Chamber and committees

I met with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen on 20 July to discuss the review of the Scottish Government’s Fiscal Framework.

Following a series of negotiations, we have agreed on an updated Fiscal Framework, which will be published today. This follows the completion of an independent report into the Scottish Government’s block grant adjustments, which will also be published today.

This agreement updates the 2016 Fiscal Framework following a Parliament’s worth of experience and helps to keep the Scottish Government’s devolution settlement up to date.

Alongside this agreement both governments acknowledged the important independent work undertaken by Audit Scotland and the Scottish Fiscal Commission in providing scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s finances. Both Governments reaffirmed their support for these bodies and the calls from the Finance and Public Administration committee to increase this reporting as set out in their letter to the Commission of May 2023. Both governments noted that the Framework for Audit and Accountability which sits alongside the Scottish Government’s Fiscal Framework will also be reviewed in due course.

I would also like to thank the Finance and Public Administration Committee for its contribution to the public discourse on the Framework since 2016, including the evidence submitted to the call for stakeholder input to the Independent Report, and which have informed this revised agreement.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that the Registers of Scotland does not collect information that is meant to identify land as publicly owned. Estimates are highly dependent on how public bodies are defined and searched for (by name) in the Land Register of Scotland and the Registers of Scotland Unlocking Sasines dataset.

Using available data sources, we estimate that on 21 July 2023, public sector bodies (including local authorities) held approximately 32,882 holdings across all tenure types, covering a combined area of approximately 884,350 ha.

288 holdings exceed 500 ha.

The Scottish Government has written to all 14 Territorial Health Boards and Police Scotland to determine the extent of these issues across Scotland. The responses are now being complied and the conclusions will be sent to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee shortly. I am clear that access to the right treatment at the right time for each and every person is vital to the implementation of the Medication Assisted Treatment Standards across our nation and is at the very heart of our national mission on drugs.

The most recent information on spending on housing and community amenities for Scotland is set out in the Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland (GERS) 2021-22 publication, which shows that spending on these services for Scotland was £479 per person in 2021-22. This compares to spending of £185 per person for England and £380 per person for Wales in 2021-22. The England and Wales figures are taken from HM Treasury's Country and Regional Analysis publication, available at: Country and regional analysis: 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Cross-country comparisons of the level of public spending are affected by which services are provided by the public and private sectors. Excluding spending on water supply, which is provided by the private sector in England and Wales and the public sector in Scotland, the level of spending per person on housing and community amenity services was £371 per person in Scotland, £185 per person in England and £380 per person in Wales in 2021-22.

Maps of the Green Freeport areas have been published on the UK Government’s website and can be accessed at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-freeports-in-scotland-bidding-prospectus .

The two Green Freeports are currently preparing business cases for consideration by the Scottish Government and the UK Government. In those business cases, the Green Freeports must report on the environmental impacts of their proposals, and show how they will comply with relevant environmental regulations. More information on business case requirements can be found on the UK Government’s website, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/scottish-green-freeports-set-up-phase-guidance/scottish-green-freeports-set-up-phase-guidance .

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that on 19 July 2023, out of the 2040 registered titles with a footprint area over 500 ha, 809 are owned exclusively by one or more natural persons. A further 15 titles are leased exclusively by one or more natural persons and 2 are mixed tenure titles registered under the Land Registration (Scotland) 1979 Act.

These figures exclude titles where a natural person may be acting in a special capacity (e.g., as a trustee or partner), as well as titles with a complex proprietorship structure consisting of a mix of natural and non-natural persons acting in various capacities.

Of the 615 areas of unregistered land over 500 ha, which have been linked to a Sasines Search Sheet in the Registers of Scotland Unlocking Sasines dataset, an estimated 244 are indicatively owned exclusively by one or more natural persons.

A breakdown by region is provided in the following table. 10 Land Register titles over 500 ha Register are near shore or offshore and therefore fall outwith the mapped boundaries of Scottish Local Authority areas.

Table: Land Register Titles/Unlocking Sasines polygons held by one or more natural persons

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that on 19 July 2023, out of the 2040 registered titles with a footprint area over 500 ha, 434 are owned exclusively by one or more companies. A further 212 titles are leased exclusively by one or more companies and 2 are mixed tenure titles registered under the Land Registration (Scotland) 1979 Act.

These figures exclude titles with a complex proprietorship structure consisting of a mix of natural and non-natural persons which may include a company.

Of the 615 areas of unregistered land over 500 ha, which have been linked to a Sasines Search Sheet in the Registers of Scotland Unlocking Sasines dataset, an estimated 188 are owned exclusively by one or more companies.

A breakdown by region is provided in the following table. 5 Land Register titles over 500 ha are near-shore or offshore and therefore fall outwith the mapped boundaries of Scottish Local Authority areas.

Table: Land Register Titles/Unlocking Sasines polygons held by one or more companies

Our Diabetes Improvement Plan, published in 2021, contains a key commitment to increase access to existing and emerging diabetes technologies. Between 2016 and 2022, we have invested £29.6 million of additional funding specifically to support this.

The new Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway workstream will also support accelerated distribution of Closed Loop Systems, in a more equitable way across Scotland, by creating a new national onboarding team. We are aware there are variations in approach to the cost of replacement batteries for insulin pumps across NHS Boards and we have asked Boards and healthcare professionals to improve equity of access to technologies. Through the ANIA pathway workstream, the Scottish Government has invested a further £350,000 to accelerate the distribution of Closed Loop Systems.

Not all insulin pumps require batteries, and we expect NHS Boards and staff to support patients to find the most appropriate technology for their specific circumstances.

We are committed to supporting families and households who are facing the increased cost of living, and this includes tackling the barriers people face when trying to access diabetes technologies.

The Scottish Government do not hold this information. Under the current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Home Office. If a displaced person from Ukraine has been issued a visa, they are free to travel anywhere within the UK or to leave and re-enter the UK when they wish, as long as they are meeting the conditions within their visa. The UK Government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities publish data on arrivals in the UK, with a Scottish Sponsor Visa: Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme: Visa data by country, upper and lower tier local authority - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Scottish Government publish the latest Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine coming to Scotland through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. This data can be found on our website via: Ukraine: analysis and statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .