Chamber and committees

Where an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required, this must include a description of the relevant aspects of the current state of the environment and an outline of the likely evolution thereof without implementation of the project, as far as natural changes from the baseline scenario can be assessed with reasonable effort, on the basis of the availability of environmental information and scientific knowledge. Where an EIA Report is considered to contain insufficient information it is open to the decision-maker to request further environmental information.

Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is available at school and college for eligible 16-19 year olds supporting them to remain and progress in learning. For those at school, and under 17 who are not eligible for EMA, they may receive Free School Meals and/or the School Clothing Grant depending on their individual circumstances.

Similarly, for those young people studying a further education course at college, they may be eligible for discretionary funding, study costs and childcare funding. This support is assessed and administered directly by individual colleges.

In the instances where a young person under 17 opts to study a higher education course, they may be eligible to apply for tuition fee support, bursary and living cost grants to support them throughout their studies. Students over the age of 16 are also eligible to apply for a student loan. This support is assessed and administered by the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS).

All young people and children living in Scotland aged 5-21 can apply for a card to access the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme.

The First Minister confirmed the Scottish Government’s intention to bring forward a Heat in Buildings Bill in the recent Programme for Government. We will continue to work with businesses, including the private rented sector to understand the impacts and benefits of our proposals. The Bill and any subsequent regulations will each be accompanied by a full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment.

This Information is not held. Detail on hours spent by civil servants on specific individual tasks is not recorded.

No time was spent processing applications prior to the fund being cancelled.

Prior to the announcement that the Fairer Workplaces Fund was closing on 21 August 2024 a total of three applications had been received.

Scotland's International Strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) was launched in January 2024, building on the work of the Scottish Government’s Scotland's Global Affairs Framework - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The International Strategy demonstrates the outcomes Scottish Government will achieve through international engagement for the remainder of this parliamentary term, within the current constitutional context. It acknowledges the need for the Scottish Government to deepen ties with key partners and increase economic opportunities to advance domestic policy including our commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

This includes showcasing Scotland’s high ambition and expertise on net zero and continuing to promote Scotland’s climate and environment work internationally, as climate change, biodiversity and renewable energy is one of the three priority areas identified in the Strategy. Our International Trade and Investment Plans, alongside our recently published Green Industrial Strategy, have a clear focus on net zero and are delivering renewable export opportunities and attracting high quality inward investment projects to support and strengthen our expertise and associated renewable supply chains. In addition, we will focus on the Just Transition and Scotland’s strengths and expertise in areas such as onshore and offshore wind, Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) and hydrogen and be ambitious in our commitment to decarbonise heat and transport.

The Scottish Government will report on its progress towards these objectives in the 2024-25 International Strategy Annual Report.

The Scottish Parliament publishes a renewable energy map of Scotland which is available here Renewable energy map of Scotland – SPICe Spotlight | Solas air SPICe (spice-spotlight.scot) This makes available details of operational and planned renewable energy generation projects.

The data that the map is based on comes from the Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract, which is maintained by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The Electricity System Operator (ESO) provides a map which provides a view of the current and what the potential future electricity transmission system could look like out to 2040. Note this is for illustrative purposes only. The map can be viewed here - Web map | ESO (nationalgrideso.com)

The Scottish Government is not, at this time, considering to establish anything further to this already publicly available information.

As noted in the answer to question S6W-29325 on 16 September 2024, the Bank cannot invest in local authorities and it does not make sub-commercial investments or provide grant funding.

As the Bank has operational independence it can work with local authorities and create joint venture structures, as long as the Bank is not investing in the local authority.

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 does not provide funding in support of the Mixed Tenure Improvement Service operated by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The total amount of grant claimed as part of the Area Based Schemes programme by the City of Edinburgh Council since 2020 is published on the Scottish Government website. Area-Based Schemes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The latest labour productivity statistics for Scotland are available at Labour productivity statistics: 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This reports estimates of gross value added (GVA) per hour worked and per job filled for the whole economy and for industry sectors, including results for the public administration and defence, education, and health and social care sectors. Results from the statistics release for 2022 were reported within the Public sector: economic overview publication available at Public sector: economic overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

An update on the Government’s Public Service Reform (PSR) programme will be shared with the Finance and Public Administration Committee setting out the details of a wide range of activity, including work to drive efficiency and effectiveness. A key component of this is the Public Bodies Programme where work is progressing to gather comparable and consistent data across public bodies to interrogate efficiency and effectiveness. This data and our wider engagement will drive a culture of continuous improvement across all public bodies.