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The sustainable aviation fuel working group met on three occasions in 2024: 15 February, 9 April and 14 May.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 requires local authorities to assess rent conditions in their areas and report their findings and recommendation to Scottish Ministers. The first report is to be provided by 27 May 2027 and on a five yearly basis thereafter. Scottish Ministers may then designate rent control areas where it is deemed necessary and proportionate to protect tenants’ social and economic interests.

The Act provides powers for local authorities and Scottish Ministers to collect rental data from landlords to support their assessments.

Data will play a vital part in rent control being successful and we continue to work with local authorities on developing the detail of the assessment process. Work is also continuing on the potential options for collecting data, including consideration of the use of the landlord register as a vehicle to collate data collected in support of rent control.

The Rural Support Plan will launch the new four-tier framework and in the first instance will map legacy CAP support and existing support into it to provide an overview of the available support.

The performance of social landlords is monitored by the independent Scottish Housing Regulator and not the Scottish Government.

However, the most recent report from the Scottish Housing Regulator showed that the number of homes that meet Scottish Housing Quality Standards increased (87%) for the third consecutive year, with fewer homes failing, exempt or in abeyance from Scottish Housing Quality Standards.

More of Registered Social Landlords’ homes meet Scottish Housing Quality Standards than Local Authorities’ (92% compared to 83%, respectively).

A fuller breakdown can be found on the Scottish Housing Regulator website in the national reports section.

Consideration of the options for change included in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Service Delivery Review impacting Inverclyde have included extensive analysis of historic response data along with assessment of the current and future risks present in communities. No decisions have yet been taken on the conclusions of the Service Delivery Review. Decisions on the location of fire stations, the number of appliances and the crewing patterns of staff are operational matters for SFRS. SFRS continues to respond to every emergency with the appropriate level of resources.

The cost incurred to date in relation to the planned National Treatment Centre in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside is as follows.

The Care Inspectorate takes account of any national policy change, where it is appropriate to do so, when carrying out its regulatory and inspection function. The forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant would therefore be considered if it required an expansion of early learning and childcare.

Scottish Ministers are highly supportive of the aims of the Armed Forces Covenant and the commitment of organisations across Scotland to build enhanced support for the Armed Forces community and foster better integration between the community and the Armed Forces.

Officials have been in contact with MOD on the extension of the Covenant Duty and look forward to receiving more detail from UK Ministers and considering further in due course.

As part of the expansion of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) to 1140 hours, local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that there is a funded place available for all eligible children in their area.

Under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004, education authorities are responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs of children in ELC settings, which includes children from Armed Forces families.

In line with the National Standard for Early Learning and Childcare Providers we expect local authorities and settings to work together to support to support all children, including those with additional support needs, to access their funded ELC entitlement.

Table 1 shows the estimated net non-domestic rates income from shooting rights, from 2020-2021 to 2024-2025, broken down by council area. These are based on snapshot data of relief awards from June or July in each year, and on valuation data from 1 October in each year. Estimates for 2025-2026 will be available later in the year.

The figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Where the figure is greater than £0, but rounds to £0, the value is marked as “[low]”. The totals may not sum due to rounding.

Table 2 shows the amounts awarded by the Scottish Land Fund committee to community groups for land purchase from 2020-2021 to 2024-2025. This includes all awards for the purchase of land and/or buildings.

Table 1: Estimated net NDR income (£) from shooting rights, 2020-2021 to 2024-2025

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40955 on 21 October 2025. 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 part of the scoping exercise, officials reviewed existing evidence on: accommodation conditions; results of engagement with farm employers, local authorities, Scotland’s Rural College, the Workers Support Centre and the National Farmers Union of Scotland, and; the evidence gathered on the main issues. Officials also invited Richard Leonard’s office to feed into this work.

An update on timings for introducing these standards will be offered in due course.