The preparation of NPF4 involved extensive engagement, including with rural interests. Legislation requires that within 10 years after publishing the framework, the Scottish Ministers are to either revise the framework, or publish an explanation of why they have decided not to revise it. When revising the framework, legislation requires that a participation statement must be published, setting out when consultation is likely to take place and with whom Ministers intend to consult, including such persons or bodies with a role in delivery of statutory outcomes. One such outcome is increasing the population of rural areas of Scotland.

We have no plans to review NPF4 at present, but any future review would meet the requirements to engage with relevant interests, including perspectives from rural areas, at the appropriate time. Regulations allowing for amendment of the NPF came into force in December 2025 and set out minimum requirements for engagement with stakeholders.

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. 

The Scottish Government owns two bicycles, and we do not lease any bicycles.

Our bicycles are for use in campaign marketing in respect of Net Zero messages, and are not made available to staff for use on official business.

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).

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.

To support ongoing public and stakeholder engagement SEPA has published consultations relating to the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025, and linked to the Scottish Government consultation. SEPA will use its webpages and social media to ensure authorisation holders and applicants understand how any changes impact them and any action they need to take.

In the last 5 years, almost 100,000 charges have been reported to the Aberdeen Office of COPFS.

COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis. Any data sought in the requested period would encompass convictions for cases reported out with that period. As such, any figures would not accurately reflect numbers of convictions in respect of the cases reported in that period.

The draft Scottish budget indicates a £52.6m grant in aid allocation to SEPA for 2025-26 and SEPA may determine how to allocate those resources, setting this out in an Annual Operating Plan each year.

SEPA is responsible for producing national flood risk maps and operating Scotland’s flood warning system. Both actions are important to communicate flood risk and rely heavily on the use of data and presenting it for greatest impact; both in terms of knowing which places are at risk of flooding and what is the immediate risk during unsettled weather. SEPA keep these processes under review through engagement with stakeholders and customers and are committed to continuous improvement. Recent improvements include work on the Scottish Flood Forecast to deliver a mobile-friendly overview of the flood risk for the next 3 days, an upgraded Floodline messaging system, and improved and more accessible real time water levels webpage.

The National Flood Resilience Strategy demonstrates our commitment to improving flood resilience through the use of data. It sets out that we will work with partners to review how we can improve the presentation and use of data to drive flood resilient activity. We will also look how to best use data to raise community awareness of current and future flood exposure to inform decision making and support communities on their climate adaptation journeys and explore how developing new datasets may help improve decision making.