Chamber and committees

Forecasts for the 2023-2024 Budget were produced by the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC), and published on 15 December 2022. The change to the rateable value threshold for Fresh Start relief from £95,000 to £100,000 was judged by the SFC to be below the materiality threshold, and was not costed separately. Fresh Start relief overall is forecast by the SFC to cost £5 million in 2023-24.

There is strong national planning policy support for approval of good quality conversions to residential development following thorough planning assessments. We have no plans to introduce new permitted development rights providing for the conversion of business premises to housing without a planning application. We sought views on this during the second phase of the ongoing review of permitted development rights. More than 90% of respondents agreed this should not be taken forward and that residential development should continue to be plan-led. National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was adopted in February 2023 and is now part of the development plan. Policy 9 (Brownfield, vacant and derelict land and empty buildings) of NPF4 supports the sustainable reuse of brownfield land including vacant buildings. Furthermore, Policy 27 of NPF4 (City, town, local and commercial centres) specifically supports town centre living and the re-use of vacant buildings within city and town centres for residential development.

The Scottish Government is co-operating fully with the work of the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry, this will include participating, as required, in public hearings. It is a matter for the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry as to who they call to give evidence.

Tackling empty homes is a priority. Local authorities already have broad compulsory purchase powers, which are being used to tackle empty homes and, where possible, return them to use as warm, safe and secure housing.

We are taking forward work to modernise the compulsory purchase process to make it clearer, fairer and faster. Any new powers would need to be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights and careful consideration given to the compatibility with existing powers. This includes proposals for Compulsory Sales Orders.

The First Minister and the Prime Minister spoke on the telephone on 28 March 2023 and have exchanged letters. The First Minister looks forward to meeting the Prime Minister in person in due course.

The Scottish Government does not maintain a central record of appointments, or vacancies, pertaining to UK level bodies.

The Unsuitable Accommodation Order was extended to all households in May 2020 to ensure all homeless households are provided with the highest quality accommodation to support them out of homelessness.

This means that the maximum number of days that local authorities can use unsuitable accommodation for any homeless person is seven days and has the effect of ending stays in unsuitable accommodation, such as hotels, apart from in emergency situations.

Any household placed in unsuitable accommodation for longer than seven days should be recorded as a breach.

The Scottish Housing Regulator is obliged to monitor and assess local authority compliance with the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO) and, if any UAO breaches are reported, will intervene as appropriate.

Freight works on a commercial basis so the decision to move products by rail is a decision for the customer and its logistics provider.

However, I can confirm that a dedicated express rail logistics service is currently running into Scotland. This service which runs between Birmingham and Mossend, started with a trial period on 17 October 2022 followed by a full operational service running five nights a week from 9 January 2023, is operated by Varamis Rail.

(a) Transport Scotland received the following number of applications for the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme since 2018:

2018-19 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 6 cross border flows.

2019-20 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 5 cross border flows.

2020-21 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 5 cross border flows.

2021-22 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 6 cross border flows.

2022-23 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 7 cross border flows.

(b) Transport Scotland received the following number of applications for the Freight Facilities Grant scheme since 2018:

2018-19 - 0

2019-20 - 1

2020-21 - 1

2021-22 - 0

2022-23 - 2

The International Trade and Investment budget funds the delivery of three key plans. These are: A Trading Nation - Scotland's Export Growth Plan; Scotland's Inward Investment Plan and Scotland's Global Capital Investment Plan. Together these work to deliver economic growth as well as a stronger, fairer, greener Scotland that benefits everyone. They enable Scotland to be a highly productive and innovative place to live, work and do business on a global scale.

Evidence shows that our plans are working:

In terms of Inward Investment –

• The EY Annual Attractiveness Survey 2022 showed that Scotland has been the top performing region or nation of the UK, outside of London, in attracting FDI, for the past 7 years.
• Scotland’s FDI projects outpaced Europe and the rest of the UK – Scottish projects were up by 14% from 2020, compared to 5.4% increase in Europe and 1.8% per cent increase in UK.

In terms of Exports –

• Comparing with the previous year, when oil and gas are excluded, Scotland’s international goods exports increased by 20.5% in 2022 compared to 2021. This compares to a 13.3% increase for the UK.

International Trade and Investment’s budget for 2023-24 will be targeted towards the next phase of delivery which will:

• Set the direction on new Market Opportunities to attract high quality inward investment (and associated spill over benefits) and the technologies required to deliver our ambitions in areas such as Energy Transition, focusing on Scotwind and Hydrogen, Space, and Decarbonisation.
• Scale up Scotland’s trade promotion, international reach and profile; promoting Scotland on world stage at key events such as COP28.
• Continue targeted support to enhance our firms’ export capacity. In particular, delivering three Sector Export Plans (SEP) – Life Sciences, Technology and Renewables and the development of a Hydrogen SEP to support the growth of renewables exports from Scotland and identifying new and critical markets
• Push forward our capital plans to support the economy, including exceeding our commitment to the annual capitalisation of the Scottish National Investment Bank, and renewing support for the enterprise agencies and delivery partners.