Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government was not consulted on the UK Government’s tax changes, despite the clear and significant implications for the devolved Accessible Vehicles and Equipment (AVE) Scheme in Scotland, under which Motability is the current provider.

I wrote to the UK Government in November 2025 upon becoming aware of potential tax changes, emphasising that they would cause significant concern and uncertainty for disabled people who rely on the AVE Scheme to remain mobile. The Scottish Government will continue to strongly urge the UK Government to abandon these changes and commit to ensuring that disabled people can access the support that meets their needs through the Scheme now and in the future.

As a result of our engagement Motability has committed to providing additional mileage, on top of its reduced standard allowance, to customers living in very rural and island communities in recognition of their having to drive further to access key services.

In addition, customers in any area who drive more than 3,000 miles each year for essential services above the 10,000 standard annual inclusive mileage will also be able to apply for support with the increased excess mileage charge.

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 stipulates that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland is responsible for the policing of Scotland and is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this, rather than to Scottish Ministers directly. These arrangements are in place to ensure public confidence that the police act independently, free from unwarranted Ministerial interference. It would therefore be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on or seek to intervene in operational matters.

While the operational delivery of SARs is a matter for Police Scotland, individuals retain statutory rights of access to their personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) guidance states that law enforcement agencies should respond to SARs without undue delay and, in most cases, within one month.

Police Scotland have acknowledged on their website that, due to unprecedented demand, the current wait time can be up to nine months.

Jurors in Scotland may be eligible to claim compensation for a range of expenses:

• Travel
• Subsistence
• Loss of earnings or benefits
• Extra expenses of employing a childminder or a carer for a dependent adult
• Other expenses approved by the court,

The maximum sums that can be claimed are set by the Scottish Ministers, and are detailed in full on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website. The rates of the allowances are kept under regular review, and there are no current plans to make changes to them.

It is worth noting that, for trials that last up to five days, the loss of earnings allowance that jurors can claim in Scotland is aligned with the allowance in the rest of the United Kingdom. However, in trials that last more than five days the Scottish allowance for loss of earnings is more generous than allowances elsewhere in the UK, recognising the greater financial impact that these longer trials can have on jurors.

Recent global events have highlighted the need for robust and effective consumer protections, better regulation, price transparency and targeted financial assistance for those reliant on heating oil.

Scottish Government is actively considering the recommendations made by the Competition and Markets Authority in its report on the home heating oil market. We are also working with UK and other devolved governments, along with regulators and industry stakeholders, to explore the feasibility and potential value of a Scottish heating oil price checker tool.

Working together will help avoid duplication while ensuring that any price checker tool meets the needs of consumers in all parts of the UK.

Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, cat breeders must be licensed and comply with conditions that prohibit breeding where a cat’s genotype or conformation could have a detrimental effect on its welfare or that of its offspring.

These provisions already restrict the breeding of cats with known welfare concerns, including Scottish Folds, and can be applied to other breeds with extreme characteristics. The Scottish Government is committed to high standards of animal welfare and we will continue to keep the licensing framework under review, including consideration of recommendations from the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission and the UK Animal Welfare Committee.

The Scottish Government will in due course publish a breakdown of the appointments & procedures which will be delivered as a result of the additional £90m announced to tackle long waits.

The Scottish Government will in due course publish a breakdown of the appointments & procedures which will be delivered as a result of the additional £90m announced to tackle long waits.

In NHS Scotland we have two cancer waiting times standards. These are:

• A 31-day standard from decision to treat until first treatment regardless of the route of referral.
• A 62-day standard from urgent referral with suspicion of cancer, including referrals from national cancer screening programmes, until first treatment.

For people with cancer, focussing on the cancer waiting times standards of 62 days from urgent referral to first treatment and 31 days from decision-to-treat to first treatment is supporting NHS Boards to consider how they best speed up the diagnostic pathway and reduce the period of uncertainty that can exist whilst trying to establish a diagnosis. The first treatment standards also provide assurance that any appropriate immediate measures are being started as soon as possible.

Our Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 includes a commitment to carry out a clinically led review of cancer waiting times. This will determine whether there is merit in additional or alternative standards.

This review, being led by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, has been initiated with evidence reviews being commissioned through key partners such as Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) and Cancer Research UK.

In 2025, the Scottish Government and Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) announced a pilot to give communities priority access to renewable energy assets on public land due for repowering.

The pilot provides a protected window for local groups to make an asset transfer request to lease FLS sites due for repowering and gives advance notification of upcoming lease opportunities so communities have time to prepare asset transfer requests before sites go to market.

These measures will apply to projects with a maximum generation capacity of 50MW, and ten FLS sites have been identified to be part of the pilot. Communities can access support to enable them to take up these opportunities through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).

There is no single nationally agreed Scottish definition of ‘rapidly progressing cancer’ or ‘aggressive cancer’. Whilst clinicians may use terms such as these on occasion to support patients understand their diagnosis, they are not recognised as clinical descriptors.

Public Health Scotland reports cancer stage using standard stage groups one to four, with Stage One and Two typically classified as early-stage disease and Stage Three and Four as late-stage disease. Cases where stage cannot be assigned are reported as unknown stage.