Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to doing all it can to bring forward investment at Grangemouth and across Scotland. We have given clear signals to investors and prospective developers at Grangemouth that we want to work with them to make the projects outlined in Project Willow a reality including establishing the £25 million Grangemouth Just Transition Fund. Additionally, we have established an investment taskforce, led by Scottish Enterprise and the UK Office for Investment, which is working at pace to identify and attract inward investors at Grangemouth.

This government has overseen a long period of sustained improvement in S4 Leaver positive initial destinations from 78.4% in 2010 to 91.9% in 2024. We are however not complacent and recognise the proportion of S4 leavers in positive initial destinations has decreased by 0.8 percentage points between 2023 and 2024. We are actively working with local authorities on how to further improve the percentage of school leavers in positive destinations.

Ministers, local authorities and schools share statutory responsibilities for education, as well as the wider wellbeing of children, young people, and families which are intertwined and longstanding. National and local government need to work together, with a collective responsibility to improve educational outcomes such as these.

The Scottish Government does not collect this information. The local councils are independent corporate bodies, separate from the Scottish Government, and it is up to each council how it manages its risks. Under the Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland (2021), the Scottish Government strongly encourages all public bodies to seek appropriate and regular independent assurance of their critical technical controls.

The Scottish Government is working to support the development of markets for recycled plastic flexibles and films through a combination of policy commitments and infrastructure investment.

As part of its broader strategy to enhance recycling services, the Scottish Government has committed to introducing household collections for recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging by 31 March 2027. This initiative aims to increase the availability of recyclable materials and increase demand for recycled products.

To bolster recycling capabilities, the Scottish Government has provided funding through the Recycling Improvement Fund. For instance, Fife Council received £470,000 to develop plastic film recycling services locally. This assisted in the installation of advanced sorting equipment, allowing the council to accept flexible plastics at the kerbside and process them into high-quality materials for the market.

Scottish Enterprise would also consider supporting growing businesses in this area, particularly if they are directly aligned with their mission to boost capital investment.

The 2025-26 budget provides local government in Scotland with record funding of over £15.1 billion, a real terms increase of 5.5% and the Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently.

As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them. This includes for waste services on the balance of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government is working in partnership with local government representatives to design the methodology for the co-design of the Code of Practice. This collaborative work will help to ensure that the project draws on best available evidence whilst also being deliverable and affordable.

This partnership working will also ensure that any new commitments or changes to existing policy that have a financial cost for local government, will be considered and approved through the formal financial governance process. This requires agreed recommendations from the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Officers’ Settlement and Distribution Group (SDG) and political agreement from Scottish Ministers and COSLA political Leaders.

The Scottish Perinatal Network (SPN) undertook recruitment to this role in December 2024 and a preferred candidate was offered the role. Finalisation of contracts and backfill recruitment is currently taking place.

The Task and Finish Group is chaired by the three regional Chief Executives and they determine membership of the group. The SPN are currently members of the group and this will be reviewed as work progresses.

Scottish Government sought legal advice whilst drafting the general licence.

The licence is made under article 4(1) of the Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (Scotland) Order 2007 and issued by a veterinary inspector. It permits the collection of birds at fairs, markets, shows, exhibitions or other gatherings subject to the conditions set out in the Schedule. A veterinary inspector shall only grant a licence if a veterinary risk assessment has been carried out, in accordance with article 4(2) of that Order, and the veterinary inspector is satisfied that the gathering and the transit of birds to and from the gathering would not significantly increase the risk of the transmission of avian influenza virus (in particular of virus of the subtype H5N1). These licences are regularly reviewed to reflect the changing risk from avian influenza. General licence changes will also take into consideration feedback from industry and members of the public.

The Energy Skills Passport is an industry-led project, with Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and RenewableUK (RUK) as the lead bodies.

The latest information available to Scottish Government regarding uptake, which covers the period from launch in January to April 2025, is that around 390 user profiles have been set up on the Passport’s digital system. The website received around 2,300 views during its first month and now averages around 900 views per month. More than 50% of the of the activity on the system has come from users based in Scotland.

For the most up to date figures, we recommend contacting OEUK and RUK directly.

Skills Development Scotland publish the number of Modern Apprenticeships starts aged 16-24 in their statistics release available here – https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/statistics/modern-apprenticeships.

SDS also publish Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeships. These will also contain some 16-24 year olds in their starts figures. The latest releases are available here – https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/statistics/foundation-apprenticeships– and here – https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/statistics/graduate-apprenticeships.

At present, 30 local authorities are ready to comply and support the implementation of the ban on biodegradable municipal waste to landfill, with the remaining two continuing to finalise their plans.