Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government published analysis of the impact of the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) on Scotland’s labour market in July 2024; Scottish Child Payment and the labour market - gov.scot and concluded it had not negatively affected labour market outcomes at scale in Scotland’s economy, while supporting the families of nearly 330,000 children.

The analysis also showed that the employment likelihood of Universal Credit (UC) clients in the planning for work regime – the majority of whom should be receiving SCP – was consistently higher in Scotland than in England, suggesting that interactions between UC and SCP are not materially impacting work incentives.

The Scottish Government continues to assess how SCP is interacting with the labour market. A further evaluation of SCP is due to be published this summer and will include a survey of recipients including questions about how and why SCP has affected their labour market activity.

In line with our commitment to creating safe and nurturing school environments, the Scottish Government prioritises approaches that address behaviour through understanding and positive intervention.

Our approach to relationships and behaviour in schools is focussed on prevention and de-escalation of concerns. School staff should be supported through clear understanding of their establishment’s relationships and behaviour policy, arrangements for de-escalation and support that can be provided to them where situations do escalate.

The Scottish Government has not received any requests from local authorities for funding for teacher self-defence training in each of the last five years.

The current Muirburn Code: https://www.nature.scot/doc/guidance-muirburn-code is a non-statutory Code which sets out both the law and good practice relating to muirburn and applies to all moorland managers and includes farmers, crofters, shepherds and gamekeepers.

A new licensing scheme for muirburn, as introduced by the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 is expected to come in to effect later this year. NatureScot are currently consulting on a new statutory Muirburn Code that will accompany the licensing scheme. It will set out where and when muirburn can be carried out, the required notifications before setting muirburn and necessary safety measures.

As with all laws, enforcement is a matter for Police Scotland. NatureScot will also have statutory powers to modify, suspend or revoke a licence for non-compliance of the Act.

Some Health Boards are already delivering additional activity 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, to help people get diagnostic tests they need. Since 2021, we have provided three permanent CT scanners to support core diagnostic imaging capacity within Boards, including a mobile CT pod which is deployed flexibly to Boards that require additional capacity. In addition, four further mobile CTs and thirteen mobile MRI scanners are being used across multiple NHS Boards to provide additional capacity.

Additional funding provided through the £200 million investment contained in the Budget to reduce waiting times and improve flow through hospital, will support further reductions to the radiology backlog so that 95% of referrals are seen within six weeks by March 2026.

There is currently no digital outpatient system in development at a national level, although the online app for health & social care, which is being developed as part of our Digital Front Door Programme, will provide digital access to outpatient appointments. More details can be found in the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-operational-improvement-plan/pages/5/.

The 2025-26 Budget balances the requirement to address immediate pressures and recovery of the system whilst driving forward our long-term reform and prevention agendas, providing increased investment for NHS Boards, alongside continued focus to improve population health and outcomes through investment in quality community services, vaccination and screening.?

We continue to support delivery of priorities relating to prevention and early intervention by investing almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration, an additional £1.2 billion compared to 2021-22 spend.

The 2025-26 budget also includes over £2.2 billion for primary care to improve preventative care in the community, supporting the development of multidisciplinary teams in general practice, sustaining NHS dental care through enhanced fees and continuing free eye examinations.

Scottish Government do not hold information on all public sector leases centrally. The following table shows the top 10 most expensive leases held by Scottish Government. This is made up of the costs of rent and service charges.

Offshore oil and gas licensing, consenting and the associated fiscal regime are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government. As such, estimates of future production from North Sea oil and gas fields are a matter for the relevant UK regulator – the North Sea Transition Authority.

The Scottish Government has consistently called on the UK Government to approach decisions for North Sea oil and gas projects on an evidence-led, case by case, basis – with climate compatibility and energy security key considerations.

Hardware purchased to support virtual meetings is often multi-functional and may have a primary use other than supporting virtual meetings. This makes categorising purchases directly related to the provision of virtual meetings difficult. Furthermore, hardware which supports virtual meetings may be purchased and managed by different areas across Scottish Government. For example, the provision of meeting rooms supporting virtual meetings is often a joint effort managed by iTECS and Facilities, with other areas of Scottish Government able to contribute on an ad hoc basis. Therefore, the records pertinent to this question are not held centrally. In this instance, to define, collate, and analyse the information requested would represent a disproportionate cost. However, it should be noted that any hardware purchases should leverage framework agreements which ensure the best value for the public purse.

NHS Boards are separate entities with their own local governance and performance management arrangements in place, in line with national guidance, such as the ‘NHS Scotland Blueprint for Good Governance.’ This can be accessed at: www.gov.scot/publications/blueprint-good-governance-nhs-scotland-second-edition/.

There is also an ongoing cycle of routine engagement, scrutiny and support between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards. This helps ensure the latter are delivering on local and national priorities, and are being held to account for the significant public investment in the NHS. This evidence-based approach to monitoring performance and managing risk across the NHS in Scotland is underpinned by the ‘NHS Scotland Support and Intervention Framework’, which consists of five stages in a ladder of escalation that provides a model for support and intervention by the Scottish Government. NHS Boards can be escalated on the Framework as a result of significant and persistent performance issues; informing further scrutiny, support and intervention, as required. Further details can be accessed at: www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-support-and-intervention-framework/.

Table 1 presents the estimated gross cost of setting the Higher Property Rate equal to the Standard Multiplier in England, from 2016-2017 until 2020-2021.

The Higher Property Rate in Scotland was 1.3p higher than the Standard Multiplier in England from 2016-2017 until 2018-2019, and 1.2p higher in 2019-2020 and
2021-2022. The Higher Property Rate and the Standard Multiplier in each year are shown in Table 2.

Figures for years from 2021-2022 until 2025-2026 are available in answers to questions S6W-25972 on 18 March 2024, S6W-25588 on 1 March 2024 and
S6W-32778 on 7 January 2025.

In 2016-2017, the threshold for the Standard Multiplier was £18,000, while the threshold for the Higher Property Rate was £51,000. Both thresholds were set to £51,000 from 2017-2018 until 2019-2020. From 2020-2021, the threshold for the Higher Property Rate was increased to £95,000, while the threshold for the Standard Multiplier remained at £51,000.

All figures are gross estimates, and are not adjusted for any relief. Figures are broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

This table is based on the valuation roll as at 1 October 2016, 1 October 2017, 1 October 2018, 1 October 2019, and 1 October 2020.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated gross cost of reducing the Higher Property Rate to the level of the English Standard Multiplier (£), broken down by property class