Chamber and committees

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.

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.

We are establishing a Housing Planning Hub as a priority to help unblock stalled sites. We are now working with public and private sector partners to consider the reasons why specific sites are not progressing to development, and to confirm details around the role, scope and operation of the Hub.

We recognise that there are complex reasons why homes remain empty and dedicated empty homes officers are essential in building relationships with owners to help resolve these. Our recently updated guidance to councils makes clear that they can utilise the ring-fenced revenue they derive from council tax on second and empty homes to fund more officers. This is not, however, the purpose of the Housing Planning Hub which I announced on 12 November. Nevertheless, the work I announced on the potential for further permitted development rights could support efforts to bring some empty properties into residential use.

The development of the circular economy strategy and associated monitoring and indicator framework will be developed between now and March 2026.

A consultation for both is planned for summer 2025 with development of targets to follow the publication of the strategy and monitoring and indicator framework.

The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act was approved unanimously by Parliament in June and gives Ministers and local authorities the tools they need to achieve our ambitions for a circular economy and build on progress to date. Scotland has made good long-term progress towards reaching our circular economy ambitions with the total amount of waste going to landfill in Scotland halving over the past decade, the overall recycling rate at its highest level since records began in 2011 (62.3%) and the most recent official statistics showing Scotland met its 2025 target to reduce all waste by 15%.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31245 on 21 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.

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 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 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.

Within our 2024-25 Programme for Government we committed to working across the four nations on banning the sale of single use vapes (SUV) as well as the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill. SUV’s have been linked to a rapid increase in the number of young people vaping, particularly due to their low price. The SUV ban will be implemented from 1 June 2025 in line with the rest of the UK. If passed the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, will restrict the promotion, advertisement and brandsharing of vapes.

Our ‘Take Hold’ marketing campaign educates parents, carers and children about the dangers of vaping and increased the awareness of the harms and risks of nicotine addiction.

We continue to work with Young Scot to support young people to understand the risks of using tobacco and nicotine products, and raise awareness of available cessation services and avenues to support young people to stop smoking/vaping.

Our Tobacco and Vaping Framework recognises that price can be a critical factor in people’s decisions on starting to smoke and vape. The Scottish Government welcomes the UK Government’s commitment in the Autumn budget to introduce a duty on vapes from 2026 while ensuring the price differential between tobacco and vapes will be maintained.