Chamber and committees

We recognise the strain the UK cost crisis is placing on social enterprises. S-Mart have already made contact with Community Enterprise who co-ordinate a crisis recovery service for social enterprises, designed to help organisations get the right support quickly.

The Scottish Government understands the important role that Social Enterprises have to play in delivering our ambition for a Wellbeing Economy, helping to build a greener, fairer and more equal society.

To support the growth of the social enterprise ecosystem in Scotland we launched our Social Enterprise Strategy in 2016. This sets out a wide-ranging, ambitious and long-term programme to develop the potential of Scotland's social enterprise sector.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

The Marine Directorate is responsible for the operation of the Scottish Government's Marine Protection Vessels. It operates 3 larger vessels and 2 inshore fast patrol vessels. No marine assets are dedicated to a particular area, instead, tasking is determined using a risk based procedure which, considers intelligence, likelihood, and impact of an activity on the marine environment and fishery resources.

We are supportive of the strategic approaches for the co-ordination, design and delivery of electricity transmission infrastructure recommended in the Electricity Network Commissioner’s Report and are currently engaging with the UK Government on plans for their implementation. We will update local authorities and Heads of Planning Scotland at the appropriate stage so that, where relevant, outputs can be taken into account in preparing future plans and strategies, including Local Development Plans and Regional Spatial Strategies, as well as supporting the preparation of Local Place Plans by communities.

The application for construction and operation of a new generating station at Peterhead is one made under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, directly to Scottish Ministers. This is due to its proposed generating capacity being in excess of 50 megawatts. Therefore, this is not the subject of call-in procedures, which may apply to planning applications made to planning authorities.

Prison healthcare centres can issue condoms for all prisoners including those in the women’s prison estate as part of a range of approaches to support sexual and reproductive health among the prison population.

It is critical that Scotland’s energy system is resilient and that security of supply is maintained. We acknowledge that the location of infrastructure is an important factor in determining its contribution to the future security and resilience of our energy supply.

Our fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) signals the key priorities for ‘where’ and ‘what’ development should take place at a national level. NPF4 places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and makes clear that development proposals should be sited and designed to adapt to current and future risks from climate change.

The Scottish Government is broadly supportive of the proposal by the Electricity Networks Commissioner, Nick Winser, for a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP). We are continuing to engage with the UK Government to ensure that as the SSEP is developed it fully takes into account Scotland's energy ambitions and respects devolved policy.

Security of electricity supply is reserved and a responsibility of the UK Government. It is delivered by the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) under regulation from Ofgem.

National Grid ESO and the two electricity network operators in Scotland monitor, record and address any electricity outages at the transmission and distribution level. As such, the Scottish Government does not separately monitor weather-related power outages.

However, during disruptive events affecting electricity supplies, Scottish Government officials work closely with the UK Government and network operators as necessary, to understand impacts, restoration plans and the welfare of affected customers. If required, during severe weather events and associated power outages, the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) may convene SGoR meetings with the attendance of network operators.

As highlighted in the Heat in Buildings Monitoring and Evaluation Framework release from 28 November, existing data on further and higher education enrolments and apprenticeship starts may give an indication of the scale of the skills pipeline for the sector, however since educational groupings can be quite broad, there are data limitations. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and post-school learning and training providers to better understand those who enrol on courses that are relevant to the framework.

Applicants have 9 months from confirmation of a funding offer to arrange and complete installation of the funded measures. Funding offers are only paid once the measure has been installed and a valid claim form and supporting documentation has been submitted to the scheme administrator.

Of the 1,923 heat pump funding offers made through the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme from its launch on 2 December 2022, the number that had completed their installation and been paid by 31 August 2023, broken down by local authority are: