Chamber and committees

The creation of a High-Growth Unit and a Council for Economic Growth are both key commitments at the heart of our ambitions for Scotland’s economy.

Within the first 100 days of this Government, we established and convened the inaugural meeting of the National Council for Economic Growth, bringing together leaders from across Scotland's economy to help shape and drive our shared economic aims. We did not consult externally on the development of the Council.

We are currently in the early stages of the design and structure of the new High Growth Unit and will work closely with a range of partners across the public and private sector on the further development and delivery of the Unit, including considerations of international best practise.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken an assessment of the impact of the Vision 3 GP clinical system on GP appointment capacity.

Responsibility for the delivery and operation of GP IT systems, including the Vision 3 migration programme, sits with Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSDS), which manages the national GP IT service on behalf of NHS Scotland.

Public Services Delivery Scotland has advised that some short-term disruption to practices has been reported following migration. In response, a number of enhancements to post-migration support arrangements have been implemented in conjunction with OneAdvanced to support practices during their transition to the Vision 3 system.

The Scottish Government remains committed to a public health approach to reducing drug-related harms and deaths. Our approach is set out in Preventing Harm, Promoting Recovery: Scotland's Alcohol & Drugs Strategic Plan 2026-2035, which brings together prevention, harm reduction, treatment, rehabilitation and recovery support. The use of any Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) premises including fire stations is an operational matter for the SFRS.

Our Major Projects Office will be designed to accelerate progress on nationally and strategically significant investment and private capital projects, unblocking barriers to project delivery and unlocking private investment across strategic sectors including housing and energy. It will help contribute to a transformational change in economic performance across Scotland by unlocking significant strategic developments across Scotland to bring jobs and economic growth.

It will begin to be operationalised by the end of 2026, with work underway to developing its remit, governance arrangements, and operating model. Ministerial responsibility for the Major Projects Office will be in the Economy, Tourism and Transport portfolio.

Spent convictions are excluded in a level 1 disclosure in Scotland therefore no legislative changes are required to achieve this policy.

The changes made to disclosure in England and Wales through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 relate to the periods of time before a conviction becomes spent. Changes to the length of time before a conviction becomes spent were legislated for in Scotland through the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019 and came into force in August 2020. Scottish Government guidance was published to help individuals understand what the reforms meant for them and their individual circumstances.

The Scottish Government has not made an assessment of any increase in average consultation times, administrative processing times or task completion times following migration to the Vision 3 GP clinical system.

Responsibility for the delivery and operation of GP IT systems, including the Vision 3 migration programme, sits with Public Services Delivery Scotland (PSDS), which manages the national GP IT service on behalf of NHS Scotland.

Information on any assessments undertaken in relation to the operational impact of migration to Vision 3 may therefore be held by Public Services Delivery Scotland rather than the Scottish Government.

It would not be appropriate to comment on the Loch Kemp Pumped Storage Hydro development proposal, as this is a live application under consideration by the Scottish Ministers for determination.

Potential impacts on communities, nature, and cultural heritage, including the cumulative effects of developments, are important considerations in the decision-making process for applications for energy consent.

The decision whether to grant consent is taken only after careful consideration of environmental information, consultee responses and public representations. In reaching their decision, Scottish Ministers will determine applications in accordance with legislative requirements and relevant policy.

Planning authorities are required to determine all planning applications, including retrospective applications, in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Planning authorities have powers to apply a surcharge (of up to 25% on top of the usual planning application fee) to retrospective planning applications, where development has already commenced or been completed without the necessary permission. The use and level of any such surcharge is a matter for individual planning authorities to set out in a charter.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to issue specific guidance on the determination of retrospective applications for unauthorised alterations to shopfronts.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) is clear that Local Development Plans (LDPs) should be place-based and provide clear expectations for design. This includes identifying where more detailed design guidance is expected, which could include design codes.

NPF4 also sets out that planning authorities should use the Place Standard tool when preparing their LDPs and design guidance to engage with communities and other stakeholders.

LDP guidance, published by the Scottish Government, reinforces NPF4 and emphasises the importance of collaboration in high quality design and provides advice on the appropriate scales for different design tools, which can be used by planning authorities.

Children's participation is a core component of social work practice and is underpinned by the UNCRC, GIRFEC and the SSSC Codes of Practice, which require social work practitioners to seek, listen to and take account of children's views and to have awareness of the statutory pathways to independent advocacy and apply these where appropriate. There is also a range of national and local organisations across Scotland that provide support services for children and young people beyond these statutory entitlements. We will continue to strengthen provision where required but no further reviews to the statutory gateways to independent advocacy are planned at this stage.