S7W-03845

Asked by: Mochan, Carol (Scottish Labour - South Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to women’s poverty as part of its public service reform agenda, and what engagement it is undertaking with stakeholders to ensure that women’s poverty and child poverty are at the forefront of this reform.

Answered by McKee, Ivan - Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform

Public services are fundamental to the Government’s ambitions, including tackling poverty, and reform is about strengthening those services now and into the future.

Our Public Service Reform Strategy recognises that better joined-up, preventative public services can improve outcomes for people while supporting fiscal sustainability, including by ensuring people can access the right support when they need it.

We recognise that women, particularly those experiencing poverty, can be disproportionately affected where services are difficult to access or do not work effectively together. Reform and efficiency are therefore not about doing less with less, but about strengthening services through prevention, better integration and reducing unnecessary duplication and administrative costs.

Our approach includes ambitious work on Whole Family Support and the development of a new Prevention Unit, which will help address the drivers of demand, support greater collaboration across sectors and strengthen investment in preventative approaches. The Government is also developing preventative budgeting arrangements to improve our understanding of investment in prevention and its contribution to improving outcomes.

We continue to listen carefully to the views and evidence of stakeholders, including evidence provided through parliamentary scrutiny of Public Service Reform and its equality impacts. This engagement will continue as individual reform programmes are developed and implemented, ensuring that equality considerations, including the experiences of women and families experiencing poverty, inform delivery.

Eradicating child poverty remains the Scottish Government’s foremost priority, and Public Service Reform has an important contribution to make through earlier intervention, more holistic support and public services designed around the needs of people and families.

S7W-04051

Asked by: Sweeney, Paul (Scottish Labour - Glasgow)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value is of the additional financial support that it has offered to provide to Glasgow City Council to fund three years of pay protection until April 2030 for the approximately 11% of non-teaching staff facing salary reductions under the local authority's new pay and grading system, whether this funding is ring-fenced, and from which budget line or fiscal resource it will be drawn.

Answered by Gilruth, Jenny - Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government

The Scottish Government has committed to providing financial support to allow an extension of pay protection from April 2028 to support Glasgow City Council employees. The council is fully funding pay protection until the end of March 2028.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the council to confirm costs and will make necessary provision in future budgets.

S7W-03846

Asked by: Mochan, Carol (Scottish Labour - South Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has published an easy read version of the Programme for Government 2026-31. 

Answered by Hepburn, Jamie - Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans

Accessibility considerations are central to the drafting and design of the Programme for Government, and the final web publication meets the Government Communication Service Accessibility Standards and Web Content Accessibility Guideline requirements.

While there is not an easy read version of the Programme for Government 2026-31, these standards mean that digital content and services are available to more people in Scotland through, for example, Alt Text on images and content that supports assistive technology like screen readers.

S7W-03912

Asked by: Eagle, Tim (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Highlands and Islands)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will begin its consultation on the proposed Procurement Bill, as set out in its Programme for Government.

Answered by McKee, Ivan - Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform

Preparations are underway for a Procurement Bill consultation planned for publication in 2027.

S7W-03873

Asked by: Mochan, Carol (Scottish Labour - South Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) local authorities, (b) Police Scotland and (c) animal welfare organisations regarding promoting responsible dog ownership and reducing problems arising from irresponsible ownership in communities and public spaces.

Answered by Oswald, Kirsten - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

The Scottish Government hosted a ‘Responsible Dog Ownership’ Summit in September 2024. The summit was an opportunity to bring together experts from a range of organisations, including Police Scotland, local authorities, animal welfare organisations, public health and third sector organisations to consider how dog control and public safety can be improved upon.

The Summit Report is available on the Scottish Government website: Responsible dog ownership summit: report - gov.scot

The Scottish Government subsequently established an Expert Advisory Group to look at the various issues raised at the Summit to help determine what steps can be progressed in the short, medium, and long term. For example, this includes what positive action can be taken that does not require legislation through, say, improvement to how laws are enforced.

Members of the expert advisory group include bodies such as Police Scotland, COSLA, Scottish SPCA, Dogs Trust and the National Dog Warden Association.

