Asked by: Johnson, Daniel (Scottish Labour - Edinburgh Southern)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the total number of registered foster carers has been in each of the last five years.
Answered by None
The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.
Local authorities and independent fostering agencies are responsible for foster care recruitment. The Care Inspectorate is the official body responsible for registering, inspecting, and publishing national statistics regarding fostering services in Scotland. It publishes annual statistics on fostering services and foster carer numbers, with the latest report published on 28 October 2025. Fostering_and_adoption_statistical_bulletin_2024-2025.pdf
Asked by: McMillan, Stuart (Scottish National Party - Greenock and Inverclyde)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether operating costs, including energy and staffing costs, are taken into account in the valuation of licensed hospitality premises for non-domestic rates calculation purposes.
Answered by McKee, Ivan - Minister for Public Finance
The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the Scottish Assessors who are independent of central and local government. By law, Assessors must ascertain a Net Annual Value (NAV) for all subjects entered on the Valuation Roll. This is defined as “the rent at which the lands and heritages might reasonably be expected to let from year to year” under section 6(8) of the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956.
Scottish Assessors produce Practice Notes for different types of subjects and these are accessible at: 2026 Practice Notes – Scottish Assessors. The Practice Note for Licensed premises can be found at Licensed Premises.
The essence of the valuation scheme for licensed premises is the Hypothetical Achievable Turnover (HAT). Assessors identify the relationship between available rents and turnovers for licensed premises at the relevant valuation date. This relationship can then be used to derive a scheme of value which can be used to value all licensed premises. The calculation of HAT does not incorporate operating costs such as energy or staffing costs.
Asked by: Simpson, Graham (Reform UK - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the proposal in the draft Budget 2026-27 that retail, hospitality and leisure firms liable for the basic and intermediate property rate will be eligible for 15% non-domestic rates relief, how much it would cost to extend this to premises in this sector that are liable for the higher property rate.
Answered by McKee, Ivan - Minister for Public Finance
Internal Scottish Government estimates are that extending the 15% relief to non-domestic rates (NDR) for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) properties liable for the Basic or Intermediate Property Rate, capped at £110,000 per business per year, announced in the draft Budget 2026-27, to include premises in these sectors liable for the Higher Property Rate, would cost an additional £36m in 2026-27, rising to £37m in 2027-28 and £38m in 2028-29.
The identification of properties in the RHL sectors are based on criteria used to identify eligible properties for the purpose of forecasting relief costs. Property class is used by the Scottish Assessors to describe the type of a property and may not accurately reflect its use in all cases. For example, a property classified as a ‘shop’ may in fact be used to offer financial services.
Asked by: Boyack, Sarah (Scottish Labour - Lothian)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Recovery budget of the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) has been reduced.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
Scottish public finances continue to face a challenging fiscal environment, with public services having to meet growing demand despite increasingly challenging settlements. Despite this, the Scottish Government remains committed to working with partners to continue to grow the community energy sector and has allocated £8.5 million to support community and local energy in 2026-27. This will support more communities across Scotland to participate in, and benefit from, the energy transition by providing funding for them to develop renewable energy generation, heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency projects.
Asked by: Kerr, Liam (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-39235 by Angela Constance on 30 July 2025, whether Malcolm McMillan has concluded his consideration of the conclusions of the peer review; if so, when; if not, and in light of it being six months later, what efforts it has made to assist him in his consideration; what its position is on whether there is "any further action needed"; when the paper will finally be published, and for what reason its expectation that it would be published "no later than the end of [2025]" was not met.
Answered by Constance, Angela - Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
Consideration of the peer review undertaken on the research paper from Malcolm McMillan on the roles and functions of the Scottish Law Officers has taken slightly longer than anticipated and is now concluded. The paper has been updated accordingly and has now reached proposed final version, any further action is currently under active ministerial consideration.
Asked by: Hamilton, Rachael (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what opportunities there are for communities affected by a proposed development, such as the Center Parcs proposal in the Scottish Borders, to have representations considered by ministers once a byelaw application has been submitted for determination.
Answered by Gougeon, Mairi - Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands
Section 202(7) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 makes provisions for any aggrieved party to object to Scottish Ministers, as confirming authority, within 12 weeks of the notice of intention to apply for confirmation of the byelaws having been made by the Local Authority. The period for representations to be made to Scottish Ministers regarding the proposed byelaws related to the Center Parcs development opened on 19 September 2025 and closed on 5th December 2025.
Asked by: Golden, Maurice (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent (FTE) staff have been allocated to the development of management measures for inshore Priority Marine Features, in each week since 2 September 2025.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43533 on 12 February 2026. 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.
Asked by: McMillan, Stuart (Scottish National Party - Greenock and Inverclyde)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, following the publication of the non-domestic rates revaluation statistics on 13 January 2026, what shifts there have been in rateable value by property class, in each local authority area.
Answered by McKee, Ivan - Minister for Public Finance
The non-domestic rates revaluation 2026 draft valuation roll statistics, originally released on 13 January and available at Non-domestic rates revaluation 2026: draft valuation roll statistics, were updated on 11 February to include a breakdown of changes by council area and property class. This information is now available in Table 2a.
Asked by: Greene, Jamie (Scottish Liberal Democrats - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of any impact of the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to the maritime sector on Scotland’s competitiveness in attracting cruise business.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43556 on 12 February 2026. 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.
Asked by: Greene, Jamie (Scottish Liberal Democrats - West Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered using any funds raised from the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to the maritime sector to support maritime decarbonisation projects.
Answered by Martin, Gillian - Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43554 on 12 February 2026. 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.