Chamber and committees

There are over 300 Properties in Care managed by Historic Environment Scotland, the vast majority of which are currently open and with free entry to visitors. Providing access to our world-renowned historic sites, particularly during the cost-of-living crisis, is one of the ways we can make cultural places accessible, understood, shared and enjoyed by everyone.

I will continue discussing future potential approaches for our Properties in Care with Historic Environment Scotland.

We are committed to broadening the range of people represented in Scotland’s public places, in particular the contribution of women and ethnic minorities. We will work with Creative Scotland, whose remit includes public art, on what form a fund would take and how a fund might best be deployed within available resources. The effects of the pandemic and the current cost crisis facing the culture sector, along with the challenging outlook for public expenditure, mean that we do not have a confirmed timeframe for when this will be in place.

We are currently in initial stages of scoping a ‘Percentage for the Arts’ scheme, which would channel a small percentage of spending on all new public buildings and spaces into support for arts and culture. This work will require significant engagement and consultation with the culture, creative and heritage sectors, local authorities, and across Government, to put in place assessments of the legal, analytical, regulatory, and financial issues. Consideration must also be given to the environmental and equalities impacts of the scheme.

With funding from the Scottish Government, SEPA has contracted an environmental consultant to manage the construction of a leachate management system at the former landfill site at Tarbolton Moss, to prevent the ongoing discharges of landfill leachate to neighbouring watercourses and make it possible for leachate disposal to the public sewerage system. The design phase is now complete.

SEPA continue to monitor ongoing environmental risks at the site and completed their latest survey in August 2022. This found no significant increasing trends associated with the migration of landfill gas or impact to groundwater from leachate.

My officials are working closely with our public partners to consider further actions for the long-term restoration of the site.

Scotland is providing a place of safety to more displaced people per head of population than any other part of the UK. The Scottish Government’s priority is to ensure that displaced people from Ukraine are able to stay in appropriate temporary accommodation and get the right support ahead of moving into safe, sustainable longer-term accommodation. We are working in partnership with local government to identifying suitable long term accommodation and boost supply so we can support people whilst they are in Scotland. As part of this we have established the Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund, backed by up to £50 million of funding for councils and Registered Social Landlords to help bring accommodation into use and boost the housing supply for those fleeing conflict in Ukraine.

On 22 September, the Scottish Government published its first summary of the latest Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine coming to Scotland through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme visa schemes which provides detail on host numbers: Key points - Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - gov.scot.

When an applicant submits an application for a wind farm proposal it is considered on a case by case basis. Any wind farm application is assessed on its own merits against the relevant policy.

Under the Electricity Act 1989 an applicant can submit a new application where a previous application has been refused as the design and layout of the proposal may vary and there may be a change in material considerations.

Under the Planning Act 2019 local authorities have discretionary powers to decline to determine planning applications where a “similar application” has been refused (at appeal or following call-in) within the preceding two years by the Scottish Ministers and, in the opinion of the authority, there has not been a “significant change” in the development plan or any other material considerations. The same power also applies where more than one similar application has been refused by the authority within the preceding two years and no appeal has been lodged.

The assessment of low frequency noise for a wind farm proposal is considered on a case by case basis. Onshore wind turbine: planning advice (May 2014) sets out the policy position for assessing the effects of noise for wind turbine developments and requires proposals to be assessed in line with the framework ‘The Assessment and Rating of Noise from Wind Farms’ (ETSU-R-97) (Sept 1996) by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

No review of the 50MW threshold set within the Electricity Act 1989 has been undertaken. I wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy at the UK Government and am currently pursuing Electricity Act devolution and Habitats Regulations devolution to allow Scotland a modern consenting regime for both onshore and offshore wind matters.

The Scottish Government provides funding to Advice Direct Scotland to deliver telephone and digital advice services including debt and consumer advice. Spend on external consultants is an operational matter and I direct the member to Advice Direct Scotland’s website or to their Chief Executive Officer for this information.

The Scottish Government holds regular meetings with COSLA covering a number of issues.

The increasing energy costs are a concern across a number of businesses in Scotland. Scottish Ministers are clear that the powers and resources needed to tackle this emergency on the scale required - access to borrowing, welfare, VAT on fuel and energy bills, taxation of windfall profits, regulation of the energy market - lie with the UK Government. The Scottish Government has continually urged the UK Government to use all the powers and fiscal headroom at its disposal to address the costs crisis.