Chamber and committees

Local authorities can use Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) as set out in The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999. As with all other Traffic Regulation Orders, local authorities are under no obligation to inform the Scottish Government when they use these measures and as such, we do not hold an accurate record of how many have been deployed during this time period.

Details of Traffic Regulation Orders published by local authorities, including ETROs, can be found on Tell Me Scotland's website at: Public Information Notices for Scotland | Tellmescotland.

The Scottish Government assessed all of these options in reaching the conclusion to locate the accreditation functions in Qualifications Scotland. This involved seeking the views of a range of organisations and stakeholders, which included the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Partnership.

The key factors considered as part of this assessment included: the need to ensure appropriate independence from ministers, alongside suitable governance, accountability and operational arrangements for the accreditation function and any other functions it shares a body with; the need to avoid misaligned priorities between functions and not introduce any confusion between these; the need to avoid creating new and complex conflicts of interest and disrupting other parts of the system; and the need to retain existing benefits of other functions in the system, such as the charitable and independent status of the SCQF Partnership.

Across all these options there were a number of shared factors that influenced the decision not to locate the function in any of these bodies. This included the levels of staff disruption particularly with staff terms, conditions and employment status; costs; the available resource and capacity of organisations to absorb such a function compared to Qualifications Scotland; and planned reviews, such as the Skills Delivery Landscape Review, that created uncertainty over other functions managed by Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council.

As operator, CalMac have estimated 44tonnes (this equates to two HGV tankers) of LNG per week during vessel operation. However this is being reviewed as part of the network trials which are currently being undertaken.

Individual policy teams within portfolios routinely allocate funding to local government to deliver our shared priorities. The intended allocations at the start of the financial year are set out in table 4.12 of the 2025-26 Scottish Budget, providing transparency to parliament. While the funding is included in the weekly revenue and monthly capital payments made to individual local authorities from the start of the financial year, the budget is formally processed at ABR and SBR – which are also published for transparency.

The Scottish Government’s intention in terms of funding available to local government is fully set out in the budget in the initial presentation, and given full effect as a technical increase to the general revenue or capital grants at ABR and SBR.

The answer to question S6W-32009 shows the additional income arising from the Intermediate Property Rate being set at 55.4p in 2025-26, compared to setting it at 54.5p, keeping rateable values and all other variables constant.

Generally, rateable values only tend to change at revaluations which take place every three years, with the next one scheduled for 1 April 2026. Outwith revaluations, rateable values may change due to factors such as property expansions or improvements, changes due to proposals or appeals, or additions and deletions of property entries from the Valuation Roll.

In Scotland, there is no legislation linking the maximum possible uprating of the rates to inflation in the preceding year. Given that Scottish Ministers have chosen to set the Basic Property Rate to match or be below the Small Business Multiplier in England since 2007-2008, up until 2016-2017, September Retail Price Index (RPI) acted as a cap on inflationary increases in poundage in Scotland because in England, legislation used to link the maximum possible uprating of the Small Business Multiplier to September RPI of the preceding year. The independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates published in 2017 noted calls for increases in the poundage to be linked to the CPI rather than the RPI. Since 2017-18, annual changes in the rates in Scotland have been lower than the CPI increase.

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

An individual business case, including socio-economic analysis, is prepared for each route being considered for decarbonisation. These business cases include technical and economic examinations of the case for of different types of rail traction including bi-mode diesel-electric, battery-electric and hydrogen.

Transport Scotland is working closely with Scottish Rail Holdings, who is responsible for overseeing ScotRail, to ensure that ScotRail services are delivered efficiently. This includes discussions on the regular monitoring of ScotRail financial performance and delivery.

Caledonian Sleeper services are funded through a combination of passenger revenue and Scottish Government subsidy. This was true when operated by Serco and remains true under public ownership. There are no plans to change that funding model.

The Scottish Government is currently working on a National Treatment Specification for Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Scotland.

This document will be informed by numerous sources including the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment and the recently published Public Health Scotland review into Alcohol Brief Interventions as well as key independent reports such as Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problem’s (SHAAP) paper on alcohol use disorder in the justice system.

Officials will work closely with colleagues within the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that the National Treatment Specification fully reflects the importance of the justice system including those resident in the prison estate as an integral part of Scotland’s alcohol treatment provision.

The works referred to in your question is part of an existing project to upgrade the Parliament’s Building and Energy Management System (BEMS). The BEMS is a business-critical tool which provides visibility and control of building services, principally the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and domestic hot water systems in all areas of the Holyrood site.  The new BEMS replaces an existing system which was installed 20 years ago and at end of life.  

The estimated total value for the BEMS project is £3,900,000. This information is published on the Scottish Parliaments Contracts Register under the contract reference NIC-SER-486 at the following link - Contract register | Scottish Parliament Website.