Chamber and committees

I can advise Parliament, that today, I’m launching the roll out of a new National Planning Skills Commitment Plan. This involves a co-ordinated skills and recruitment drive for the planning sector, being led by the Scottish Government and underpinned by a partnership approach across the built and natural environment. Over 100 people, across almost 60 organisations, will collectively contribute to the delivery of the Commitment Plan.

Delivery will take place through a range of actions to be progressed for, and by, people from a broad range of sectors and interests. In supporting skills development, industry representatives are contributing their time and knowledge to participate. The Commitment Plan also adopts a more direct approach to recruitment to attract the next generation of planning professionals. That will include steps to help modernise the image and reputation of the planning profession, as a positive force for delivery of investment in the high quality development that Scotland needs now and for years to come.

Taking forward the committed actions, each month will have a dedicated theme for both skills development and recruitment. For example, in March 2025, housing is the key focus topic for training through webinars and hands-on learning. Meanwhile, to boost future recruitment, the Scottish Government is currently taking forward a Future Planners scheme, for 18 Post Graduates, and is about to launch an expanded Bursary programme, trebling the number from 10, last year, to 30 this year.

I believe that all sectors have a vital role to play in addressing the skills and capacity challenges in planning. Professionals are moving forward with a shared ambition to strengthen resilience across Scotland’s planning system and public services.

Details of the National Planning Skills Commitment Plan

https://www.ourplace.scot/resource/training-and-recruitment-opportunities.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manages the majority of land owned by Scottish Ministers, in the form of Scotland's national forests and land. Currently FLS has 76 land agreements in place with private companies covering renewable energy schemes which are currently operational. There are 25 windfarms and 51 hydro schemes. There are no solar schemes. The assets comprising the FLS renewable energy portfolio are managed under operational leases.

The current operational capacity of this portfolio is 1257.95 MW, this comprises 1213.7 MW wind and 44.245 MW hydro.

The most recently recorded annual income for this portfolio is £21,800,000 wind and £2,049,842 hydro.

The lease end dates vary depending on lease length and whether any variations are applied during the lease period.

The Scottish Government expects all organisations to comply with all relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

As part of their funding agreements, organisations funded by the Scottish Government must ensure that their policies and practices are legally compliant and uphold their statutory duties, including those related to equality, safety, and workplace protections. Public bodies are responsible for ensuring that their policies align with the legal framework in Scotland, and they must conduct appropriate due diligence when implementing policies.

Crown Estate Scotland has no current leases with community-owned providers for wind, hydro and solar electricity generation on land in its ownership or management.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manages the majority of land owned by Scottish Ministers, in the form of Scotland's national forests and land. Currently FLS has 10 land agreements in place with 100% community owned or part community owned organisations covering renewable energy schemes which are currently operational. These are all hydro schemes. There are no windfarms or solar schemes. The assets comprising the FLS renewable energy portfolio are managed under operational leases.

The current operational capacity of this portfolio is 5.501 MW.

The most recently recorded annual income for this portfolio is £250,158.

The lease end dates vary depending on lease length and whether any variations are applied during the lease period.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the UK Government to set out Scotland's priorities for the future relationship with the EU. We are clear that the UK Government should seek to agree a generous and wide-ranging youth mobility visa agreement with the EU. A youth mobility visa agreement will never replicate the benefits of freedom of movement, however, it will provide more opportunities for young people to live, work or study overseas. The UK already has reciprocal youth mobility agreements in place with 13 countries and territories and recent opinion polling shows strong support across Scotland for a UK/EU agreement.

Crown Estate Scotland has the following arrangements in place with private sector providers for wind and solar electricity generation on land in its ownership or management:

• One commercial lease agreement with a tenant farmer, which involved the installation of a 50KW solar PV scheme, installed on a 50/50 basis under a FIT scheme a number of years ago. This project resulted in the payment of £9,300 to Crown Estate Scotland in 2023-24 and has 16 years to run.
• Three onshore wind electricity generation projects in the planning stages that are yet to be consented as follows:
  • Wind farm in planning phase in Moffat with a view to 7 turbines on two tenanted farms with potential capacity of 50.4MW.
  • Access rights over CES ground and tenanted farms to facilitate potential 16 turbines (sited elsewhere) in Moray with potential capacity of 105.6MW. The scheme is still in planning phase.
  • Access rights over CES ground and tenanted farms to facilitate 10 turbines (sited elsewhere) with potential wind farm capacity of 72MW in Moray. The scheme is still in planning stages.

There are currently no operational onshore wind farms with a lease from Crown Estate Scotland. Also, Crown Estate Scotland does not manage any onshore leases for hydropower projects.

The Scottish Government supports the use of crumb waste as a fuel for electricity generation, where it adheres to the guiding principles for bioenergy as set out in our draft Bioenergy Policy Statement (BPS).

These include prioritising the use of available waste feedstocks so that the use of biomass complies with the principles of a circular economy and a cascading use of biomass, which means wood being first used where it can deliver the highest economic and environmental benefit (for example in construction), then life extension, reuse and recycling of the wood should be sought before use in bioenergy applications. We want to ensure that any feedstock utilised for electricity generation has no wider residual value within society.

Scotland’s national forests and land, managed by Forestry and Land Scotland has 10 land agreements in place with 100% community owned or part community owned organisations covering renewable energy schemes which are currently operational. These are all hydro schemes. There are no windfarms or solar schemes. The assets comprising the FLS renewable energy portfolio are managed under operational leases.

The current operational capacity of this portfolio is 5.501 MW.

The most recently recorded annual income for this portfolio is £250,158.

The lease end dates vary depending on lease length and whether any variations are applied during the lease period.

Scotland's national forests and land, managed by Forestry and Land Scotland has 76 land agreements in place with private companies covering renewable energy schemes which are currently operational. There are 25 windfarms and 51 hydro schemes. There are no solar schemes. The assets comprising the FLS renewable energy portfolio are managed under operational leases.

The current operational capacity of this portfolio is 1257.95 MW, this comprises 1213.7 MW wind and 44.245 MW hydro.

The most recently recorded annual income for this portfolio is £21,800,000 wind and £2,049,842 hydro.

The lease end dates vary depending on lease length and whether any variations are applied during the lease period.