Chamber and committees

Registers of Scotland (RoS) is a non-Ministerial Public Body answerable to the Scottish Parliament.

Scotland’s Land Information Service (ScotLIS) was created and is maintained by RoS, providing online access to information on land and property in Scotland for both public and business users.

The costs of maintaining and enhancing ScotLIS are met by RoS from fee income generated. Potential enhancements to the service are based on the needs of users – both business and citizen. To ascertain user need, RoS is in regular dialogue with customers and periodically run dedicated user research sessions focussed on ScotLIS.

Enhancements since the service first launched have included access to a Crofting Register layer, an Aerial photography map layer, the Sasines Register indicative ownership layer, the Books of Council & Session, the Register of Judgements, the Register of Inhibitions and National Library Scotland’s Historic Maps. In addition, an option for customers to self-serve copy deeds has been introduced along with modern interfaces to enable high-volume customers of RoS data to seamlessly integrate that information with their systems.

Numerous factors will affect heat pump installation rates, including consumer demand, installer availability, and electricity load upgrades by district network operators.

We have allocated £1.63bn of funding through our Heat in Buildings schemes this Parliamentary Session while our planned introduction of a Heat in Buildings Bill later this year will strengthen awareness and understanding about the need to change.

No concerns were raised at any point.

Costs for The Gathering were met from within relevant portfolio budgets which include budget cover for a range of day-to-day spend, including events and engagements.

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring equitable access to genomic tests associated with Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) approved medicines.

While the work of the Scottish Genomics Test Advisory Group (SG-TAG) is currently paused, processes remain in place to support test development and implementation.

Requests for new genomic testing can still be submitted via an interim process in place since October 2024. New submissions are regularly reviewed by the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM) horizon scanning group for consideration of next steps.

The Scottish Government continues to invest in Scotland’s genomic capabilities, and we are working in conjunction with NHS Scotland National Services Division (NSD) on a transformation programme to ensure we can commission and implement additional testing.

The recruitment and deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police Scotland’s three-year Business Plan 2024-2027 sets out the Chief Constable’s vision of a thriving workforce which goes beyond an overall officer headcount and that of a police workforce which includes police staff.

The Chief Constable aims to make maximum impact with a workforce that has the right skills and capacity to keep people safe. Through the Chief Constable’s workforce modernisation plan, Police Scotland are developing an operating model that will create capacity to deal with new and increasing threats by moving more officers to frontline roles, to strengthen community confidence.

The deployment of officers and staff is a matter for the Chief Constable. It is vital that the Chief Constable has the flexibility to develop her workforce to respond to new and emerging operational demands.

Investigation of reports to Police Scotland are quite rightly operational matters for the Chief Constable. Police Scotland has confirmed that every crime report is assessed for threat, harm, risk, vulnerability and for proportionate lines of investigation and evidence, as soon as it is reported.

The Scottish Government continues to support Angus Council to address the erosion issues affecting the sand dunes in Montrose through the Coastal Change Adaptation Fund.

Dredging license applications from Montrose Port Authority have been carefully considered by the Scottish Government ensuring that most dredged material is deposited within Montrose Bay and the dredged material remains in the same coastal circulation cell.

We continue to progress our Dynamic Coast project and between 2022-23 and 2025-26 Angus Council have received almost £730,000 from Scottish Government’s Coastal Change Adaptation Fund: £290,000 in direct distribution and £440,000 to fund a case study to improve the flood resilience of sand dunes at Montrose.

The Scottish Government has made significant early progress through our delivery schemes, with heat pump deployment increasing year on year. The rest of the UK is now catching up on pace of delivery, having adopted a similar approach to our existing grant offer.

We will introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill this year which sets a target for decarbonising heat by 2045. However, we must ensure that any proposed interventions reduce carbon emissions and help reduce fuel poverty. We are therefore calling for urgent UK Government action to significantly reduce the running costs of clean heating systems like heat pumps.

Our goal remains to decarbonise the heat in Scotland’s buildings by 2045. We are taking action in pursuit of this target, including the allocation of £1.63 billion of funding through our Heat in Buildings schemes this Parliamentary Session so far.

The Heat in Buildings Bill that we have committed to introducing this year will set this target in legislation. But we also need urgent UK Government action to significantly reduce the running costs of clean heating systems like heat pumps.