Chamber and committees

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) designates all green data centres of a major scale as part of National Development 12: Digital Fibre Network. What constitutes a major development is defined within the The Town and Country Planning (Hierarchy of Developments) (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

The Scottish Government’s Fair Work Action Plan includes a commitment to working with employers, workers and trade unions to strengthen effective voice, through a range of appropriate channels. Worker representation on company boards could be a potential channel for effective voice, noting that the forms of worker representation will vary across sectors and organisations.

While employment and industrial relations legislation continue to be reserved, the Scottish Government cannot mandate employers to provide effective voice channels for workers however recipients of public sector grants awarded on or after 1 July 2023 are now subject to Fair Work First conditionality. This requires them to pay at least the real Living Wage to their workers and provide appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice.

Employees already in regulated roles on 1 April 2025 and whose employer had received a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme record did not need to obtain a new Level 2 with PVG disclosure. Only people who were in regulated roles whose employer had never registered their interest in the PVG scheme member or who were taking up a regulated role with a new employer needed to apply.

In recognition of the need for organisations to adapt to the new legislation and allow those in roles that were not eligible for PVG scheme membership prior to 1 April to join the Scheme, Disclosure Scotland provided a “grace period” of three months from 1 April for applications to be submitted before offence provisions came into force.

To manage volumes, Disclosure Scotland worked with organisations to encourage them to get those people who were eligible to join prior to April 2025 into the scheme before it became mandatory. Organisations were encouraged to contact Disclosure Scotland to discuss regulated roles and provide anticipated volumes that would be received between 1 April and 30 June 2025. While Disclosure Scotland had no power to compel organisations to do so at that time due to the non-mandatory nature of the scheme, many stakeholders did work with Disclosure Scotland to ensure those already eligible were in the scheme before 1 April and project their applicant volumes for the grace period.

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

There has never been a provision in law for supervised working while organisations were waiting to obtain a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme record. Until 1 April 2025, the PVG scheme was not a legal requirement therefore organisations could choose to have people in regulated work without seeing PVG scheme membership.

In forecasting volumes resultant from the legal requirement to be in the PVG scheme if carrying out a regulated role, Disclosure Scotland expected 50,000 additional applications against normal levels and diverted 10 full-time equivalent staff from other areas of the business to help manage delivering disclosure processing and support services. Planning included that, from 1 April onwards, application volumes and resources were monitored daily through checkpoint meetings to enable timely decision-making.

Within normal resource, Disclosure Scotland has historically exceeded its Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 90% of applications processed within 14 days. In 2023-24, 95.3% of applications were completed within 14 days and in 2024-25, 97.7% within 14 days.

Disclosure Scotland is currently performing within its SLA to process 90% of applications within 14 days.

We have made substantial progress in establishing remediation pathways for buildings over 18 metres in height that were included in the High-Rise Inventory and highlighted through other data sources, irrespective of tenure.

We continue to work closely with partners to determine, prioritise and drive the necessary action on assessment and mitigation, on which the Scottish Government is offering substantial financial support to the sector.

We expect to conclude the work to establish remediation pathways for high-rise buildings with known cladding by the end of October 2025.

I am disappointed that, based on latest estimates, we have not met our target to reduce food waste by 33% by 2025. The reasons behind this are complex, and partly reflect changed consumer behaviour since the pandemic. Scotland is not alone in facing this challenge and higher food waste levels have been observed across the UK.

However, I am taking action to reset the Government’s approach and the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map sets out how we will deliver more targeted action to support householders and businesses.

This information is not held centrally.

The proposed powers in the Pensions Schemes Bill ensure Scottish Ministers maintain parity of powers with the UK Government for the respective Local Government Pension Schemes.

Our Programme for Government demonstrates our commitment to encouraging investment in Scotland, and we are actively engaging with pension funds, including the local government funds, to collaborate and explore opportunities to support the growth of the Scottish economy.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of timely access to psychological support, including psychological therapies, for bereaved parents. One of the main ways this is provided is through Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention (MNPI) services. For most parents who have suffered a pregnancy loss, bereavement and grief support provided by their Health Board or third sector organisations will meet their needs and they will not require specialist mental health services.

When procuring and managing contracts Procurement Services ensures compliance with all legal requirements and the procurement principles including non-discrimination and equal treatment. Procurement Services will continue to monitor and comply with Scottish Procurement Policy notes from the Scottish Government and with UK Government advice relating to international embargos and sanctions.