Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42335 on 16 December 2025. 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 Mossmorran Fife Ethylene Plant Taskforce will be led by Fife Council. The information requested is therefore a matter for Fife Council.

The Scottish Government is clear that corridor care should not be normalised. Any care out with standard care areas should be avoided where possible and if required, all actions to mitigate the risks of this should be undertaken, and the length of time in which patients are in these areas should be a short as possible.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-42347 on 16 December 2025 for information on Scottish Water’s approach to installing Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) monitors.

CSOs must be licensed by the independent regulator, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and any unsatisfactory discharges will be identified so that Scottish Water can invest to reduce the environmental impact.

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 is working with Scottish Enterprise at pace to identify a route forward that will support a sustainable future at Mossmorran. They will update the Scottish Government in due course on the most viable proposals and ways in which they could be deployed to support an industrial transition for impacted workers and the wider community.

The Scottish Government has also commissioned an independent assessment of the potential economic impact of ExxonMobil’s planned closure of the Mossmorran Fife Ethylene Plant.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-42335 on 16 December 2025. 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.

Deployment of resources is a matter for the Chief Constable based on operational priorities. This is very clearly set out in the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 which received cross party support in this chamber.

Police Scotland already work very closely with local communities, including local authority representatives and the Act requires Police Scotland to involve individual local authorities in setting of priorities and objectives for the policing of its area.

Furthermore, a local policing plan which sets out the main priorities and objectives for their area must be approved by local authorities.

The importance of community policing is recognised in the Scottish Government’s Strategic Police Priorities which were revised in 2023.

Police Scotland’s three year business plan also includes a number of measures aimed at enhancing local policing to help keep our communities safe.

Asylum is the process by which someone applies to the UK Government to have their refugee status recognised. Asylum is reserved to the UK Government, this includes the provision of asylum accommodation and support to those who would otherwise be destitute while waiting for a decision on their asylum application.

The Scottish Government supports widening of asylum dispersal in principle and expects the UK Government to effectively engage with local authorities and COSLA on operational planning.

The Home Office must work constructively with local authorities in Scotland to ensure any asylum dispersal plans developed do not adversely impact services and enable people seeking asylum to be supported within communities.

The Scottish Government has repeatedly raised the impact of reserved decisions on local authorities and services, particularly increased asylum decision making without provision of resources or adequate planning and urge the UK Government to avoid placing a greater strain on councils, especially in Glasgow where the situation is already unsustainable.

We have a robust framework in place, through the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018, for the regulation of wastewater activities.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken an analysis of the impact of the SEPA not publishing Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR) licence compliance data since 2019. However, there is no evidence of any significant increase in non-compliance with respect to CAR authorisations in recent years.

SEPA historically published annual compliance data under its Compliance Assessment Scheme (CAS), which rated licences under CAR and other regimes. This publication stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic but SEPA has continued to check compliance and tackle non-compliance where necessary, and some authorisation information is available on request.

SEPA has consulted on a new Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme (EPAS) for reporting on performance against regulatory requirements. Reporting under EPAS is expected to start during 2027. More information is available on SEPA’s website at Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

In parallel, SEPA transitioned from CAR licencing to Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 on 1 November 2025. This will create a more streamlined and integrated system for environmental authorisations in Scotland by bringing together the processes for authorising, enforcing and managing activities that may impact the environment.