Chamber and committees

The Community Right to Buy Review was announced in July and Phase 1, which was an evidence gathering phase, is due for completion by the end of this year.

It is having no impact on the current applications.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Acts of 2003 and 2016 detail the time that decisions on community right to buy applications should take. There is no end date set for these decisions. The Acts state that Ministers must not reach a decision on an application before the date which is 60 days after the last date on which the Part 3A/Part 5 community body may provide Scottish Ministers with a response to the comments on the application, provided by the owner and other parties.

In practice, the length of time each right to buy decision takes will depend on the complexity of the case, the timing and content of the comments received from all parties, and any legal issues that may be relevant to the case. It is important to ensure that, whatever decision is reached, that it is done so in a robust and fair manner to all parties.

The Best Start Foods card is restricted to stores which sell the eligible foods and is blocked for use in other establishments. The eligible foods are printed on the back of the card.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W- 30147 on 11 November 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Funding certainty and market stability for farmers is absolutely crucial and we want to do all that we can to try to ensure that that is the case in Scotland. As announced at February’s NFU Scotland Conference, Tiers 1 and 2 will receive at least 70% of the available budget. Work on the future framework is continuing to be developed and any announcements will be made in due course. As always, we are committed to working with the industry to co-develop the new payment framework to ensure there are no cliff edges.

The Scottish Government has supported four pilot regions in the development of bespoke Regional Land Use Frameworks (RLUFs). This work was taken forward through a co-development approach with a range of stakeholders. It tested a natural capital-led approach to identifying land use opportunities and priorities, whilst maintaining place-based principles to understand the potential for delivering mutual benefits to all land users.

This work covers the South of Scotland (Scottish borders and Dumfries and Galloway) The Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Parks and the NorthWest 2045 region of the Highlands. More information on the individual RLUFs can be found at the links below:

• South of Scotland region: Delivery & Strategies | South of Scotland Regional Economic Partnership
• North West Highland region: Land+ Project | NORTHWEST2045
• Cairngorms National Park region: Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan 2022-27
• Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park region: Read The Plan - Here. Now. All of us. - Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park

We are now working with the RLUPS to consolidate this learning in order to refine our understanding of the role that RLUFs could play in supporting/delivering land use change and informing wider Scottish Government policy.

The Scottish Government has made a combined £13.5 million available to Phoenix Futures and Aberlour Childcare Trust to support the creation of three new rehabilitation services specifically designed to support women through recovery from both alcohol and drug use.

The Scottish Government remains committed to progressing work on protecting children and young people from exposure to alcohol marketing. It was clear from our earlier public consultation that there was a wide range of views on alcohol marketing proposals, including uncertainty about the existing evidence base for many proposals.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) are being commissioned to carry out a review of the evidence for the range of options that are available to the Scottish Government under devolved powers. This will ensure that our work is evidence based and will deliver clear public health outcomes. We will consider PHS’ findings, and consider where the evidence supports further action or consultation on alcohol marketing restrictions.

If the evidence supports it, the Scottish Government will return with a further consultation on a range of targeted proposals. No decisions have been taken yet on what these areas may be.

In 2023-24, total Scottish Government funding for Connecting Scotland and Ethical Digital Nation combined was £1.3 million. This was allocated as follows:

• Grant funding to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to develop digital training, continue support for existing clients and deliver existing projects. This funding covers support for a wide range of digital inclusion initiatives including:
  • ‘Digital Champion’ training, delivered through Mhor Collective, which equips individuals to support others in engaging safely and meaningfully online, building digital confidence within communities;
  • Offboarding support for existing Connecting Scotland users, including temporary extension of connectivity with further support for users to transition to other means of connectivity;
  • Supporting the delivery of three digital inclusion programmes - lending libraries, social housing, and place-based initiatives - helping more people to get online through access to devices, connectivity, and technical support, and providing public and third-sector organisations and their staff with support in digital inclusion provision;
• £100,000 for the Digital Participation Charter Fund to promote and recognise digital inclusion amongst organisations. Some of the projects funded include:
  • Budding Engineers (£10,000 award) to provide access to digital skills and teaching for people with additional support needs in several areas of Scotland;
  • Deaf Action (£10,000 award) to provide digital and employability support for people experiencing hearing loss across Scotland;
  • Milan Senior Welfare Organisation (£9,850 award) to provide basic digital skills and digital support for older people and their carers from the South Asian community in East Lothian and Edinburgh;
• Programme incidentals (e.g. software licences, training, stakeholder engagement, advertising and marketing);
• Staffing costs to support the ongoing management of both programmes