Chamber and committees

From May 2021 to date, £9,419,808 has been spent on the provision, maintenance and servicing of free bikes. This figure includes the cost of accessories such as locks, lights and helmets, and includes the total cost of the project associated with free bike provision. This includes bikes distributed under the Free Bikes for School Children pilot programme between August 2021 and March 2023, the Free Bikes Partnership in financial year 2023-24, and under the Regional Transport Partnership-led People and Place programme in financial year 2024-25.

Due to reporting schedules, the final evaluation of the People and Place programme for financial year 2024-25 has not been completed at the time of writing. The free bikes data for 2024-25 may therefore be subject to change.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards to record and report incidents through their local reporting systems and investigate as required including escalation to Police Scotland, if necessary.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland are working with all NHS boards and partner organisations to standardise the reporting of adverse events and have developed a National Framework for Reviewing and Learning From Adverse Events which was published in February 2025.

We strongly encourage patients and staff to report all instances of violent and aggressive behaviour, including sexual violence. Police Scotland will record crimes through their Crime Management System.

Following the fire at the WEEE Solutions site in Linwood in June 2024, I asked my officials to consider the safety of these sites and battery energy storage (BESS) sites. In particular, this was to examine whether existing safety provisions and regulations are sufficiently robust, whilst also considering compliance and enforcement aspects.

This concluded that the current legislative and regulatory framework is sufficiently robust, recognising however that it is complex and requires inter-agency cooperation to be effective. Moreover, responsibility also lies with the operators of waste, recycling and BESS sites to ensure that they have effective and robust arrangements in place to minimise the fire risk involved with the disposal and storage of batteries.

Also, on 4 April Siobhian Brown MSP, Minister for Victims and Community Safety, wrote to all MSPs and MPs to highlight the recent work that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has undertaken recently concerning public safety awareness on the use of lithium-ion batteries.

Moving forward, Scottish Government officials are working with sector partners to host a workshop in the near future in order to further explore these issues and to identify if any potential changes can be made to reduce the risk of fire at recycling centres.

Given the nature of operating a refinery, significant regular operational expenditure would be required, alongside frequent capital expenditure, to enable the asset to continue operating - and we continue to urge the UK Government to leave no stone unturned when it comes to securing the future and the workforce of the site.

The public and business community should be confident that the Scottish Government is committed to attracting and securing investment in Grangemouth’s future, underpinned by our £25 million Grangemouth Just Transition Fund which will be utilised to support near term low carbon opportunities identified by the Grangemouth Investment Taskforce and Project Willow.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging funding will be paid directly to local authorities by PackUK (the scheme administrator) and it will be for each local authority to decide how it manages this funding. Under the Verity House Agreement, local government funding in Scotland will not be ring-fenced or directed, unless there is a clear joint understanding to do so. However, the purpose of packaging EPR funding - to pay for the cost of managing household packaging waste - is clearly set out in legislation. There will be no reduction in the local government finance settlement as a result of extended producer responsibility for packaging payments in the first year of the scheme (2025-26).

The Scottish Government recognises the economic and environmental benefits of precision farming technology and has provided capital support to allow farmers and crofters to invest in precision farming equipment.

The number of birds registered on the Scottish Kept Bird Register has increased since the numbers provided in the answer to question S6W-37429 on 12 May 2025. The number of birds registered on the Scottish Kept Bird Register has increased to 15,621,470 as at 28 May 2025. It is not possible to provide the requested breakdown of categories exactly into (a) canaries, (b) budgerigars, (c) other finches, (d) pigeons and (e) parrots. The categories of birds available for a more detailed breakdown from the register are: avian zoo collections (BIAZA Registered); aviary birds; birds of prey; ducks; emus; geese; guinea fowl; other birds; ostriches; partridges; pheasants; pigeons; psittacines; quails; rheas; and turkeys.

Excluding species classified as poultry or birds of prey the register currently holds records of 61,046 aviary birds, 3,570 other birds, 1,289 psittacines and 77,140 pigeons.

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 recognises that funding will be required to support Boards to make the transition to a reformed maternity and neonatal service. We have provided £3,570,400 to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and £2,873,051 to NHS Lothian since 2019, a total contribution of almost £6.5m. We are in discussion with NHS Grampian about additional support required. This funding is focused on supporting Boards through the transition process. In parallel work is underway to develop a cross-Board funding model to ensure receiving units are funded for the additional care that they provide.

This is in addition to the £25m of support we have provided to all Boards for implementation of the package of recommendations within Best Start since 2018, including improvements such as introduction of transitional care, and neonatal community care, and establishment of the Scottish Perinatal Network.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will be conducting a full 12 week consultation on a range of possible service delivery changes in June 2025. SFRS will carefully consider the responses to that consultation before taking decisions on which options for change it will implement.

SFRS continually reviews and develops its response to any new and emerging technology to keep communities safe including in the event of an incident involving battery energy storage sites. Should an incident occur at a hazardous site of any kind, SFRS has the ability to deploy a range of resources that can be utilised by the highly skilled crews to successfully bring the incidents to a safe conclusion. These resources are not drawn from a single fire station.

Safety for the babies, families and staff is our utmost priority, which is why we have taken a phased approach to transition, allowing time to build the right levels of capacity in all areas with NHS Boards working towards full implementation by 2026.

Implementation is already underway in the East region with Fife babies transferring to Edinburgh, and in the West Region with Ayrshire babies being transferred to Glasgow.

Each of the three Regions have developed plans for implementation. The plans include a phased approach to implementation and Regions have chosen to take different approaches to phasing.