Chamber and committees

Since 25 January 2019 until 13 October 2021, the period covered by S6W-03688 on 29 October 2021 and S6W-04853 on 14 December 2021, there have been 19 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) unpaid prior to referral to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, compared to 93 paid. This makes a payment rate over the period of 83%.

The breakdown is as follows:

(a) 8 of the 19 cases were referred to the COPFS for consideration of prosecution; 2 of the 8 cases resulted in the original FPNs being paid after agreement with the Procurator Fiscal, ultimately resulting in 17 unpaid FPNs in total and;

(b) 4 of the 8 cases resulted in convictions and fines with the breakdown as follows:

The Scottish Government has supported four pilot regions in the development of bespoke Regional Land Use Frameworks (RLUFs). This work was taken forward through a co-development approach with a range of stakeholders. It tested a natural capital-led approach to identifying land use opportunities and priorities, whilst maintaining place-based principles to understand the potential for delivering mutual benefits to all land users.

This work covers the South of Scotland (Scottish borders and Dumfries and Galloway) The Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Parks and the NorthWest 2045 region of the Highlands. More information on the individual RLUFs can be found at the links below:

• South of Scotland region: Delivery & Strategies | South of Scotland Regional Economic Partnership
• North West Highland region: Land+ Project | NORTHWEST2045
• Cairngorms National Park region: Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan 2022-27
• Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park region: Read The Plan - Here. Now. All of us. - Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park

We are now working with the RLUPS to consolidate this learning in order to refine our understanding of the role that RLUFs could play in supporting/delivering land use change and informing wider Scottish Government policy.

The Best Start Foods card is restricted to stores which sell the eligible foods and is blocked for use in other establishments. The eligible foods are printed on the back of the card.

The Scottish Government has today published the Verity House Agreement stocktake report. It is available at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836019817.

Development of the National Specification for substance use services is underway and we expect to publish in the first quarter of 2025

We are establishing a Housing Planning Hub as a priority to help unblock stalled sites. We are now working with public and private sector partners to consider the reasons why specific sites are not progressing to development, and to confirm details around the role, scope and operation of the Hub.

We recognise that there are complex reasons why homes remain empty and dedicated empty homes officers are essential in building relationships with owners to help resolve these. Our recently updated guidance to councils makes clear that they can utilise the ring-fenced revenue they derive from council tax on second and empty homes to fund more officers. This is not, however, the purpose of the Housing Planning Hub which I announced on 12 November. Nevertheless, the work I announced on the potential for further permitted development rights could support efforts to bring some empty properties into residential use.

Under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, a public body with an annual procurement spend of at least £5 million must report each year on how, when its procurements involve the provision of food, it is improving the health, wellbeing and education of communities in the body’s area, and promoting the highest standards of animal welfare.

The Scottish Government continues to support the delivery of the Food for Life Programme in local authorities across Scotland which has a primary focus on school meals. Food for Life accreditation ensures that at least 75% of school food is fresh and unprocessed, as well as greatly increasing the amount of fresh fruit (including berries) and vegetables; fish; and wholegrains on the menu. There are currently 16 councils who hold Food for Life accreditation, with ongoing work to ensure retention, expansion and development of the programme.

The development of the circular economy strategy and associated monitoring and indicator framework will be developed between now and March 2026.

A consultation for both is planned for summer 2025 with development of targets to follow the publication of the strategy and monitoring and indicator framework.

The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act was approved unanimously by Parliament in June and gives Ministers and local authorities the tools they need to achieve our ambitions for a circular economy and build on progress to date. Scotland has made good long-term progress towards reaching our circular economy ambitions with the total amount of waste going to landfill in Scotland halving over the past decade, the overall recycling rate at its highest level since records began in 2011 (62.3%) and the most recent official statistics showing Scotland met its 2025 target to reduce all waste by 15%.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Acts of 2003 and 2016 detail the time that decisions on community right to buy applications should take. There is no end date set for these decisions. The Acts state that Ministers must not reach a decision on an application before the date which is 60 days after the last date on which the Part 3A/Part 5 community body may provide Scottish Ministers with a response to the comments on the application, provided by the owner and other parties.

In practice, the length of time each right to buy decision takes will depend on the complexity of the case, the timing and content of the comments received from all parties, and any legal issues that may be relevant to the case. It is important to ensure that, whatever decision is reached, that it is done so in a robust and fair manner to all parties.

Independent reporters from DPEA have held 96 public inquires on behalf of Scottish Ministers since 1999.

These relate to public inquiries held where a planning authority and/or statutory consultee objected to an application under the Electricity Act.

Dates by year are not available for cases received prior to 2011