A number of sub-groups of the Expert Advisory Group have also been set up. The sub-groups are currently looking at specific areas of work, covering issues such as enforcement of dog control laws and dog welfare.

That work is ongoing, and the Scottish Government looks forward to seeing the recommendations of the Expert Advisory Group in due course.

General laws in relation to dog control are also kept under review to help ensure they continue to help keep communities safe.

S7W-03782

Asked by: Langan, Jamie (Reform UK - South Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of proposals in Northern Ireland, which would require sellers and suppliers of puppies, and sellers of kittens under six months of age, to register with their local council, and what consideration it has given to establishing such a requirement in Scotland.

Answered by Fairlie, Jim - Minister for Agriculture, Marine and the Islands

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (the 2021 Regulations) introduced an updated, modern framework for animal-related activities, including the breeding and selling of puppies and kittens. The 2021 Regulations already require that those breeding more than 3 litters of puppies or kittens or selling animals as pets in the course of a business be licensed by the appropriate licensing authority.

The Scottish Government has not made any assessment of proposals in Northern Ireland, which would require sellers and suppliers of puppies, and sellers of kittens under six months of age, to register with their local council, nor given consideration to establishing such a requirement in Scotland. However, Scottish Government officials meet regularly with officials from the UK Government and other devolved administrations to discuss issues relating to the wider pet trade.

S7W-03686

Asked by: MacDougall, Julie (Reform UK - Mid Scotland and Fife)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will conduct a full review of the economic impact of recent policies relating to short-term lets, including the Short Term Lets licensing scheme and Visitor Levy.

Answered by Somerville, Shirley-Anne - Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing

The Scottish Government monitors tourism sector performance through a range of data sources and stakeholder intelligence. The tourism sector is performing strongly in many areas, including short-term let accommodation - with the number of Scottish short-term let listings in March 2026 10% higher than in March 2025 and 8% higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Guest nights booked in short-term lets also increased by 11% in 2025 compared with 2024, and were 4% higher in June 2026. This compares favourably with the UK as a whole, where demand declined slightly (down 1%). Short-term let occupancy rates in June 2026 (57%) remained stable compared with the previous year and continued to exceed the UK average (47%).

Business and regulatory considerations were one of the impact assessments undertaken during development of the licensing scheme. Since short-term let licensing commenced in 2022, we have already provided written and verbal updates to Parliament in 2023 and 2025, as well as a report published in 2024. In addition, licensing authorities will conduct their own impact assessments as they periodically review, consult and update their policy statements.

The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 requires Scottish Ministers to review and report on the operation of the Act, as soon as reasonably practicable 3 years after the first levy scheme comes into effect. The report must set out an assessment of the impact of visitor levy schemes on businesses and communities.

S7W-03661

Asked by: Eagle, Tim (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Highlands and Islands)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many drivers have been (a) charged and (b) prosecuted for driving while using a mobile phone, in each year since 2021.

Answered by None

The following table has been produced in answer to the above question. It should be noted that these figures relate to charges reported to COPFS, rather than individual drivers. COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis and the information within it is structured accordingly.

The database has been searched for charges received by COPFS under the Scottish Government classification as mobile phone driving offences. This covers offences under S41D(b) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

During the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2026 the following charges were reported to COPFS in each financial year (1 April to 31 March).

S7W-03636

Asked by: Kerr, Stephen (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Mid Scotland and Fife)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has been provided with a business case for the integration of the database systems used by the Scottish Prison Service, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice

The Scottish Government received a collaborative application from a range of Justice partners, including Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, through the invest to save initiative, for funding to support the development of a system-wide business case and roadmap for long-term digital and service modernisation across the criminal justice system.

While that application did not prove successful, the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform and I have recently met and discussed the proposal with the Chief Executive of Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service, who led on this work, and the Crown Agent. In recognising the importance of the challenge outlined within the bid, we have invited the development of a further justice system proposal, out with the invest to save structure.

S7W-03689

Asked by: MacDougall, Julie (Reform UK - Mid Scotland and Fife)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what data it holds on how many police officers are deployed on street patrols at any given time and whether it considers the current number to be appropriate for the volume and types of crimes committed across all areas of Scotland.

Answered by Gray, Neil - Cabinet Secretary for Justice

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.