Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government takes matters of building safety seriously. While building owners have responsibility for their properties, the matter of Large Panel System buildings has been considered by the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety and discussed within the Cross Sector Building Safety Forum. This Forum has been established to ensure that potential building safety issues are identified and shared amongst those who may have an interest, to allow them to take action where necessary.

Owners are advised to engage appropriate expert consultants to advise them using the authoritative guidance on Large Panel Systems from the Building Research Establishment and the Institution of Structural Engineers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40549 on 24 September 2025. 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.

The purchase of forest estates by Gresham House FF VI LLP was conducted via normal market mechanisms. The Scottish Government does not monitor land or forest sales in Scotland and does not carry out assessments around the impacts of individual land transactions. All forest land should, however, be managed according to the principles of sustainable forest management as laid out in the UK Forestry Standard regardless of the ownership. The UK Forestry Standard contains requirements and guidelines on environmental quality, managing and improving biodiversity and community engagement.

The Scottish Government expects all managers of afforested land, including Gresham House, to meet the requirements of sustainable forest management as outlined in the UK Forestry Standard. The UK Forestry Standard contains requirements and guidelines on environmental quality, managing and improving biodiversity and community engagement.

Scotland does not have a legislative provision for safety certification of Large Panel System buildings. Local authorities in Scotland have statutory powers under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 to address buildings that pose a risk to public safety due to structural instability or other hazards.

Owners of LPS buildings can use the long established guidance from the Building Research Establishment to assess and manage their property and can use information from The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) website: An update about Large Panel System (LPS) - The Institution of Structural Engineers.

Since my appointment to this post in June I have not had a meeting with the Interim Chief Executive of NHS Grampian. I last met with Integration Authority Chief Officers, including the Chief Officer of Health and Social Care Moray, on 7 August 2025.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Ensuring the safety of Large Panel System buildings is a shared responsibility, where there are multiple property owners in a shared residential block they hold joint accountability.

While building owners have responsibility for their properties, the matter of Large Panel System buildings has been considered by the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety and discussed within the Cross Sector Building Safety Forum. The forum includes key sector leads in this area including local authorities and NHS assure. This forum helps to inform the Scottish Government approach to such buildings in Scotland.

Owners are advised to engage appropriate expert consultants to advise them using the authoritative guidance on Large Panel Systems from the Building Research Establishment and the Institution of Structural Engineers.

The upcoming Infrastructure Strategy and associated delivery plan pipeline will be published as part of our fiscal event this winter. Publishing the strategy, planned pipeline, the spending review and budget plans together ensures a long-term, strategically aligned investment prospectus that is fully costed. The exact date of the fiscal event is being agreed with Parliament just now.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the safety of the people in Scotland under threat of being victims of transplant-related offences, including when those offences take place in other countries. The Human Tissue (Supply of Information about Transplants) (Scotland) Regulations 2025, which came into force on 1 July 2025, place a duty on all clinicians in Scotland to report to the UK Human Tissue Authority (1) suspicions about transplant-related crimes, that arise in the course of the clinician’s profession; and (2) information about overseas transplants. The duty applies to doctors and nurses practising in transplant and non-transplant centres across Scotland to ensure that the duty applies to all clinicians who may come across these patients.

The Regulations, which are in line with the arrangements that are in place in the rest of the UK, give clarity to clinicians in Scotland around when, and to whom, they should report relevant suspected offences in the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 or the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. Guidance has been issued to clinicians about the implementation of the Regulations. The Regulations have been brought to the attention of NHS Boards and others in Scotland. Any reports that the Human Tissue Authority receives will be considered and, where relevant, findings will be passed on to Police Scotland for further investigation.

(a) The Agricultural Wages Enforcement Team’s (AWET) role is to ensure compliance with the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Order, which sets out minimum pay and conditions for workers in the sector. The Order does not specifically cover the standard of accommodation but during wages inspections workers are given the opportunity to raise any concerns associated with their employment. If a worker raises any accommodation concerns, this information would be recorded and passed on to the relevant authority. In the last three calendar years, no migrant workers have raised accommodation concerns as part of an inspection.

(b) No outcomes arose as no migrant workers reported accommodation concerns to the AWET.

Responsibility for monitoring and enforcing standards of tied or seasonal worker accommodation rests with local authorities, primarily through their environmental health and housing functions. For migrant workers, the Seasonal Worker Visa scheme’s (SWV) guidance states that any housing or other concerns should be reported to their Scheme Operators (SOs), as they have a duty to ensure workers are housed in hygienic and safe accommodation that is in a good state of repair. All migrant workers receive this guidance in their induction pack. In addition, all SOs provide a confidential helpline through which workers can report their concerns.

As a condition of their licence, SOs are responsible for the welfare of workers, which includes ensuring that accommodation provided is safe, suitable and hygienic.