Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government accepts the judgment of the Supreme Court.

Work is underway across the Scottish Government reviewing legislation, guidance and policies impacted by the judgment. A working group – convened by the Permanent Secretary - has been established to take this forward. The Scottish Government has updated the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the approach we are taking.

As the enforcer and regulator of the Equality Act and we expect all organisations to consider its revised Code of Practice and guidance when published to ensure there is a consistent and clear understanding of the correct application of the law for all involved in this complex area.

As stated in the response to S6W-35301, through the Scottish Government’s Fair Work policy all employers across Scotland, including those involved in the Offshore Wind sector, are encouraged to adopt Fair Work First principles. Leasing agreements are agreed and maintained by Crown Estate Scotland.

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 UK Government is responsible for monitoring Inch Cape’s Supply Chain Plan as part of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.

The Scottish Government is investing up to £500 million over five years to anchor our offshore wind supply chain, support market certainty, and help create a highly productive, competitive offshore wind economy which supports thousands of jobs.

The Lease for the Inch Cape Offshore windfarm was signed on 24 January 2025.

Gender equality is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s vision for a fairer Scotland. We want women of all ages to be empowered to exercise equal rights and opportunities, and to have equitable access to economic resources and decision making.

Eradicating child poverty is the top priority across all of government, with wide ranging action being taken to tackle poverty – including through investment in funded childcare, devolved employability services, and social security benefits such as our Scottish Child Payment.

We recognise that child poverty and women’s poverty are inextricably linked and that children in lone parent families, of which around 90% are headed by women, are at greater risk of poverty. Best Start, Bright Futures, our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2022-26, outlines our focus on ensuring that policies and approaches effectively tackle the challenges and barriers faced by families at greatest risk of poverty, including lone parents. We will continue to use evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, and are increasingly taking an intersectional approach, to understand the challenges and needs of particular groups and ensure effective action is taken, including for lone parents.

The Scottish Government also recognises the positive contribution older people make to their communities and sees the value in bringing generations together. We aim to enable better access to a range of services for older people as and when they need them. We want to ensure people are financially secure and supported as they age.

The Scottish Government’s ‘A Fairer Scotland for Older People: framework for action’ contains a dedicated strand focused on activity we are undertaking to ensure people are financially secure and supported as they age. In addition, we provide funding of £2.2 million, through the Equality and Human Rights Fund, to older people’s organisations and age equality projects. This funding is delivering a range of initiatives that tackles poverty among older people.

The Council Tax Reduction Scheme exists to ensure that nobody in Scotland should have to meet a Council Tax liability they cannot be expected to afford.

Over 460,000 households receive some level of CTR, and on average recipients save over £850 a year. Over 380,000 households were in receipt of full CTR and therefore did not have to pay any council tax (as at March 20204).

The Council Tax working age scheme was revised from April 2022, to ensure that, as far as practicable, a household in the same circumstances receives the same level of Council Tax Reduction whether it is on Universal Credit or not.

In 2025-26 the Scottish Government has allocated over £15 million for the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice. In 2025-26, Citizens Advice Scotland and the network of Bureaux have been allocated over £7.7 million. This funding supports the Money Talk Team service, providing free and confidential income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services across Scotland as well as the new national roll-out of the Council Tax Debt project.

Projects such as Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm have the potential to boost local and national supply chain growth and support high-quality, sustainable jobs.

The UK Government is responsible for monitoring Supply Chain Plans as part of the CfD scheme.

The expansion of offshore wind represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create thousands of jobs that drive growth, foster innovation, and generate wealth. The Scottish Government is doing everything within its power to ensure that the offshore wind opportunity for Scotland is realised so that projects and the associated economic benefits we all want to see are delivered.

The Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Open-Ended Investment Companies) (Scotland) Regulations 2015 were made in exercise of the powers conferred by section 46 of the 2013 Act.

In respect of section 47 of the 2013 Act, no regulations have been made to date.

The Scottish Government has no duty to conduct an assessment of the impact of the UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill with regard to offshore energy workers or seafarers or any other sector, but we welcome the Bill and continue to work with the UK Government to ensure it has a positive impact across Scotland. The Scottish Government supports the strengthening of fair work and workers’ rights and will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market, whilst advocating for devolution of employment law to best protect Scotland’s workers.

The Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) are not aware that this has been a recurring issue other than for one recent specific case, where Energy Consents Unit (ECU) hadn’t initially passed all representee contact details to them from the outset. Steps were taken to ensure no parties were prejudiced and all who wanted to take part in the process were given the opportunity to do so.