Chamber and committees

The capital budget allocations to SFRS for each year since its establishment are as follows (in £ millions):

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service decision to temporarily remove these appliances was made following detailed modelling using historic incident data and a robust assessment of the risks present in the communities those fire stations cover. Withdrawal of the second or third appliances from these stations has been assessed as being the least impactful in terms of response times. SFRS will continue to respond to every incident with the appropriate level of resources including specialist resources where required.

There is no budget crisis within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The Scottish Government has provided a £14.4m increase in the budget cover for SFRS in 2023-24.

In common with all public bodies in Scotland it is right that SFRS continues to review its operations to ensure it is effective and delivering value for money. Decisions on how they spend their budget is a matter for the SFRS Board.

The Scottish Government is in close contact with SFRS on the management of its budget.

Following a desktop review of all NHS Scotland properties suspected to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, NHS Scotland Assure is preparing a paper on options to proceed with discovery surveys. The timeframe for completion of the survey programme is dependent on the start date of the surveys and the survey option chosen.

Following a desktop review of all NHS Scotland properties suspected to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, NHS Scotland Assure is preparing a paper to inform the Scottish Government on options to proceed with discovery surveys. The cost of conducting the discovery surveys is dependent on the survey option chosen.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that that on 13 June 2023, out of the 2025 registered titles with a footprint area over 500 ha, 432 are owned exclusively by a company. These titles comprise a combined footprint area of 939,133 ha.

A further 213 titles are leased exclusively by a company and 2 are mixed tenure titles registered under the Land Registration (Scotland) 1979 Act.

This figure excludes public bodies, charities, trusts, and titles with a complex proprietorship structure consisting of a mix of natural and non-natural persons acting in various capacities.

Of the 616 unregistered areas of land over 500 ha, which have been linked to a Sasines Search Sheet in the RoS Unlocking Sasines dataset, an estimated 189 are owned by a company. Together, these areas comprise an indicative area of 667,178 ha.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that that transfers are divided between transfers for the monetary full market value of the property and transfers for discounted/non-monetary/other considerations. Separating transfers due to inheritance would require manual inspection of the deeds for each transaction. Figures are current on 13 June 2023.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that that on 13 June 2023, there were 2,025 Registered titles in the Land Register of Scotland where the total footprint of the title exceeds 500 ha. Together, these titles comprise a combined footprint of 2,813,263 ha.

A further 256 draft titles which are currently undergoing registration for the first time look set to also exceed this threshold once registration is complete. The expected combined footprint for these titles will be around 448,361 ha, which may include rights which overlap with already registered titles.

The figures above include outright ownership as well as long-term leases.

A further 616 unregistered areas of land, each with homogenous ownership and an indicative extent over 500 ha, have been linked to a Sasines Search Sheet in the RoS Unlocking Sasines dataset. These unregistered areas comprise an indicative extent of 1,739,070 ha, with no overlapping rights present.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that that on 13 June 2023, out of the 2025 registered titles with a footprint area over 500 ha, 801 are owned exclusively by one or more natural persons.

A further 15 titles are leased exclusively by one or more natural persons and 2 are mixed tenure titles registered under the Land Registration (Scotland) 1979 Act.

These figures exclude titles where a natural person may be acting in a special capacity (e.g. as a trustee or partner), as well as titles with a complex proprietorship structure consisting of a mix of natural and non-natural persons acting in various capacities.

Of the 616 areas of unregistered land over 500 ha, which have been linked to a Sasines Search Sheet in the RoS Unlocking Sasines dataset, an estimated 245 are owned exclusively by one or more natural persons.

We are aware of the proposals in the Renters (Reform) Bill in England introduced last month. The Shared Policy Programme in August 2021, followed by our ‘New Deal for Tenants’ consultation in December 2021 sought views on proposals to strengthen the rights of tenants including, specifically, greater rights to have a pet.

Our proposals for reform are in development ahead of a future Housing Bill. The timing and content of that Housing Bill is currently being considered as we continue to deliver our emergency response to support tenants through the ongoing cost of living crisis.