Chamber and committees

On 15 August 2024, we published the Summary of Responses to Investing in Planning - a consultation on resourcing Scotland’s planning system, which ran from 28 February 2024 to 31 May 2024.

We received 140 responses from a range of stakeholders, including industry bodies, and have published responses where consent has been given to do so. A full breakdown of respondents can be found in the Summary of Responses at: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836016328 .

I will set out the next steps on improvements to the planning system when the Scottish Parliament returns after recess.

We continue to consider the recommendations made by the UK Government's Animal Welfare Committee although do not have a timescale for completing our review. However, we are continuing to work with the industry to find ways of improving and safeguarding the welfare of farmed fish at the time of slaughter.

The Scottish Government is committed to the highest possible animal welfare standards, and improving aquaculture health and welfare is one of the main priorities embedded within our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture.

Health Boards are autonomous institutions and as such, are responsible for their own recruitment activity taking into account, retention, absence rates and budgets when making decisions.

Scottish Government officials have however been engaging with Health Boards about their current position in relation to job offers and supply, with Boards remaining committed to maximising the opportunities for newly qualified nurses to find employment and reduce vacancies across nursing.

No additional funding has been confirmed as part of the Chancellor’s statement, with the consequential position, as per normal practice, confirmed as part of the Supplementary Estimates process in January/February 2025.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the UK Government to seek clarity on changes that have an impact on funding.

Information on future year funding will be outlined as part of the UK Government Spending Review, the first two years of which will be published alongside the Autumn Statement on the 30th of October.

The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy has regular meetings with SEPA which cover a wide range of topics related to SEPA functions. Most recently, Miri McAllan MSP met SEPA Chair, Lisa Tennant and Nicole Paterson, Chief Executive Officer on 13 June 2024.

The Scottish Government, through the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26 published in 2021, has enabled the upgrade to the Edinburgh Cancer Centre (ECC) at the Western General Hospital in NHS Lothian, which will complete this financial year.

Beyond this, given the extremely challenging financial position, all capital projects are now under review. Publication of the revised Infrastructure Investment Plan will be considered only once allocations from the new UK Government are confirmed and fully appraised by the Scottish Government.

We intend to resume Tranche 1 of the Sustainability Loan Scheme in 2024-25 once we have completed the disbursement of funds for those loans already completed and confirmed a budget. This will likely not be until midway through the financial year.

Our preference remains to continue the loan scheme into Tranche 2 and beyond – however, this is dependent on whether the UK Government resumes the allocation of Financial Transaction Capital to the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. It is for Health Boards to ensure best use of available resources whilst prioritising patient safety and care.

Each GP practice’s “Global Sum” allocation is adjusted every quarter to account for changes in their registered patients lists; growing practices should receive a greater share of national funding.

The Scottish Government annually uplifts General Medical Services funding specifically to account for population growth. In 2023-24, this amounted to £8.3 million.

All capital projects are under review and a revised Scottish Government infrastructure investment plan will be published later this year. All due consideration will be given to which projects can be included within that revised plan to ensure it is affordable and deliverable, while providing the best value for money. Our emphasis for the immediate future will be on addressing backlog maintenance and essential equipment replacement.

The Scottish Government uses modelling evidence such as the Electricity System Operators Future Energy Scenarios (FES) to explore the future storage capacity that could be required in Scotland and GB under different decarbonisation pathways.

The level of capacity being proposed through applications for battery energy storage systems can be found on the Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract ( Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ).

Where Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) applications with a capacity greater than 50MW are brought forward, these will require consent from Scottish Ministers under the Electricity Act 1989. Proposals below 50MW are determined by the relevant planning authority in the first instance. Information on live applications under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 is available on the Energy Consents website, using the application search function and includes specific capacities, where this information is held.