The Scottish Government has launched a consultation seeking views on its draft Environment Strategy, outlining its approach to tackling nature loss, climate change, and pollution, with an environmental transformation target set for 2045. The consultation document also references an upcoming Natural Environment Bill that will establish statutory nature restoration targets. The strategy aims to integrate environmental objectives with economic and social policies, thereby supporting Scotland's transition to a green economy. The consultation is open until 29 September 2025.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on reforming Scotland’s council tax system to make it fairer and more reflective of current property values and household circumstances. Supported by independent analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the consultation explores illustrative models including property revaluation, revised tax bands, and transitional protections to assist households in managing changes. It follows longstanding debate and earlier work by the Commission on Local Tax Reform, which advocated for a more progressive and regularly updated system. The current framework, based on 1991 property valuations, is widely considered outdated and regressive, with lower-value homes often bearing a higher relative tax burden. Raising over £3bn annually for local services, the consultation aims to ensure the system remains equitable, transparent, and sustainable, while maintaining overall revenue neutrality by redistributing the tax burden more fairly across households. The consultation closes on 30 January 2026.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on devolving powers for a Scottish Building Safety Levy. The Scottish Government announced that it was seeking the transfer of powers from the UK Government to introduce a new tax in Scotland, equivalent to the Building Safety Levy for England. The consultation seeks views and evidence in relation to the proposal to devolve the requisite powers to the Scottish parliament, with a call for evidence to inform the consideration of the potential for the new tax to create or incentivise economic distortions and arbitrage within the UK. The consultation ends on 19 February 2024.

The Scottish Government has initiated a public consultation on proposed legislative reforms to shed light on the status of digital assets as property under Scottish private law. The consultation, open until 5 February 2025, seeks insights on how to guarantee Scottish law remains current with innovations in the digital and technological spheres whilst bolstering the nation's financial ecosystem.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on its draft Infrastructure Strategy for 2027–37. Outlining a ten-year framework to guide investment and delivery of infrastructure that supports net zero, environmental sustainability, inclusive economic growth, and resilient communities. Informed by Scotland’s first 30-year national Needs Assessment, the strategy addresses challenges such as rising costs, fiscal constraints, ageing assets, climate adaptation, and demographic change. It prioritises three enablers: optimising public assets through robust management, embedding place-based planning to reflect local priorities, and leveraging private investment to complement public funding and accelerate delivery in sectors including housing, renewables, and digital connectivity. The consultation closes on 5 May 2026.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on proposed changes to building regulations and fire safety guidance, stemming from recommendations made by an expert panel following the Cameron House hotel fire. The review process has already led to short-term measures, including amended guidance promoting automatic fire suppression systems in historic hotel conversions and new local authority notification requirements. The consultation now seeks views on longer-term proposals, such as mandating automatic fire suppression in historic building hotel conversions and addressing special risks in existing hotels, including hidden voids and historic construction techniques. These proposed changes aim to enhance fire safety standards in Scottish buildings, particularly focusing on traditional structures used for hotel accommodation. The consultation closes on 7 March 2025.

The Scottish Government has launched  a consultation seeking views on measures to accelerate the build-out of homes on sites already identified for housing development, in response to falling housing starts and completions despite a substantial pipeline of consented land. The consultation supports the Housing Emergency Action Plan and related planning commitments, and examines whether incentives, penalties or other interventions could increase delivery rates, including for small and medium-sized housebuilders, within a plan-led, infrastructure-first framework under National Planning Framework 4. It is informed by evidence that slow delivery is driven primarily by post-consent factors such as market absorption rates, viability constraints, infrastructure costs, public sector risk exposure and limited developer capacity or commitment, rather than by the planning permission process itself. Drawing on previous reviews and research by bodies including the Competition and Markets Authority and the Scottish Land Commission, the consultation outlines potential approaches such as land assembly, public sector-led development, reform of compulsory purchase and sales powers, and policy tools to influence build-out rates, and notes that any future action may require legislative change in the next parliamentary session and would be subject to appropriate impact assessment. The consultation closes on 30 April 2026.

The Scottish Government has launched an 84-day consultation on strengthening household recycling collection services, including plans for a new mandatory Code of Practice. The consultation, published by the Environment and Forestry Directorate, seeks stakeholder input on potential changes to recycling and waste management services. The proposed Code of Practice aims to increase service consistency across Scotland through a co-design process with local authorities and other stakeholders. The consultation, which closes on 17 June 2025, forms part of the government's Circular Economy & Waste Route Map implementation. The initiative responds to data showing that approximately 80% of Scotland's carbon footprint derives from manufactured products and services throughout their lifecycle.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on proposals to introduce a new installation and maintenance licence for heat networks through the Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill. The proposed licensing regime is intended to enable heat network organisations to obtain the statutory rights and powers required to install and maintain essential infrastructure, including rights of access to land and powers to carry out road works. The consultation sets out proposals on how the regime would operate in practice, including its scope, application process, conditions and limitations, as well as the specific powers to be conferred. The Scottish Government states that certain provisions in the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021, such as those relating to key network assets and associated transfer schemes, are no longer intended to be used. It adds that granting installation and maintenance licences will support the expansion of the heat network sector at pace and scale, encourage investment and contribute towards meeting Scotland’s climate targets. The consultation closes on 5 June 2026.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on proposed reforms to Sections 25–28 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 (FL(S)A 2006), focusing on the financial rights of cohabitants following the death of a partner who leaves no will. The consultation follows recommendations from the Scottish Law Commission’s (SLC) 2022 ‘Report on Cohabitation’ and seeks views on whether the current framework provides fair and adequate protection, including a proposed extension of the time limit for making a claim from six months to 12 months, aligning the provision with section 78 of the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024. The consultation closes on 21 April 2026.

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on proposals to disapply s 124 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, concerning the time limits for taking enforcement action on unauthorised development which requires an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This follows a case of unauthorised development in Northern Ireland for which an EIA was required, but not undertaken. The need for an EIA was only identified after the time limit for enforcement had expired and the development was immune from enforcement action. The consultation closes on 11 July 2024.

The Scottish Government has opened the First Homes Fund, a shared-equity scheme providing first-time buyers with a £10,000 deposit contribution towards properties valued at up to £300,000. The £500 million scheme aims to support approximately 50,000 households over the current Parliament. The Scottish Government will hold an equity share in participating properties by way of a security, with no monthly payments or interest charged. The share is repayable upon sale or upon a triggering payment event per the terms of the shared equity agreement. Five lenders have signed up to the scheme, including Leeds Building Society, Scottish Building Society, Glasgow Credit Union, NatWest and Lloyds Banking Group, with more expected to follow.