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The new hybrid working policy for core Scottish Government staff was developed following a lengthy period of consultation with the Council of Scottish Government Unions (CSGU). From the end of October 2025, staff in hybrid-compatible roles should aim to spend 40% of their contracted hours working in person – either in our workplaces, with stakeholders or in communities.

Substantial progress has been made by building owners in taking forward the commissioning of Single Building Assessments for these buildings, making use of the financial support available from the Scottish Government. In a small number of cases where building owners/factors are yet to engage in the Single Open Call process we are strongly pressing them to do so and considering what further action may be required. We will publish further information in due course on this cohort of buildings.

Every planning application must be determined on its own merits. When applying planning judgement all relevant policies and material considerations need to be weighed, following the requirements set by section 25 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1997. As such, it would not be appropriate to set a target number for approval of individual applications. Nevertheless, the planning application approval rate has stayed consistently high for a number of years, with over 92% of applications approved in 2023-24.

A range of planning improvements have and are being progressed to support the housing emergency, including those in the Planning and the Housing Emergency Delivery Plan (November 2024), the Programme for Government (May 2025) and Housing Emergency Action Plan (September 2025). These build on the substantial reforms to legislation and national policy in recent years.

For example, and as committed in the Housing Emergency Action Plan, the Scottish Government issued a notification direction on 2 September to enable close monitoring of the implementation of national planning policy on housing, where a planning application is for 10 or more proposed new homes on land not allocated for housing. This activity will enable Ministerial intervention where required and inform whether further policy action is required.

We regularly engage with stakeholders, including planning authorities and industry representatives to monitor feedback on the impact of changes made through planning reforms.

A full Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA) has been completed for the new hybrid working policy for core Scottish Government staff in hybrid-compatible roles should aim to spend 40% of their contracted hours working in person either in our workplaces, with stakeholders or in communities.

The EQIA has been published on the Scottish Government’s intranet for all affected staff to access, and will continue to be reviewed.

Diversity and inclusion have been central to the Scottish Government’s approach: alongside working with, and formally consulting, recognised trade unions, officials engaged Scottish Government staff diversity networks, who also input to the EQIA.

We have taken action to improve the financial resources available to planning authorities, introducing an annual inflation linked increase to planning fees with those changes increasing fees in line with inflation in December 2024 and most recently in June 2025. We have extended the range of services for which an authority can introduce charges, to include the preparation of processing agreements and the preparation and delivery of Masterplan Consent Areas. In June 2025 we also introduced fees for appealing planning decisions to Local Review Bodies and Scottish Ministers, ensuring that these services can meet customers’ expectations.

In addition, the National Planning Hub is providing targeted support to planning authorities, including capacity and access to expertise, to help them to determine applications for housing projects and to progress their local development plans.

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.

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.

All of the Single Building Assessments directly commissioned by the Scottish Government were returned by 31 August. A minority of these have yet to complete the final peer review stage of the process; this is expected to be concluded for all by 19 September.

I most recently met with the Scottish Trades Union Congress, and relevant member trade union representatives, to discuss a range of matters relating to the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill and skills reform programme on 24 July 2025.

The Education, Children and Young People Committee took evidence from trade union representatives on the Bill on 21 May 2025. The Scottish Government will carefully consider the Stage 1 report from the Committee and points made in the Stage 1 debate, as well as the views of unions and other stakeholders, before considering what, if any, amendments to lodge for consideration by the Committee or the Parliament.

The Minister, alongside the public bodies impacted by the changes set out in the Bill, remain committed to continued and meaningful engagement with trade unions as the Bill progresses.

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.