Chamber and committees

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water is investing some £36m every year to reduce leakage and this investment includes active leakage management to find and repair leaks, as well as repairs of visible and reported leakage and capital schemes to reduce leakage. This sum is part of a broader investment of some £110m every year in the operating and capital costs of managing leakage, repairing bursts, and rehabilitating water networks.

The Scottish Enterprise and UK Office for Investment have established the Grangemouth Investor taskforce which is focussed on identifying and attracting investment in the proposals outlined in Project Willow, with a particular focus on opportunities that the Grangemouth Just Transition Fund could support to ensure they become market investible.

I agreed the remit of the Review of Creative Scotland with the independent Chair, Angela Leitch, and it is available on the Scottish Government’s website at the following link: Independent Review of Creative Scotland: remit - gov.scot

The review will include consideration of Creative Scotland’s finances and distribution of funds.

The Review is independent of the Scottish Government and will deliver its recommendations in November.

There are many factors that influence the price consumers pay for electricity. It is essential that we deliver net zero and build a secure energy system, but people in Scotland must see the benefit from that in their energy bills. The Scottish Government has been calling for the UK Government to take urgent action to address the high cost of electricity, as high energy prices remain the single greatest driver of fuel poverty in Scotland.

Our immediate priority is to capitalise on the near term opportunities set out in Project Willow, with a focus on bringing forward new jobs at Grangemouth as quickly as possible. The Grangemouth investment taskforce is delivering on this priority by working with businesses with an interest in developing projects aligned to those suggested in Project Willow.

The Dynamic Support Register (DSR) provides a mechanism for national data collection on people with learning disabilities and complex care needs. However, data collected through the DSR is not broken down by how many individuals with autism and learning disabilities remain in hospital settings, despite being clinically fit for discharge.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) collect and publish quarterly data, with the most recent collection, from 26 December 2024, published in March 2025. At that time, there were 1,273 people on the DSR, of which there were 84 delayed discharges and 51 inappropriate out-of-area placements.

The full March PHS report is available here: Insights into learning disabilities and complex needs: statistics for Scotland - 18 March 2025 - Insights into learning disabilities and complex needs: statistics for Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The next DSR data collection will be published by PHS in June 2025.

Additionally, PHS publish monthly data on delayed discharges here: About this release - Delayed discharges in NHSScotland monthly - Figures for March 2025 - Delayed discharges in NHSScotland monthly - Publications - Public Health Scotland. This data is broken down to Health Board and Local Authority level.

Creative Scotland assesses all applications made - irrespective of theme, subject matter or artform - in accordance with the published criteria and guidance for each funding stream. This guidance states explicit restrictions on the use of funding provided by Creative Scotland for party political activities. The terms and conditions of the agreements entered into with successful applicants further support this position, making clear that funding awarded cannot be used for such activities.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills has met recently with the Principal of Edinburgh University to discuss its cost-saving programme and potential impact on staff.

Staffing and operational matters are the responsibility of individual universities as autonomous institutions, however the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Councill will continue to engage closely with the sector and offer appropriate support to universities, including Edinburgh, as they develop their plans to address financial challenges.

Whilst Ministers cannot compel institutions to commit to no compulsory redundancies, the Scottish Government’s expectation is that universities work with staff to make every effort to protect jobs, and for compulsory redundancies to be considered as a last resort, after all other cost saving measures have been fully explored.

A number of stakeholders with an interest in the outcome of the court case were offered 15-minute meetings with myself immediately following the ruling. For Women Scotland declined a meeting at that time. They subsequently attended a meeting with myself on 22 May for a 45-minute meeting. For Women Scotland have also subsequently met with officials.

Singapore’s economic performance has been strong and it is always useful to look at international comparisons and learn from others. The analysis which the Scottish Government published in June 2022 as part of the first Building a New Scotland paper shows that independent, small Northern European countries are better comparators for Scotland. The evidence in our paper suggests that decision-making at Westminster and a UK economy which does not suit Scotland’s distinct circumstances has led to outcomes that fail to match Scotland’s potential.

In 2022, The Scottish Government published it’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). This sets out a ten year transformation with the objective of creating a fair, green and growing economy and establishing Scotland as a world-class entrepreneurial nation and ensuring that its businesses, industries, regions, communities and public services are more innovative and productive than they have ever been. In the three years since NSET was published, we have made significant progress in delivering the strategy with 39% of the original action complete including the publication of the Green Industrial Strategy.

The Green Industrial Strategy (GIS) sets out our strategic approach to green growth, offering a clear view of the economic sectors and industries in which we have greatest strength and most potential. Alongside this, Scotland’s National Innovation Strategy identifies the sectors that drive economic growth, and the underlying actions required to deliver that growth.