Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-38279

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for Carer Support Payment that were completed in each month since it was launched took (a) 51 to 60, (b) 61 to 70, (c) 71 to 80, (d) 81 to 90, (e) 91 to 100, (f) 101 to 110, (g) 111 to 120 and (h) 121 or more working days to process, expressed as a (i) total number and (ii) percentage.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on application processing times for Carer Support Payment as part of official statistics releases.

The latest statistics covering the period to 31 March 2025 were published on Tuesday 13 May and can be found at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics.

Supplementary analysis, based on the latest published statistics, is provided in the following tables.

Table 1 - The number of applications processed for Carer Support Payment by financial year and processing time .

Processing time	Total	Financial year 2023-2024	Financial year 2024-2025
Total applications processed	10,375	430	9,945
Applications processed in 41-50 working days	800	35	765
Applications processed in 51-60 working days	575	10	565
Applications processed in 61-70 working days	380	5	375
Applications processed in 71-80 working days	240	5	240
Applications processed in 81-90 working days	140	0	140
Applications processed in 91-100 working days	80	0	80
Applications processed in 101-110 working days	55	0	55
Applications processed in 111-120 working days	35	0	35
Applications processed in 121 or more working days	45	0	45

Table 2 - The percentage of applications processed for Carer Support Payment by financial year and processing time.

Processing time	Total	Financial year 2023-2024	Financial year 2024-2025
Total applications processed	10,375	430	9,945
Applications processed in 41-50 working days	8%	8%	8%
Applications processed in 51-60 working days	6%	2%	6%
Applications processed in 61-70 working days	4%	1%	4%
Applications processed in 71-80 working days	2%	1%	2%
Applications processed in 81-90 working days	1%	0%	1%
Applications processed in 91-100 working days	1%	0%	1%
Applications processed in 101-110 working days	1%	0%	1%
Applications processed in 111-120 working days	0%	0%	0%
Applications processed in 121 or more working days	0%	0%	0%

Question reference: S6W-37922

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 10 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many current vacancies there are in local authority planning services.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of vacancies in local authority planning services. The resourcing and staffing of planning services is a matter for individual local authorities.

Recognising the financial and capacity pressures on the planning system, the National Planning Hub is offering support to authorities including capacity and access to expertise to help them determine applications for renewable energy and housing projects.

Question reference: S6W-37921

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many staff are currently employed in local authority planning services, and how many staff were employed in 2015.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of staff currently employed in local authority planning services.

However, each planning authority in Scotland has recently participated in the new National Planning Improvement Framework (NPIF), which is being led by the National Planning Improvement Champion. The performance assessments for 22 authorities are available at: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/planning-and-place-based-approaches/national-planning-improvement/national-planning-improvement-framework/improvement-action-plans-and-performance-assessments. The reports include information on the number of staff in individual authorities.

The Scottish Government recognises the financial and capacity pressures on the planning system and is taking forward a package of changes to provide authorities with additional resources. Planning fees were increased in line with inflation last December, and further changes are due to come into force this month. Through the National Planning Skills Commitment Plan, we are coordinating skills development across the planning sector in Scotland.

In addition, Scotland’s National Planning Hub is providing additional surge capacity and resource to help authorities to respond to current challenges, and to enable them to accelerate their activities this financial year.

We are also supporting an increase in planners coming into the profession, particularly through direct recruitment and training in our Future Planners programme, and a trebling of the planning bursaries we are offering this year.

Question reference: S6W-37920

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average time taken for a decision to be made on planning applications is.

The average time taken to determine planning applications not subject to processing agreements for the first two quarters of 2024-25 in Scotland was as follows:

• for local developments: 11.1 weeks in Q1 and 11.9 weeks in Q2; and

• for major developments: 35.5 weeks in Q1 and 35.2 weeks in Q2.

Statistics for the average length of time to determine planning applications subject to processing agreements are not held centrally. For those applications, statistics are published on the number and percentage of decisions meeting the timescales agreed through processing agreements.

The average time taken to determine planning applications for Q1 and Q2 of
2024-25 for each local authority can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-application-statistics-2024-25-april-2024-september-2024/.

The planning application statistics for Q3 and Q4 of 2024-25 and the annual statistics are not yet published. These will be available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/.

Question reference: S6W-37796

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 3 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government when the Future Farming Investment Scheme will be launched.

Question reference: S6F-04138

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2025

To ask the First Minister for what reason there has reportedly been no financial agreement between the Scottish Funding Council and the University of Dundee, in light of the alternative financial recovery plan being launched four weeks ago.

Question reference: S6W-37324

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the most common reasons that are currently being given by NHS boards for not accepting referrals to child and adolescent mental health services.

Question reference: S6W-37323

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there is a relationship between its waiting times target for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) being met in the final quarter of 2024 and the reported increase in the proportion of referrals not being accepted by CAMHS.

There will always be referrals to CAMHS that are not accepted as CAMHS only provide the right support for a small proportion of children and young people. Children who require neurodevelopmental support are not reported in these statistics unless they have co-morbid mental health issues, but may be included within total referral figures, leading to lower accepted referral rates in some Boards.

The National CAMHS specification includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted for CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service, such as our community-based supports.

We have provided local authorities with over £65 million since 2020 to fund community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and their families. This £15 million per annum funding will continue through the local government finance settlement from 2025-26.

We will continue to work with NHS Boards and partners to monitor the National Specification’s implementation, to improve services and support for children and young people and their families.

Question reference: S6W-37320

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any progress made in implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People, including progress made against standard 1: 1.2.

Standard 1.2 of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification relates to the offer of a first appointment. As set out in the Specification, Neurodevelopmental Services that are delivered locally are the responsibility of Children Services providers. A first appointment could be provided by a number of professionals within a range of agencies, including education, health and voluntary organisations.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on length of waits for neurodevelopmental services centrally. Our focus is on improving support. Our Neurodevelopmental Specification places an expectation on NHS and Children's Services to work together to implement standards, in line with GIRFEC. Crucially, local authorities have a statutory duty to identify and provide support for pupils with additional support needs, regardless of diagnosis.

Question reference: S6W-37316

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 19 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many children and young people are waiting for a neurodevelopmental assessment, broken down by NHS board.

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