Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the value of a thriving circular fashion and sustainable textiles sector in Scotland and is committed to pursuing opportunities to strengthen support across the sector.

We have been working with stakeholders across the supply chain to develop further actions to accelerate sustainable economic growth. Recognising ACS’s commitment to innovation and circular fashion, Scottish Government officials met with ACS on Friday 5th September to discuss their ideas for further circularity innovations and collaboration between organisations across the sector.

We have confirmed that textile products will be a key focus of our product stewardship plan and we will consider the textiles sector in our forthcoming Circular Economy Strategy. We have also been working with Defra as they draw up their Circular Economy Strategy for England to understand where we can collaborate on measures, and where action must be taken by the UK Government.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the expansion of Housing First and has pledged £3 million to incentivise registered social landlords to pledge additional tenancies through the acquisition of suitable properties. We anticipate that this investment will support the acquisition of between 40 and 50 properties. The Scottish Government supports the delivery of Housing First through the provision of Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan funding. In addition to the £72.5m provided to local authorities since 2018, the Scottish Government will provide a £1m Housing First uplift in 2025-26 and has confirmed the extension of funding to 2026-27, bringing the total funding provided to £83.5m. The Scottish Government also funds Homeless Network Scotland to provide advice to local authorities on scaling up Housing First in their areas.

Across Scotland from April 2020 to March 2024 a total of 1,179 Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) were imposed by the courts. There were 743 DTTOs completed or subject to early discharge from the court on the basis of sufficient progress being observed between April 2020 and March 2024.

Since 2021, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) have worked with the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest to identify landscapes where they can work co-operatively with other land managers to effectively control rhododendron at the landscape scale. FLS accounting systems do not differentiate rhododendron control from other environmental expenditure such as Invasive Non-Native Species control. Therefore, it is not possible to provide exact figures of expenditure on a) removal and b) control of Rhododendron ponticum in each year since 2020-21. However, between 2022-23 and 2024-25 £1.685 million was spent on INNS and rhododendron removal and follow-up control in priority rainforest areas. During the current financial year, £1.397 million has been made available for INNS and rhododendron control.

Scottish Forestry has agreed £1.793 million of grant support for the eradication of rhododendron since the 2020-21. The funding provided is to support works that secure the removal of rhododendron from the funding area.

In addition, a number of Nature Restoration Fund projects aimed at improving and restoring areas of Atlantic rainforest include rhododendron control and removal. NatureScot does not hold precise information on the elements of those project costs that are solely directed at rhododendron control, but the total of the awarded costs of these projects from 2020-21 to 2024-25 is £1.734 million. The total of the awarded costs for 2025-26 is £1.322 million.

Implementation of Sections 14 and 15 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 enable ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of the legislation by ensuring systematic data collection and public reporting. If the draft SSI is approved by Parliament when it is laid following the current consultation period, these reporting requirements will enable a deepening of the understanding of the impact of implementing the sex characteristic legislation, while also supporting meaningful engagement with communities to assess how commencement will affect them.

Further, we will continue to monitor our wider activity to tackle hate crime as set out in the terms of reference for the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group which is chaired by the Minister for Victims and Community Safety.

The fiscal regime for offshore oil and gas, as well as the regulatory regimes for licensing and consenting, are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK Government.

We continue to call on the UK Government to listen carefully to concerns being expressed by businesses and trade bodies around the impacts of its Energy Profits Levy.

We are now awaiting the UK Government’s response to its recent consultation, which must clearly set out how a stable and long-term fiscal regime will be used to deliver business and investor certainty for the North Sea. The Energy Profits Levy was always supposed to be a temporary measure and we must see the earliest possible end date, as it is now affecting investment and jobs in the North East.

The establishment of the National Social Work Agency is underway. It will be an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government and will be established by Spring 2026. Recruitment for the Chief Executive of the agency is underway to support the transition from the Scottish Government and is line with existing policies and procedures.

The Scottish Government’s hybrid working policy outlines that organisations outside of Scottish Government core, for example, executive agencies will set out their own local approaches. Once the Chief Executive is in post and with the supporting structures in place, the future policy on hybrid working within the National Social Work Agency will be a matter for the Chief Executive and the Board to lead, in consultation with staff and the unions.

The Scottish Government and its agencies have not had any recent discussions with the horticultural sector specifically regarding the invasiveness of Rhododendron ponticum.

The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 states that Scottish Ministers may, by regulations, make provision prohibiting or restricting the disposal of unsold consumer goods if they consider it appropriate to do. The policy design will be informed by evidence and stakeholder engagement, and any measures will include an implementation period to allow businesses to prepare. Textile products will be a key focus of our product stewardship plan, and the sector will be considered in our forthcoming Circular Economy Strategy.

It is unclear where the figure for the reported loss of 12,000 homes from the landlord register since May 2023 has come from. The most recently published figures show an increase in registered properties of almost 8,000 from May 2023 to July 2025.

According to official published statistics derived from the Scottish Landlord Register, in May 2023 there were 238,787 registered landlords and 341,417 registered properties. By July 2025, the most recent data available, this had fallen to 232,922 landlords, while the number of registered properties had increased to 349,313:

Housing statistics: Scottish Landlord Register data - gov.scot

This represents a reduction of 5,865 landlords over the period. Importantly, while landlord numbers have declined slightly, the number of registered properties has risen by almost 8,000 homes.

While these changes may point to some landlords choosing to leave the sector, the evidence suggests that their properties are remaining in the sector, or new properties are being offered for rent.

It should be noted that there are some limitations to the administrative data from the landlord register, including the time-lag in landlords deregistering properties that are no longer available to rent. These statistics should therefore be treated with some caution.