Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government expects the cost of cladding remediation work to be met through a combination of responsible developers assessing and remediating their own buildings, consequential funding from the UK Government, and a devolved Building Safety Levy. This effectively matches the funding approach that the UK Government is taking in England.

Scottish Ministers have said they will spend the equivalent value of the £97.1 m received in consequentials on cladding remediation at the time it is appropriate to spend it.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23569 on 13 December 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Scottish Ministers prioritise consequential funding in the financial year in which it is received to support public services in Scotland and a balanced budget.

Scottish Ministers have said they will spend the equivalent value of the £97.1 m received in consequentials on cladding remediation at the time it is appropriate to spend it.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP were commissioned by Scottish Ministers to carry out this independent assessment. The findings of this assessment have been shared with the Economy and Fair Work Committee.

The document has been published online: Economic Contribution of Grangemouth Refinery | Scottish Enterprise (scottish-enterprise.com).

Details of impact assessments in relation to the measures set out in the Fiscal Statement will be published in the coming weeks on the Scottish Government’s website.

£756 million of ScotWind option fees were received, of which £96 million was used in 2022-23 to support the overall financial position. No ScotWind Revenues were utilised in 2023-24.

£200 million of ScotWind Revenues were profiled as required to support the funding position in the original Scottish Budget for 2024-25. As was set out in the Fiscal Statement to parliament on 3 September current planning is on the basis of utilising up to £460 million of additional ScotWind revenue funding in the current financial year, the entirety of the remaining Scotwind option fee funding.

The statement made clear the intention to reduce this down as far as possible depending on the final financial position, with an update on the in-year consequential position expected at the UK Budget on October 30th. Decisions on the future utilisation of ScotWind Revenues will be taken in due course.

The Scottish Government have engaged with LGBT Youth Scotland to determine the facts around the recent media reports. We have determined no further action is needed at this stage.

The Scottish Government are continuing to fund all organisations who have received funding through the Equality and Human Rights Fund for the 2024-2025 financial year.

ScotRail Trains Ltd routinely monitors patronage on its services to identify trends, opportunities and to best match its resources with the passenger demand. Following the Ministerial decision to end the 12 month trial removing peak fares, the Scottish Government intends to repeat the analysis undertaken to assess the pilot, as detailed in the published report, after an appropriate period has elapsed.

The Scottish Government publishes detailed flag flying guidance annually on the Scottish Government website Guidance - Flag flying on government buildings: 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and a link to the guidance is also available on the Scottish Government’s intranet pages, available to Directorates and other government departments. In addition, this flag flying guidance is issued to local authorities and government agencies.

The guidance sets out the relevant flag to be flown in recognition of national anniversaries and Royal events. It also provides advice on the half/masting of flags following national/international tragedies and events.

This guidance applies to Scottish Government buildings only and is provided to non-Scottish Government organisations for information purposes. It remains the prerogative of each organisation to set their own flag flying programme.

Separate communication was issued by email to Scottish Government external flag flying contacts in June 2024 in relation to the 80th anniversary of D-Day and for the Coronation of Their Majesties in May 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29250 on 19 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.