Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-33997

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 5 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government in what year it was decided that the community benefit for wind farms should be £5,000 per megawatt.

Despite the powers to mandate community benefits being reserved to the UK Government, Scotland has made significant progress with the voluntary approach through the Scottish Government’s Good Practice Principles (GPPs) for Onshore Developments, which recommends community benefit equivalent to £5,000 per MW per annum. This was first published in the GPPs in 2014 and maintained in the 2019 refresh, following a public consultation and co-development with communities and industry. These Principles have been widely adopted with over £30 million offered to Scottish communities in the last 12 months.

We are currently undertaking a consultation on our Good Practice Principles for onshore and offshore renewable energy developments, which closes on the 11 April. We want to gather a wide range of views to ensure Scottish guidance supports sustainable and meaningful outcomes, and encourage everyone to take part in the consultation.

Question reference: S6O-04309

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the importance of the A737 to North Ayrshire.

Question reference: S6W-33787

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding private finance initiative (PFI) and public private partnership (PPP) contracts, what the total amount in unitary charge payments is that (a) has been paid since 1997-98, up to and including the latest financial year for which figures are available, for all (i) expired and (ii) active projects, and (b) remains to be paid for all active projects until contract expiry by (A) local authorities, (B) NHS Scotland, (C) the Scottish Funding Council, (D) Transport Scotland, (E) the Scottish Prison Service, (F) Scottish Water, (G) Police Scotland and (H) the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration.

The latest published data as at 31 March 2023 relating to (a) the total unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) which were paid across the public sector in Scotland from 1997-98 to 2022-23 comprising both (i) expired and (ii) active contracts are contained within the following table.

Contract Type	1997-98 to 2022-23	1997-98 to 2022-23
	(a)(i) Expired Contracts	(a)(ii) Active Contracts
	(£m)	(£m)
PFI	372	15,437
NPD (pre-2010)	-	758
NPD Programme	-	1,573
Total	372	17,768

The latest published data as at 31 March 2023 relating (b) the total estimated remaining unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD from 2023-24 until contract expiry for (A) local authorities, (B) NHS Scotland, (C) the Scottish Funding Council, (D) Transport Scotland, (E) the Scottish Prison Service, (F) Scottish Water, and (G) Police Scotland are contained within the following table (the PFI contract relating to (H) the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration expired in 2012-13 when the last payment was made).

Contract Type	Procuring Authority	2023-24 onwards
		(b) Active Contracts
		(£m)
PFI	(A) Local Authorities	8,147
	(B) NHS Boards	3,999
	(C) Scottish Funding Council / Colleges	6
	(D) Transport Scotland	644
	(E) Scottish Prison Service	511
	(F) Scottish Water	1,376
	(G) Police Scotland	17
NPD (pre-2010)	(A) Local Authorities	1,025
	(B) NHS Boards	274
NPD Programme	(A) Local Authorities	1,986
	(B) NHS Boards	1,955
	(C) Scottish Funding Council / Colleges	662
	(D) Transport Scotland	2,510

Question reference: S6W-33788

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding private finance initiative (PFI) and public private partnership (PPP) contracts where the procuring authority is categorised as a devolved Scottish authority, what the total amount is that (a) has been paid in unitary charge payments since 1997-98, up to and including the financial year 2024-25 to date, for all (i) expired and (ii) active projects and (b) remains to be paid for active projects until contract expiry.

All Scottish Government supported PFI and PPP contracts including NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) have been procured by a devolved Scottish authority. The latest published data as at 31 March 2023 relating to (a) the total estimated unitary charge payments associated with these PFI and PPP contracts including NPD from 1997-98 to 2024-25 comprising both (i) expired and (ii) active contracts are contained within the following table.

Contract Type	1997-98 to 2024-25	1997-98 to 2024-25
	(a)(i) Expired Contracts	(a)(ii) Active Contracts
	(£m)	(£m)
PFI	372	17,653
NPD (pre-2010)	-	900
NPD Programme	-	2,205
Total	372	20,758

The latest published data as at 31 March 2023 relating to (b) the total estimated unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD from 2025-26 until contract expiry are contained within the following table.

Contract Type	2025-26 onwards
	(b) Active Contracts
	(£m)
PFI	12,483
NPD (pre-2010)	1,157
NPD Programme	6,482
Total	20,121

All figures have been rounded and total figures may not add up exactly to the sum of the rounded figures.

Question reference: S6O-04236

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much it anticipates will be paid in this financial year in PFI and PPP unitary charge payments across the public sector.

Question reference: S6O-04206

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on farmers giving the methane-reducing feed additive Bovaer to their cattle.

Question reference: S6W-32388

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much North Ayrshire Council will pay in private finance initiative (PFI) and public private partnership (PPP) payments in each future year until they are fully paid.

Question reference: S6W-32386

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much currently remains in outstanding private finance initiative (PFI) and public private partnership (PPP) payments across the public sector in Scotland.

The total estimated remaining unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) across the public sector in Scotland from 2023-24 onwards are contained within the following table.

	2023-24 onwards
	(£m)
PFI	14,699
NPD (pre-2010)	1,299
NPD Programme	7,113
Total	23,111

Further information on these published figures as at 31 March 2023 can be found be at the Scottish Government website via the following link under the ‘NPD and PFI projects’ section: https://www.gov.scot/policies/government-finance/infrastructure-investment/#npd

Question reference: S6W-32385

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much the public sector in Scotland has paid in private finance initiative (PFI) and public private partnership (PPP) payments in each year since 2006-07.

The total unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) which were paid across the public sector in Scotland from 2006-07 to 2022-23 are contained within the following table.

	2006-07 to 2022-23
	(£m)
PFI	14,173
NPD (pre-2010)	758
NPD Programme	1,573
Total	16,504

Further information on these published figures as at 31 March 2023 can be found be at the Scottish Government website via the following link under the ‘NPD and PFI projects’ section: https://www.gov.scot/policies/government-finance/infrastructure-investment/#npd

Question reference: S6W-32387

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much North Ayrshire Council has paid in private finance initiative (PFI) and public private partnership (PPP) payments in each year since 2006-07.

Chamber and committees