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As I sent out in response to question S6W-39931 on 1 September 2025, the recruitment and deployment of officers is a matter for the Chief Constable. The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government is investing a record £1.64 billion in policing in 2025-26, an increase of almost £90 million of additional funding from the 2024-25 budget. Our investment in policing has enabled Police Scotland to take on more recruits in 2024-25 than at any time since 2013, with further intakes planned throughout 2025. Police Scotland has stated that it has a healthy recruitment pipeline.

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.

As the recruitment and deployment of officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Police Scotland has confirmed that its recruitment planning takes into account the position 12-18 months ahead to inform the probationer intake process. This process is designed to be agile and depends on the actual number of leavers, which are projected in advance and thereafter managed in accordance with confirmation of numbers. During the current financial year, Police Scotland has set out its intention to recruit around 780 new officers.

The Scottish Government is investing a record £1.64 billion in policing in 2025-26, an increase of almost £90 million of additional funding from the 2024-25 budget. Our investment in policing enabled Police Scotland to take on more recruits in 2024-25 than at any time since 2013, with further intakes planned throughout 2025 and into 2026. Police Scotland has stated that it has a healthy recruitment pipeline.

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 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.

It is an important principle of the planning system that each application is determined on its own merits, in line with the Development Plan and taking account of material considerations.

As part of the Development Plan, National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) includes a strong policy position regarding affordable housing provision and provides more flexibility for affordable housing proposals, explicitly as one of the circumstances where proposals can be supported on sites not allocated in a Local Development Plan.

A letter, I co-signed with the Scottish Government's Chief Planner in June 2024, stresses how NPF4 policy can be used to support proposals that improve affordability and choice to address recognised priorities of an area.

Everyone involved in planning has a role to play in supporting a national push to deliver more homes, including affordable homes. To address capacity and performance issues in planning services, we have raised planning fees and continue to invest in the resourcing, skills and resilience of the planning system, for example, through the National Planning Hub and the role of the National Planning Improvement Champion, to improve consenting timescales and support faster delivery of new homes where they are needed.

A fairer, well-managed private rented sector is in the interest of both tenants and landlords, and the private rented sector measures in the Housing (Scotland) Bill have been developed following extensive engagement with the sector.

The Scottish Government carried out a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment of the suite of rented sector reform measures included in the Bill, which included consideration of the potential cumulative impacts of rented sector reforms.

This was published in October 2024 on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with stakeholders from across the sector during the remainder of the Bill’s Parliamentary passage and beyond.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the impact of changes to working patterns, including the recent transition to a 35-hour working week within the organisation.

Previous Public Sector Pay Policies have set an expectation that employers work towards standardising a 35-hour working week. Public bodies retain the flexibility to adopt working patterns that support operational efficiency, employee wellbeing, and service delivery, provided these are delivered within existing budgets and do not adversely affect public services. It remains the responsibility of individual public bodies to assess the impact of any reduction in working hours in their organisation.

Research published by The Autonomy Institute in relation to the private sector A four-day week in Scotland’s private sector? A spotlight on precedents and opportunities - The Autonomy Institute represents their assessment of the impact and opportunity of 4 day working week for private sector. The Scottish Government has not carried out any assessment in relation to this.

Evidence shows that employers benefit from offering flexibility in working arrangements which can result in happier, more engaged workers, improved recruitment and retention, improved innovation, productivity and business reputation, helping to attract new customers.

The Scottish Government committed, in the Framework for Tax 2021, to reducing the combined poundage rate for the largest properties to match the equivalent rate in England over the course of the Parliament.

The Intermediate Property Rate was introduced in April 2020 and we have since increased the rateable value threshold at which the Higher Property Rate applies from £95,000 to £100,000. Alongside maintaining the lowest Basic Property Rate for the seventh year in a row, this ensures that over 95% of non-domestic properties in Scotland are liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK.

Tax policy decisions are made annually at budget in line with prevailing economic decisions and Government priorities.

The Scottish Government aims to raise around £30 million per annum from the Scottish Building Safety Levy. This is in proportion to the revenue that the equivalent UK Government Levy for England is intended to generate and in line with the Barnett consequentials that the Scottish Government might have received had the UK Government Levy been extended UK-wide.

The Bill Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill includes provision for a regular review of the Levy, which will be an opportunity to consider the revenue target in light of the prevailing housing market and wider economic conditions, as well as the emerging position on the scale and profile of spending on cladding remediation work.

The Bill also sets out that proceeds from the Levy must be used for the purposes of improving the safety of persons in or about buildings in Scotland. This is intended to mirror, as closely as possible, the provisions for the use of funds for the UK Government’s Building Safety Levy, as set out in the Building Safety Act 2022 and reflected in the Scotland Act 1998 (Specification of Devolved Tax) (Building Safety) Order 2024 which devolved the powers necessary to introduce legislation for a devolved Levy.

The Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment published alongside the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill sets out Scottish Government’s assumptions on the likely impact of a Building Safety Levy in Scotland, including those relating to homebuyers.