Scottish Government

Across all aspects of Government activity, the Scottish Government is working to ensure that economic development is fully supported.

• We are opening up opportunities for more small and medium-sized Scottish businesses to win Government contracts through a new online contracts portal. Over 21,000 suppliers have already registered.

• We are intensifying our reforms to simplify the planning system.

  • Eight sets of secondary legislation completed their Parliamentary passage in February 2009.
  • A new consolidated Scottish Planning Policy will be issued for consultation soon.
  • A new notification direction empowering councils to determine planning applications and speed up the system will also be issued soon.
  • We are putting in place an £11.2 million e-Planning initiative this spring to allow for faster, more effective online submission of planning proposals.
• The work is already generating tangible results: for example, by the end of February, we were processing 59% of all written submission planning appeals within 12 weeks - compared with 4% in April 2008.
• We are committed to paying the Scottish Government's business suppliers within 10 days and are urging the rest of the public sector in Scotland to do likewise. Already 93% of transactions are paid within 10 working days.
• We have launched a central online resource for businesses and households entitled Help through the downturn to direct individuals to the right source of advice and support quickly.
• We have made sure that agricultural support to crofters and farmers was paid as soon as permissible by law and we are influencing EU regulations to meet the needs of fishing and farming.
• Through the Public Services Reform Bill, we are identifying across the Scottish public sector the scope for removing regulatory burdens on business and will act to take forward simplification once the legislation has been passed.
• We are ensuring key skills and learning bodies work together to focus their activities on creating the skills required for economic recovery. For example, the Scottish Funding Council agreed to additional support of £7 million for colleges to enable them to cope with an increased demand for learning by employees who have recently been made redundant.
• We are working with our public bodies - including the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) - to ensure their operations and funding approach supports economic recovery. For example, since November 2008 approximately 3,500 businesses have benefited from having their fees waived by SEPA, amounting to savings of over £600,000.

Latest News:

A wide-ranging package of improvements to make Scotland's planning system leaner and fitter has been announced.

• More information on the reforms