Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not carried out an overarching assessment of the typical environmental remediation costs for sites of former steelworks in Scotland.

As an executive non-departmental public body SEPA operates independently from ministers and is accountable to Parliament. SEPA can confirm if they have carried out a compliance assessment and its outcome.

The Scottish Government’s position remains the same.

Discussions are ongoing with local government about the establishment of an education assurance board to oversee Scottish education and help deliver the best educational outcomes for our children and young people. The board will form part of the wider assurance and accountability arrangements under the Verity House Agreement with local government.

The national minimum school clothing grant is £120 per annum for primary pupils, and £150 for secondary pupils.

The Scottish Government has increased funding for local authorities to £13.9 million in the 2024-25 financial year. This includes an inflationary uplift of £0.9 million on the previous year’s funding. The purpose of this increase is to support local authorities to manage increases to the minimum amounts of school clothing grant paid to eligible families in the 2024-25 academic year.

It is for local authorities to determine their own eligibility criteria for school clothing grant and they also have the option to set their school clothing grant levels higher than the minimum if they wish to do so.

Decisions about funding to local authorities in respect of the school clothing grant in future financial years will be through the Budget process in the usual way.

The Scottish Government is not involved in the training of judicial office holders. Part 2 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 sets out that the Lord President is responsible for making and maintaining appropriate arrangements for the welfare, training and guidance of judicial office holders. This ensures that training is free from political interference and is essential to preserve the independence of the legal system. The Lord President delegates responsibility for the delivery of judicial training to the Judicial Institute of Scotland. Any queries on judicial training should therefore be directed to [email protected] .

The information requested is not held by Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service or Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a just transition to net zero for all communities in Scotland, working with those most impacted to provide a fairer, greener future for all. Our approach is therefore being informed by communities, businesses, workers and their trade unions across Scotland.

Where new development proposals come forward, Policy 33 of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) sets out that development proposals for the sustainable extraction of minerals will only be supported by that policy where relevant criteria are met. This includes where it is demonstrated that there are no significant adverse impacts on nearby homes and local communities, provision of an adequate buffer zone between sites and settlements, and the inclusion of schemes for a high standard of restoration and aftercare.

Where any mineral extraction takes place, relevant environmental permitting and licensing requirements will apply ensuring continuing environmental protection.

NatureScot considers bat surveys submitted as part of a licence application against the Good Practice Guidelines developed by the Bat Conservation Trust. NatureScot also contributed to the creation of these guidelines. The guidelines ensure that bat roost sites are appropriately surveyed to inform species licensing decisions and allow NatureScot to assess what is the appropriate level of mitigation and compensation to protect bat species.