Chamber and committees

When an applicant submits an application for a wind farm proposal it is considered on a case by case basis. Any wind farm application is assessed on its own merits against the relevant policy.

Under the Electricity Act 1989 an applicant can submit a new application where a previous application has been refused as the design and layout of the proposal may vary and there may be a change in material considerations.

Under the Planning Act 2019 local authorities have discretionary powers to decline to determine planning applications where a “similar application” has been refused (at appeal or following call-in) within the preceding two years by the Scottish Ministers and, in the opinion of the authority, there has not been a “significant change” in the development plan or any other material considerations. The same power also applies where more than one similar application has been refused by the authority within the preceding two years and no appeal has been lodged.

The assessment of low frequency noise for a wind farm proposal is considered on a case by case basis. Onshore wind turbine: planning advice (May 2014) sets out the policy position for assessing the effects of noise for wind turbine developments and requires proposals to be assessed in line with the framework ‘The Assessment and Rating of Noise from Wind Farms’ (ETSU-R-97) (Sept 1996) by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Following the announcement in October 2018, the recruitment process for non-Executive Whistleblowing Champions started in 2019. Given the scale of the recruitment process, most Whistleblowing Champions were appointed in 2020. The dedicated role offers an extra level of scrutiny and assurance, helping NHS Boards to comply with their responsibilities in relation to whistleblowing.

There are currently 2 vacancies within the State Hospital and NHS Shetland, which are currently being recruited through the Public Appointments process.

A table showing the number of homes and projects that have been submitted for approval in each month, from 29 October 2021 to 23 August 2022, broken down by baseline benchmark type and whether above, at, or below benchmark has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 63601). To note that the table includes some projects still under active appraisal.

In the Scottish Government’s response to the Sturrock Review, a Ministerially-led Short-Life Working Group was convened, with representation from NHS boards, staff-side organisations, medical Royal Colleges based in Scotland and the professional and regulatory bodies representing medics, nurses and allied healthcare professionals.

The focus of this group was to examine how to take forward measures that support open and honest workplace cultures, specifically with a view to delivering sustainable behavioural and attitudinal changes to leadership and management across NHS Scotland.

This group met on 31 July 2019, 28 October 2019 and 18 June 2020. As this work has evolved, there are no plans for this group to meet.

The Scottish Government continues to provide financial support for bus services to keep services more extensive, and fares more affordable than would otherwise be the case. On 1 April 2022, the Network Support Grant was introduced, with up to £93.5 million allocated for 2022-23 and an additional £25.7 million is being provided to extend the Network Support Grant Plus until October of this year. The Scottish Government continues to engage with bus operators and local government to keep support under review.

Since 2010-11 the Scottish Government has recycled all receipts raised from shared equity sales.

Recycled receipts in each year are as shown in the following table.

The Scottish Government is supporting bus operators through the Network Support Grant and Network Support Grant Plus which started on 1 April 2022 and which replace the Bus Service Operators’ Grant and emergency Covid funding.

I met with operators over the course of Summer recess to identify actions for Government and the sector to work in partnership on. As a result I will be convening a Taskforce with operators to further explore what practical solutions can be delivered to help maintain bus services across the country.

I updated Parliament of progress towards its plans to remove the majority of diesel buses from public transport by 2023 in answer S6W-10271 given on 9 August 2022. As noted in S6W-10271, as with every other part of the economy and society, delivery of further progress has been slowed by the pandemic, and Brexit is also causing supply chain issues and delays in investment decisions. The Pathway sets out a shared approach between Transport Scotland and the key sectors represented on the taskforce (bus operating, manufacturing, energy, finance and public sector), that, by working together, we will achieve a future where all buses in Scotland are zero-emission buses.

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 has not directly given public funds to waste incinerator operators in the previous five years.

It is possible that operators have received funds from UK Government departments or other public bodies including local authorities, however, this information is not held by Scottish Government.