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There are currently no plans to undertake such a review. The Scottish Government receives a low level of correspondence about how the system of house buying and selling operates in Scotland.

The Scottish Government do not have a remit in relation to the training and skills of the housing sector workforce, social landlords have a duty to train their staff appropriately and this includes the upcoming delivery of any Housing to 2040 outcomes, and private landlords must meet the legal standards required, but specific professional training is not essential.

The £10 million Tenant Grant Fund, launched last September, is being administered by local authorities who are best placed to target and deliver the funding to vulnerable tenants who are facing potential eviction and homelessness within their local area.

We are aware that local authorities are proactively raising awareness of the Tenant Grant Fund, with many establishing links with local housing advisory services such as Citizens Advice Bureaus and Law Centres. Some local authorities are also raising awareness of the fund directly with private landlords, encouraging them to get in touch if they have a tenant who has fallen into rent arrears as a direct result of the pandemic and requires support.

The Scottish Government also continues to promote the Tenant Grant Fund across social media platforms and we are working with key stakeholders to identify any further opportunities to raise awareness of the fund, particularly amongst private rented tenants.

No assessment has been made of whether and how the conveyancing system may affect house prices.

Conveyancing is the legal process that transfers ownership of a property from one person to another including the completion of the missives.

In this Parliament we will review the role of taxation in supporting our Housing to 2040 vision for both new and existing homes and our communities.

Housing to 2040 commits the Scottish Government to developing options for tax reform. As part of that, we will consider how changes to existing local and devolved taxes could help deliver the Housing to 2040 Vision, within the context of our overall approach to taxation.

The Scottish Government is engaging closely with COSLA and Heads of Planning Scotland to make sure we have a common understanding of the pressures faced by the planning service and to promote a highly performing system which can deliver on the ambitions set out in the emerging NPF4.

We have laid regulations in the Scottish Parliament which will bring into effect fee increases, providing substantial additional income to authorities. The new regulations are expected to come into force on 1 April 2022, subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Beyond this we have committed to engaging with the High Level Group on Planning Performance which includes COSLA, Heads of Planning Scotland and other stakeholders, on a work programme to consider how full recovery of the costs of determining applications could be achieved.

Our consideration of capacity and skills in planning has been informed by recent research commissioned by Skills Development Scotland, undertaken by EKOS and published by Partners in Planning, available at The research report provides an independent perspective on the challenges faced and a series of proposed actions. Scottish Government is working with the other partner members of Partners in Planning to take forward the proposed actions to help ensure the future pipeline of planners needed to deliver on our ambitions. This includes supporting a short project recently commissioned by Heads of Planning Scotland and the RTPI to explore options and set out proposals to help increase the numbers of people entering the planning profession.

Delivering the NPF4 spatial strategy and implementing its national policy will require collaboration and we will continue to work with stakeholders as we progress towards a finalised NPF4 and beyond.

Planning Circular 01/2021 remains the current guidance on these matters.

The Scottish Government is working to update Planning Circular 01/2021 to reflect minor changes to the regulations which came into effect on 1 March 2022 and will publish a revised Circular in due course. The changes to regulations relate to definitions of certain types of property or tenancy and have no impact on either the designation process or the process for Ministerial approval.

The Scottish Ministers will consider any applications for approval of a proposed short-term let control area in accordance with the relevant legislation and the considerations set out in Planning Circular 01/2021.

The Build to Rent Sector is subject to the same regulatory requirements as other private rented sector accommodation. For example, complying with Landlord Registration and Houses in Multiple Occupation licensing. From 1 December 2017, new tenancy agreements for most Build to Rent properties would be Private Residential Tenancies and tenants will also therefore be afforded the rights and protections flowing from that regulatory framework (as set out in Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016).

Our New Deal for Tenants consultation, which runs until the 15 April, makes clear that all tenants should live in properties where quality and standards are high, and people have clear rights. It also seeks views on our vision for the future regulation of the rental sector - setting out that regulation should seek tenure neutral outcomes for tenants in all sectors, empowers tenants through routes to redress failures and support good standards across the rented sector.

COVID-19 vaccines are procured on a four nations basis via the UK Vaccines Taskforce. As Scotland is not a member of the COVAX scheme, we are not in a position to share vaccines with our international development partner countries. We will continue to engage with the UK government on this matter.

On 8 December, the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister to urge the UK government to end its opposition at the World Trade Organisation and to join over 100 countries who are now supportive of a temporary Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waiver.

We have also provided international development support to our partner countries to support their COVID-19 responses, including vaccine preparedness. This includes the following examples of relevant recent funding.

In December 2020, we provided £2 million to UNICEF to help vaccine distribution, roll-out and online healthcare education in our partner countries of Rwanda, Malawi and Zambia.

In September 2021, we provided £250,000 from our International Development Fund to leverage the provision to our partner countries of £11.2 million worth of PPE - our single biggest ever donation - to aid COVID-19 responses as part of our strategic response.

In February 2022, we provided £1.5 million to UNICEF to support equal access to COVID-19 vaccines in our partner countries. The funds will support vaccination programmes in Rwanda, Malawi and Zambia, their provision of safe oxygen supplies, and help the agency deliver equipment, resources and technical support in response to the pandemic.