Chamber and committees

A core principle of the Blue Badge scheme in Scotland is that access to the scheme is based on the applicant’s functional mobility, whether visible or not, and it is important to note that people with fluctuating conditions or hidden disabilities can apply under the eligibility criteria in the same way as people with visible disabilities. There are no plans to change or expand the eligibility criteria for Blue Badge.

The national Good Food Nation Plan and section 3(3) statement will be laid in Parliament before the end of the period of 3 months, which begins on the expiry of the 60 day period of parliamentary scrutiny.

The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal has created 82 jobs. Due to the nature of Deal investment, job creation can arise over several years post project completion. These job figures reflect the early delivery stage of the overall Growth Deal with only five projects fully complete to date.

As outlined in this year's Programme for Government, we are investing a record £6m to continue implementation of the recommendations of Ana Stewart and Mark Logan’s Pathways report on women in entrepreneurship.

This funding will build on the success of the South of Scotland Enterprise Pre-Start Regional Pilot and Pathways Fund and ensure that the opportunities of entrepreneurship are accessible to more women, closing the gender gaps in business participation and opening up the opportunities of entrepreneurship to under-represented and under-supported groups.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the UK Government on all aspects of energy policy, including the transition to renewable energy and the need to bring down bills.

It is essential that the UK Government puts customers at the heart of all policy decisions across the energy market and we continue to call on the UK Government to take immediate action to address high fuel bills.

This information (for the years 2014-15 – 2023-24) is available from the Office of Rail and Road statistics portal, published on its website. The Member may wish to access the following link, which provides the information requested: Passenger rail usage | ORR Data Portal

Passenger patronage for the year 2024-25 for ScotRail was recorded as 84.7 million.

Energy Consents applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis, with all relevant information considered to ensure balanced decision-making. This includes environmental information, consultee responses and if applicable, the inquiry report.

The Scottish Government takes the welfare of farmed fish very seriously and has already committed to exploring options for how to best to set welfare standards for farmed fish, as set out in its response to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee’s recommendations following its Follow Up Enquiry into Salmon Farming in Scotland.

As stated in my response of 10 June we are developing guidance for the welfare of farmed fish at the time of slaughter, which has been developed with the industry and animal welfare bodies.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) are responsible for considering welfare complaints and investigating potential breaches in welfare legislation, and will continue to apply their professional knowledge and training to assess fish welfare against the provisions set out in The Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

Local authorities must use the financial resources available to them as efficiently as possible to ensure the best possible value. How this is done is a matter for each council. Local Authority reserve balances in Scotland remain considerably higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The record funding settlement for Local Government in 2025-26 was the result of early and meaningful engagement between Scottish Government, COSLA and Councils. We remain committed to ensuring the sustainability of local services going forward and budget engagement ahead of the 2026-27 Scottish Budget has already commenced.

Ministers do not apply predetermined weightings to any information when determining applications for Energy Consents.