Chamber and committees

The only current operations by external organisations are standing sale harvesting operations, conducted under the FLS Red Squirrel license with the prior permission of FLS. There is a total of twenty-three sites across the landholding.

Any changes, including transferring the licence or modifying its scope, must be agreed upon in writing with NatureScot.

The current years red squirrel licence granted to Forestry and Land Scotland contains a condition (i.e. four) stating that, this licence can only be used by agents if prior permission has been granted by a FLS Decision Maker.

The current beaver licence states in condition seven that, the licence holder may permit agents or assistants to work under the terms of this licence.

The research licence states in condition two that, this licence only covers work carried out for FLS, by FLS employees and registered volunteers.

The Scottish Government fully values the importance of the music industry to Scotland’s culture and creative industries, and the value grass roots music venues deliver for the economy and the talent pipeline.

Whilst some issues that might assist grassroots music venues are reserved - such as dynamic ticket pricing and VAT rates - the Scottish Budget 2025 announced that music venues with a capacity of up to 1,500 will be eligible for the new 40 per cent hospitality relief from 1 April 2025 where the property meets the other eligibility criteria for this relief, including the £51,000 rateable value threshold which aligns with the threshold for the Basic Property Rate.

Recognising also that live music, of all genres, needs to flourish right across Scotland, 100 per cent relief continues in 2025-26 for hospitality premises, including music venues with a maximum capacity of 1,500 persons, located on islands, and in prescribed remote areas (Cape Wrath, Knoydart, and Scoraig), capped at £110,000 per business.

In addition to hospitality reliefs, the package of reliefs available in 2025-26 also includes the Small Business Bonus Scheme which remains the most generous relief of its kind in the UK. Around half of the properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are expected to be eligible for 100% Small Business Bonus Scheme relief this year.

We encourage grassroots music venues to approach public funding for activity that is additional to their core programming, such as attracting audiences from different marginalised backgrounds through more varied programming.

Ministers will continue to liaise with stakeholders throughout the sector, such as the Music Venues Trust and the Events Industry Advisory Group (EIAG), to discuss challenges facing the industry, and to explore what can be done within our powers and resources to help overcome these.

The Scottish Government recognises the important contribution of the SME sector to the delivery of the right homes in the right places and their role in tackling the Housing Emergency.

The planning appeal and local review fee structure is designed to correspond with the different scales of planning applications. The fees operate under the same general principle i.e. the smaller the development, the lower the fee. The appeal fees are approximately 60% lower than those which are payable for planning applications.

It is important to note that in recent years, over 92% of planning applications have been approved and so the number of appeals arising is relatively low.

A business and regulatory impact assessment was carried out in relation to the new fees regulations. This considered the potential impacts of the regulations on businesses of all sizes.

We will monitor the implementation of the fees regulations and their impact, including on the performance of the appeals system. This will help us to identify, and in the future address, if necessary, any unintended consequences.

The Scottish Government set out its response to the Just Transition Commission Report A Just Transition for Aberdeen and the North East in a statement to parliament on 3 June. This confirmed that we accept the headline recommendations in principle and will take time to consider the report in detail before providing a full response.

Before we can undertake some of the planning that the sector needs, we need clarity from the UK Government in several key reserved areas, including the future regulatory and fiscal regimes for North Sea oil and gas.

The Scottish Government will also continue to provide support to the region and energy workforces within our devolved competence. This support includes the new £8.5 million round of the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray and our £125 million investment in the Aberdeen City Region Deal.

Under the General Medical Services contract GP practices are responsible for providing the services required for the management of their registered patients and temporary residents who are, or believe themselves to be ill, with conditions from which recovery is generally expected, terminally ill, or suffering from chronic disease. This can include taking bloods as necessary.

GP practices’ contracts must include terms which require the Health Board to provide the contractor with support by providing community treatment and care services which include phlebotomy.

GP practices may also contract with their Health Boards to collect blood samples to support the secondary care management of chronic conditions. These would be considered enhanced services which are additional to the GP contract and cannot be required.

I can announce that our Renewed Policy Statement on reducing car use in Scotland that has been developed jointly with COSLA has been published today, 12 June 2025 and is available at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/achieving-car-use-reduction-in-scotland-a-renewed-policy-statement/.

The statement acknowledges that car use remains the largest contributor to transport greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland and we must reduce those emissions to support our just transition to net zero by 2045. We remain committed to reducing people’s car use, alongside our transition to electric vehicles, to reduce emissions and realise wider societal benefits.

The renewed policy statement reiterates our commitment to reducing car use in Scotland. It recognises the high level of car dependency in many parts of Scotland particularly mainland rural and island areas, and that car use will remain a transport need for many people. Our Programme for Government committed to working with COSLA and regional transport partnerships to develop delivery plans for car use reduction, reflective of different communities and places. Achieving car use reduction requires incentives and the current budget provides over £2 billion for sustainable transport, including providing up to 2.3 million people in Scotland with access to free bus travel. The policy statement also outlines the need to disincentivise motoring, for example through enabling discretionary local road user charging powers for local councils should they wish to use these, and undertaking a regulatory check of existing powers. We will also continue to press the UK Government to address how motoring taxation can support the greater uptake of EV cars, car use reduction generally and work with the 4 nations as how this can be achieved.

We are working with Planning Aid Scotland (PAS) to strengthen local elected member training, addressing the housing emergency by building capacity and improve decision-making within the planning system. The Scottish Government supported PAS in producing a high-level training route map for elected member training. The recommendations have been considered and we expect the next stage to involve formulating and testing pilot training.

The Scottish Government supported Heads of Planning Scotland (HOPS) to take forward work on a set of standard templates for common planning conditions, good practice on Section 75 agreements and aligning consents. HOPS will share outputs with authorities once complete.

Our work with partners on stalled housing sites to overcome barriers and accelerate delivery of new homes continues at pace, and our blog of 9 June provides further details on progress. A progress report has been prepared and is available by contacting [email protected].

The Scottish Government provides regular progress updates on all workstreams via it’s e-alerts, on X @ScotGovPlanning and on LinkedIn.

It will not be known how many vessels that engage in any future squid fishery will have an Inshore Vessel Monitoring System (I-VMS) installed until after the parameters of the project have been established.

Businesses providing forestry operations services (contractors), and standing sales timber buyers (merchants), and for the research licence, research institutes and universities.