Chamber and committees

There are currently no plans to introduce grants for medical students similar to the Paramedic, Nursing, and Midwifery Student Bursary.

There is no additional statutory requirement on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to monitor large battery storage unit sites.

SFRS continually review and develop their operational response to any new and emerging technology to keep communities safe. SFRS is committed to work in collaboration with key partners to ensure the highest level of preparedness for potential incidents involving lithium-ion batteries or similar storage facilities.

In the event of incidents involving these facilities, SFRS have the ability to deploy a range of resources that can be utilised by the highly skilled crews to successfully bring the incidents to a safe conclusion.

As set out in the draft Scottish Government budget, the capital funding position is extremely challenging due to the UK Government’s decision to cut our capital budget by nearly 10%.

The capital budget settlement allows for Health Boards’ delegated capital budgets to be maintained at 23-24 levels, for all major projects in construction to be completed and for continued support for the national replacement programmes for ambulances and radiotherapy equipment. Given the current uncertainty regarding availability of funding, regrettably, we have advised boards to pause any new capital projects until capital funding becomes more certain.

Our Infrastructure Investment Plan identified priority health capital projects for funding within that period. As a result of UK Government cuts, we will bring forward a revised Infrastructure Investment Plan in the spring. All due consideration will be given to what projects can be included to ensure the revised Plan is affordable and deliverable.

The Energy Consents Unit does not have a target timescale for logging representations. Representations may be made to the Scottish Ministers in line with statutory timeframes set out in public notices, which require to be given in accordance with applicable regulations. Representations are managed such that the material issues raised within are always taken into account before any decision is taken by Scottish Ministers.

All representations submitted within statutory timeframes are logged such that the material issues raised within such representations can be taken fully into account prior to a determination being made on an application.

The Energy Consents Unit has increased its staffing resource in response to increased application volumes. Resourcing requirements are kept under review, with a view to addressing the expected intake of applications.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is not planning to review the European Water Framework Directive.

The Water Framework Directive is implemented in Scotland by the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Water Environment (River Basin Management Planning: Further Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2013. Any review of this legislation would be carried out by the Scottish Government.

Through the Water Framework Directive’s River Basin Management Planning process we continue to protect and improve the water environment in order to ensure the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s rivers, lochs and coastal waters.

The Scottish Government has no plans for a Council Tax revaluation.

The Scottish Government has no plans to fund a fish counter on the River Dee .

The Wild Salmon Strategy Implementation Plan Delivery Group was established following publication of the Implementation Plan. Information on membership of the group is available on the Scottish Government website along with a contact email address.