Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is still considering its next steps and we will announce how we propose to proceed in the near future.

Special medicines or ‘specials’ refer to unlicensed medicinal products that should only be supplied to meet the special clinical needs of an individual patient. An unlicensed medicinal product should not be supplied where an equivalent licensed medicinal product is available. Responsibility for deciding whether an individual patient has “special needs” which a licensed product cannot meet is a matter for the prescribing clinician responsible for their care. Examples of “special needs” include an intolerance or allergy to a particular ingredient, or an inability to ingest solid oral dosage forms. These examples are not exhaustive.

The Scottish Government has no role in designating ‘specials’. Regulation for the licensing, quality safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The Scottish Government expects the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to support fair work practices, and to monitor adherence across the college sector.

As recipients of SFC funding, in line with Scottish Government Fair Work First guidance - reflected in the 2024-25 Ministerial letter of guidance to SFC, colleges must be committed to fair work practices for staff engaged in the delivery of activity associated with public funds. Inclusion of information on compliance with Fair Work First is a requirement of the accounts directions for universities and colleges and SFC encourages institutions to be fulsome in their disclosures. Where there are institutions that do not currently meet requirements around disclosure of this activity, SFC will engage with institutions with a view to ensuring that they do so in their future annual report and accounts.

I also wrote directly to College Principals on 7 June 2023 to re-state this Government’s continued commitment to Fair Work principles. I expect both employers and trade unions to work together to ensure that the Fair Work principles are adhered to across the college sector and that staff are treated fairly.

We are also making progress with the addition of trade union nominees to the college boards to further improve governance and management and to ensure effective employee voice as one of the key principles of Fair Work.

There are multiple existing Modern and Graduate Apprenticeship frameworks that include software design and IT Management which are utilised by the gaming industry. The frameworks are flexible with varying pathways and are adaptable to any industry that designs software.

We have awarded £26.9 million in funding for bus priority through the Bus Partnership Fund, with £20.5 million expected to be spent by 31 March 2024. However that figure will need to be confirmed following the processing of final claims from Partnerships - consisting of local authorities, bus operators and other key stakeholders – in the coming months.

The awards made through the Bus Partnership Fund to date were the first step towards delivering long term investment in bus priority infrastructure, beyond the course of the parliament.

Following the United Kingdom autumn statement delivering the worst-case scenario for Scotland and a nearly 9 per cent real-terms cut in our capital budget from the UK Government, the Scottish Government had to take difficult decisions to deliver a balanced and sustainable spending plan for 2024-25. As such, regrettably, the Bus Partnership Fund has been paused for 2024-25. However, future funding availability will be considered as part of our annual budget-setting process and prioritisation exercises.

On 18 April 2024 I wrote to Kevin Hollinrake MP, with a list of 15 straightforward draft amendments to the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill which would have the effect of extending the scope of that Bill to cover Scotland. In doing so I urged him to table these amendments and bring certainty and clarity for those who have suffered wrongful convictions in Scotland.

Minister Hollinrake responded on 22 April 2024 to note that the UK Government was not seeking to extend the territorial extent of the Bill to Scotland, whilst at the same time noting that the UK Government would however be tabling amendments to the Bill to include convictions in Northern Ireland with the Bill's scope.

The UK Bill is due to next be debated on 29 April 2024, and draft amendments to extend the Bill to Scotland have been tabled. Should they not be accepted into the UK Bill then Scottish Government will bring forward Scottish legislation to ensure that sub-postmasters in Scotland receive justice.

We have already implemented significant reforms to the planning system to reduce pressures by streamlining processes and providing a robust and up to date policy framework. We have significantly extended permitted development rights, to remove certain applications from the planning system, providing certainty and reducing processing for authorities and agencies.

Our current consultation Investing in Planning aims to support improvement in the delivery of planning services, including streamlining the assessments required to support applications, project managing applications, improving engagement and taking a proactive approach.

In addition to system changes, we fund Scotland’s National Planning Improvement Champion who is working with individual planning authorities to pilot a new National Planning Improvement Framework (NPIF) to identify areas of improvement and support authorities to take actions forward.

The Self-Build Loan Fund (“the Fund”) offers short-term loan funding of up to £175,000 to self-builders who are unable to access standard bank lending, to assist with development costs to support build completion. The Fund is not intended to replace market lending and provides short-term loan funding to borrowers who have exhausted finding alternative market options. The focus is on supporting projects with the necessary consents in place to allow work to commence quickly, and already delivers genuinely additional new homes primarily but not exclusively in rural areas.

At present, there are no plans to increase the value of the Self-Build Loan Fund (“the Fund”). The Fund is demand led, but currently has sufficient uncommitted funding to meet potential demand. The funding is also recyclable, meaning that repaid loans can be re-used to fund more self-build projects during the life of the Fund.

Recent reforms to Scotland’s planning system are focused on facilitating delivery of high quality development, where and when it is needed. New legislation being implemented through the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) is ensuring decisions can be taken about future developments with greater certainty and efficiency. Policy 16 in NPF4 is a distinct, new approach to planning for homes that emphasises delivery and the plan-led approach. We are now taking forward a range of further measures to continue to progress this programme of planning reform.

Our current consultation on ‘Investing in Planning’ includes a range of proposals to support improvement and capacity in planning services, particularly in planning authorities. Our proposals aim to benefit users of the planning system by improving capacity to help reduce decision timescales and improve service quality.

We are also currently consulting on draft regulations relating to the designation of Masterplan Consent Areas, which will be a new upfront consenting mechanism for development proposals, and can include housing, removing the need for planning and other consent applications once a scheme for the area as a whole has been agreed. Once in place, Masterplan Consent Areas have significant potential to give much earlier, and greater, certainty to prospective developers.