To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a licensing system for local authorities to address the growing number of vaping shops. (S6O-05656)

Scotland is the only country in the United Kingdom with a tobacco and vapes retail register. All businesses, regardless of size, need to be registered in order to be able to sell such products in Scotland. The register exists to support the enforcement of regulation on age-restricted products, given the public health harms of tobacco and vaping. Individual business owners are responsible for registering any business that sells tobacco and/or vapes, and failure to do so could result in a fine of up to £20,000 and/or possible imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months. It is the responsibility of local authorities to enforce compliance with the register in their local areas.

We remain committed to considering how the register could be improved, including by imposing possible further conditions on registration, in order to support our public health aim of reducing the use of tobacco and vapes.

I thank the Minister for that answer, but the register is clearly not working. There is no mechanism to remove shops from the register, and The Ferret discovered that the shop that went on fire in Glasgow was not even on it. It is vital that we have a robust licensing system that is accompanied by sufficient funding for councils so that their trading standards departments have the resources to crack down on bad actors.

In the light of that, why does the minister believe that we do not need a licensing system at a national level, which would be similar to those that cover premises that sell alcohol? What funding can the Government give local authorities to ensure that the legislation has teeth?

As I indicated, there are significant sanctions for non-compliance with the requirement to register such businesses. There are fines of up to £20,000 and possible imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months. It is the responsibility of local authorities to take forward any enforcement measures in that regard.

As I indicated, we remain committed to considering how the process could be improved. I take on board the member’s point about a licensing scheme but, as I said, the enforcement powers and sanctions already exist in the current registration system.

I declare an interest as a former trading standards officer.

We are all devastated by the fire that took place on 8 March on Union Street in Glasgow, yet it turns out that the shop where the fire began was not listed on the mandatory register, as is required for a business to sell nicotine products, and was thus selling vapes illegally.

After years of cuts, there are only about 250 full-time equivalent trading standards officers in councils across Scotland, with the number having reduced by more than half since 2002. At the same time, 22 of Scotland’s 32 councils now operate with eight or fewer trading standards officers. That puts not only consumers but the general public at risk. Does the Minister agree that it is impossible to have effective law on licensing if there are no trading standards officers to enforce the law?

As I indicated, it is the responsibility of local authorities to take forward enforcement measures, and it is also their responsibility to provide the resources to do that. The Scottish Government has provided a real-terms increase in funding to local government precisely to enable it to deal with its range of responsibilities, including enforcement in the area of registration that we are talking about.

In light of the fire in Glasgow, will the Minister consider looking at the planning use classes in Scotland? They allowed the retail unit that went on fire to switch from being a bureau de change, after being empty for 10 years, to selling vapes, with no need for a change in planning consent. There seems to be an obvious opportunity to quickly tighten up the regulations so that consent would need to be sought for such use.

I do not know whether doing so quickly would be appropriate, because we would need to go through a proper process to understand any changes that we chose to make.

The member is right in that the class of use is fairly broad, covering as it does all retail, but to start to compartmentalise the class would potentially take us into a place where we were putting up unnecessary barriers for businesses. It would need to be considered in the round. However, the existing registration scheme requires businesses that sell such products to be registered, and a broad range of factors can be considered through that mechanism.