Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold any information regarding plans to remove the Millenium Bridge. Any decision on the future of the bridge would be an operational matter for Glasgow City Council.

The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work, visit and learn.

The BSL National Plan 2023-29 is a cross government plan containing 45 actions under the 10 priority themes. This is a six year plan and the actions within it are designed to address barriers faced by BSL users in their daily lives. Ensuring equal access, opportunity, representation and inclusion are key components of our plan stemming across areas such as education, health, justice and culture.

We recognise the importance in building effective partnerships and effective working relationships between NHS teams and providers of BSL language, that is why our work to date has focused on understanding the landscape better and identifying possible next steps in helping us deliver action 10 with the BSL National Plan.

The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work, visit and learn. The BSL National Plan 2023-29 is a cross government plan containing 45 actions under the 10 priority themes. The actions will address barriers faced by BSL users in their daily lives. Ensuring equal access, opportunity, representation and inclusion are key components of our plan stemming across areas such as education, health, justice and culture.

The Scottish Government does not have a regulatory role in ensuring compliance with the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015. It is for Listed Authorities to satisfy themselves they are complying with the law, meet statutory deadlines and assess the legal risks should they fail to do so.

The Scottish Government has a strong interest in the actions contained in BSL local plans. As a result, we are engaging with key partners to identify initiatives that can be shared as best practice across the wider system.

The Programme for Government 2024-25 reaffirms the Scottish Government’s commitment to advance human rights protections in Scotland. We will continue work to further develop and strengthen proposals for legislation to incorporate international treaties into Scots law, with the intention of taking forward legislation in the next Parliamentary session.

The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work, visit and learn. The BSL National Plan 2023-29 is a cross government plan containing 45 actions under the 10 priority themes. The actions will address barriers faced by BSL users in their daily lives. Ensuring equal access, opportunity, representation and inclusion are key components of our plan stemming across areas such as education, health, justice and culture.

To inform the delivery of the National Plan, an Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) consisting of representative organisations of the deaf and deafblind communities was established to help advise on the delivery of actions and provide accountability on the overall plan.

The group has met twice since the publication of the National Plan. The next meeting is due to take place at the end of October.

Up to 2022, around 280,000 digital devices had already been provided to learners by local authorities and the Scottish Government, along with 14,000 connectivity packages.

As set out by the Finance Secretary, the £10m budget for purchasing additional digital devices for hard pressed families will be available from the financial year 2025-26.

The Green Industrial Strategy recognises ports are key enablers for the energy transition. Ports have a critical role to play in supporting the growth of Scotland’s offshore wind sector and growing our hydrogen production and export capabilities, which are two of the five priority opportunity areas identified in the strategy.

The Scottish Government is engaging and collaborating with ports on the opportunities from offshore wind and engaging with key industry bodies including the recently formed Scottish Offshore Wind Ports Alliance (SOWPA) and the British Ports Association’s Scottish Ports Group.

The Scottish Government is working closely with both Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and Forth Green Freeport which will play a crucial role in our commitment to a just transition to net zero, by creating clusters of high-tech manufacturing excellence in low carbon sectors, including offshore wind and renewable hydrogen.

The Green Industrial Strategy recognises ports are key enablers for the energy transition. Ports have a critical role to play in supporting the growth of Scotland’s offshore wind sector and accelerating investment in related infrastructure, manufacturing and fabrication. Ports will also play a key role in growing the hydrogen sector to facilitate the export of hydrogen and hydrogen products to external markets in the UK and in Northern Europe. Both Wind and Hydrogen are priority opportunity areas identified in the GIS.

We are open to considering if any factors are new and will make recommendations for future management on that basis. The consultation in summer 2025 will gauge public opinion on the closure in light of the best available evidence on environmental and socioeconomic factors to help us understand relative impacts to date, as well as those forecasted should the closure be maintained in the future.

We will also be publishing a report on the 2024 closure in due course which will contribute to the available consultation package.

Putting in place the remaining fisheries management measures remains a top government priority. We want to achieve this as soon as possible, however developing the evidence based and effective fisheries management measures for over 180 sites is a complex and challenging process.

We launched the 8-week consultation on proposed fisheries management measures within Scottish 20 offshore marine protected areas (MPAs) on 19 August 2024.

Social, economic and environmental impact assessments are currently being undertaken for inshore MPAs and we will consult within the current Programme for Government timeframe.