Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government publishes detailed flag flying guidance annually on the Scottish Government website Guidance - Flag flying on government buildings: 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and a link to the guidance is also available on the Scottish Government’s intranet pages, available to Directorates and other government departments. In addition, this flag flying guidance is issued to local authorities and government agencies.

The guidance sets out the relevant flag to be flown in recognition of national anniversaries and Royal events. It also provides advice on the half/masting of flags following national/international tragedies and events.

This guidance applies to Scottish Government buildings only and is provided to non-Scottish Government organisations for information purposes. It remains the prerogative of each organisation to set their own flag flying programme.

Separate communication was issued by email to Scottish Government external flag flying contacts in June 2024 in relation to the 80th anniversary of D-Day and for the Coronation of Their Majesties in May 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29250 on 19 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government welcomes the new partnership agreement reached between the College and the Trade Union Congress to safeguard the delivery of trade union education at the City of Glasgow College.

The Scottish Government is absolutely clear that there is no place for hatred and prejudice in Scotland. We work cooperatively with a range of organisations throughout the country to tackle all forms of hatred and prejudice, including Irish community organisations in Scotland.

Our Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan sets out our immediate actions over the next two years, up to April 2026, to implement Scotland’s Hate Crime Strategy. This reflects our commitment that everyone in Scotland lives free from hatred and prejudice and that all our communities, including our Irish communities, are empowered, inclusive and safe.

The Delivery Plan supports the implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. The Act consolidates, modernises and extends existing hate crime legislation and is an essential element of our wider approach to tackling hate crime. The Act includes legislative protections against offences aggravated by prejudice against race and religion.

As a result of significant increases in construction costs due to inflation, and a lower than expected capital grant from the UK Government, a capital review is currently underway.

Alongside this, we are working with all health boards to develop a whole-system infrastructure plan which reflects on the needs for the whole of Scotland and will support continued safe operation of existing facilities and well as determination of longer-term investment priorities.

As of April 2024: 309,761 hectares were closed to both scallop dredging and bottom trawling within the 6 nautical miles limit adjacent to Scotland.

15,660,261 hectares were closed to both scallop dredging and bottom trawling within the UK Exclusive Economic Zone adjacent to Scotland.

28,962,015 hectares were closed to both scallop dredging and bottom trawling within the UK Continental Shelf adjacent to Scotland.

As Scotland moves towards a circular economy, we must treat residual waste responsibly. This is why the Scottish Government commissioned the independent review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy (the Review), published in 2022.

The Review underlined that that the best form of residual waste treatment is preventing waste from occurring in the first place, but in the short-term incineration has a role to play as we make the transition to a circular economy and end the practice of sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill by 2025.

The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) regulations 2012 (“the PPC regulations”) require that SEPA make impartial assessments of all PPC Permit applications and make decisions relating to environmental permits in accordance with these regulations. Whilst Scottish Ministers do have the ability to intervene in the PPC process by way of a direction, they would not normally do so in the absence of exceptional circumstances.

The Review recommended that no further planning permission for incineration facilities, beyond what was already in place, should be granted. This was reflected in National Planning Framework 4, which came into force on 13 February 2023 and is clear that development proposals for energy from waste facilities will not be supported except under very limited circumstances.

An updated incineration capacity analysis by Zero Waste Scotland (which is being finalised for publication later this year) indicates that facilities currently in development are required to help meet Scotland’s impending waste management needs, including for when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force on 31 December 2025.

The key policy levers on this matter exist within the planning system. We will continue to work with SEPA, planners and the wider sector to ensure appropriate management of incineration capacity issues.

The Scottish Government freeze on public sector marketing expenditure for the remainder of the year is a necessary decision to ensure we have a balanced budget. There will be some limited Scottish Government activity where costs have already been committed, or an essential need is identified, and the process to identify exceptions is still underway.

Details of impact assessments in relation to the measures set out in the Fiscal Statement will be published in the coming weeks on the Scottish Government’s website.

Transport Scotland is in regular contact with Hargreaves, the developer for the Blindwells Development. The last meeting took place on 3 September 2024.