Chamber and committees

The eligibility criteria for lodging a proposal to alter a Council Tax valuation band are set out in The Council Tax (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (Scotland) Regulations 1993 and are administered by Scottish Assessors, who are independent of national and local government.

The current framework provides a number of routes through which valuation bands may be reviewed. Council Taxpayers may make a proposal in prescribed circumstances, including within six months of becoming liable for Council Tax at a property. Similar rules exist in England and Wales.

In addition, Assessors have an ongoing statutory duty to maintain accurate valuation lists and may alter a valuation band where they are satisfied that an error has been made. As such, Assessors may accept informal requests for the valuation of a property at any time, without time limit. The decision whether to undertake such informal consideration of council tax banding is discretionary and therefore is one for the Assessor alone to make.

The Scottish Government has worked with Local Government, including through a joint programme of engagement in the last parliamentary session, to build agreement and inform debate on the future of Council Tax. This has involved independent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a public consultation which closed in January 2026 and engagement with members of the public and tax professionals. Analysis of this engagement and consultation activity will be published later this year. This will help to provide a clear evidence base for further work to build agreement on the future of Council Tax.

The Scottish Government will in due course publish a breakdown of the appointments & procedures which will be delivered as a result of the additional £90m announced to tackle long waits.

Our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Pathways, operational in six health boards across Scotland, provide primary care clinicians with access to a fast-track diagnostic pathway for people with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer, such as weight loss and fatigue.

For all other individuals with symptoms of cancer, the Scottish Government would expect primary care clinicians to refer to the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer (SRGs). A clinical review of SRGs has been completed with updated guidance published on 6 August 2025

There is no single nationally agreed Scottish definition of ‘rapidly progressing cancer’ or ‘aggressive cancer’. Whilst clinicians may use terms such as these on occasion to support patients understand their diagnosis, they are not recognised as clinical descriptors.

Public Health Scotland reports cancer stage using standard stage groups one to four, with Stage One and Two typically classified as early-stage disease and Stage Three and Four as late-stage disease. Cases where stage cannot be assigned are reported as unknown stage.

The Scottish Government will in due course publish a breakdown of the appointments & procedures which will be delivered as a result of the additional £90m announced to tackle long waits.

All Credit Rating reports will cite factors that could influence a rating action.

Importantly, the Credit Rating results confirmed the Scottish Government as high investment grade, after assessing the credit fundamentals of the Scottish economy, the Scottish Government’s financial stewardship and the approach to debt management. These strengths remain.

In the event of fundamental constitutional change, the Scottish Government would be rated as a Sovereign Government, under a different methodology.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02130 on 17 August 2026. 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.

All proceeds from a future bond issuance would be used exclusively for capital investment in line with the capital borrowing powers outlined in the Fiscal Framework agreement between the Scottish and UK Governments.

In November 2025 the Scottish Government published a summary Outline Business Case (OBC) assessing the case for the Bonds Programme. This provides an assessment of the range of total present value of additional costs in 2024-25 prices across different issuance options compared to borrowing via the NLF.

The Summary OBC can be accessed from Scottish Government bonds programme: outline business case summary - gov.scot

The Scottish Government has not given the matter consideration and as per my answer to S7W-01396 on 13 July 2026.

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.