Seòmar agus comataidhean

The majority of Registers of Scotland fees are set by Order which is subject to the affirmative procedure. The fees were last updated in April 2021. In making a fee order, Ministers will seek to balance affordability with covering the costs of running the registers. RoS is continuously working to improve its efficiency, and thereby keep its running costs as low as possible. 

In October 2024 the average house price for Scotland from UK HPI was £197,000. The RoS fee for a house of this value is £400, which represents 0.2% of the purchase price. 

Registers of Scotland is accountable to the Scottish Parliament and its performance is regularly scrutinised by the Economy and Fair Work Committee. The Scottish Government also receives regular reports on the progress RoS is making in delivery of its Corporate Plan 2022-2027 strategic objectives, which includes updates on the achievement against RoS’s Key Performance Indicators for its service performance (timeliness, quality and customer satisfaction).

All Scottish Government fleet vehicles are maintained in line with manufacturers guidelines to ensure emission regulation compliance. 

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and makes clear our support for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies. Potential impacts on communities and individual dwellings are important considerations in the decision-making process and all applications are subject to site-specific assessments. Local Development Plans should seek to realise their area’s full potential for electricity and heat from renewable, low carbon and zero emission sources by identifying a range of opportunities for energy development.

All planning applications must be determined in accordance with the statutory development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. For any given area of Scotland this consists of the National Planning Framework and the relevant Local Development Plan(s). If there is a conflict between the policies in NPF4 and Local Development Plans in making any planning decision, the most recently adopted prevails.

When determining applications made under the Electricity Act 1989, representations from community councils and members of the public are taken into account.

The Scottish Government does not currently plan to increase the availability of bicycles for use by staff. We do not have any plans to increase the availability of other sustainable transport options. 

Our staff already have access to cycle mileage expenses for official business journeys, a cycle to work scheme for commuting journeys, a season ticket scheme covering public transport operators, and discounted personal car hire and car club journeys through our staff benefits package.

NPF4 places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and makes clear our support for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies. Potential impacts on communities and nature, including cumulative impacts, are important considerations in the decision-making process and all applications are subject to site-specific assessments.

While Scottish Ministers can decide to amend the NPF or review it in full at any time, having an established and consistent policy framework enables confidence in the planning system and so we expect to exercise this power sparingly. We have no current plans to amend NPF4.

This is an operational matter for Police Scotland.

As SEPA are directly responsible for its day-to-day operations, I have asked Nicole Paterson, Chief Executive of SEPA to respond. Her response is as follows:

As part of the early implementation of the enhanced out-of-hours service, SEPA successfully managed 182 calls that were received outside of working hours during the first four weeks of operation. This included 24 emergency service calls and 158 general inquiries, with a total of 21 calls requiring escalation, all of which were resolved promptly.

SEPA will continue to monitor call performance and customer experience through continuous engagement and involvement of the customer hub team and colleagues across the service, and through customer feedback surveys. A customer experience manager with significant experience of managing contact centres has been appointed to ensure the effective planning and performance management of SEPA’s customer service.

There is no change to how the public contact SEPA’s 24-7 service. The public are still able to use the same telephone number or online contact form to report incidents.

SEPA’s external website provides clear information on how to contact SEPA and report an incident Contact us | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The Scottish Government have previously published in an FOI response that £519,842.13 inc VAT was spent on investigating the creation of a Scottish public energy company. This information is available in detail at Public money spent on state run energy company: FOI release - gov.scot.