levy. This formal analysis will publish early next year.

Port and cruise stakeholders have been working on their own alternative proposals to a levy. We anticipate these will be shared with the Scottish Government in the next few weeks. The Scottish Government will consider these stakeholder proposals alongside the alongside the consultation analysis when deciding next steps.

The Scottish Government has no powers to hold corporations to account for the use of specific branding to target women to pay higher prices for basic goods. Consumer protection, including provisions to protect consumers from unfair trading practices, is wholly reserved to the UK Government and regulated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

However, we believe that this practice is unacceptable and have raised the issue with the CMA.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland do not hold the information requested.

The Scottish Government provides annual funding to Volunteer Scotland Disclosure Services (VSDS) to assist voluntary sector organisations with navigating the disclosure system. VSDS works in partnership with Disclosure Scotland to help resolve issues experienced by the voluntary sector. While Disclosure Scotland do not receive reporting on delayed recruitment, we maintain close collaboration with VSDS to monitor performance and respond to any feedback received.

There are currently 12 civil servants assigned to the core Promise team. Work to keep The Promise is cross portfolio and officials across Scottish Government are actively engaged in work to support delivery of the recommendations set out in The Promise.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Children’s Hearings Scotland is responsible for the recruitment, training and retention of children’s hearings panel members and is assigned funding through the grant-in-aid process. It is a matter for the National Convener to allocate resource to the training of panel members. Grant-in-aid funding is detailed in CHS' annual report.

As required by the legislation, we will embark on a review of local place plans and lay the report before the Scottish Parliament.

The Act states the review is to be carried out as soon as practicable after the end of the seven-year period, which is seven years on from the Act receiving Royal Assent (after 26 July 2026).

We are in the early stages of considering the scope and delivery of the review, and will engage with community groups and local authorities.