Chamber and committees

Transport Scotland officials meet regularly with officials from Glasgow City Council, to discuss progress and learning around the impact of its Low Emission Zone (LEZ).

Statutory reports on LEZ performance and air quality monitoring are expected from Glasgow City Council in summer 2024 and will be published in due course.

Transport Scotland Officials, along with relevant transport stakeholders, routinely take part in the multi-agency Events Planning and Operations Group (EPOG) dealing with Events. EPOG is run by the City of Edinburgh Council as the lead planning authority in respect of events within Edinburgh, such as Taylor Swift.

Through the EPOG discussions, enhanced transport arrangements have been put into place across Lothian Buses, Edinburgh Trams and ScotRail services, to meet the increased demands expected at the Taylor Swift concerts.

The archival analysis element of the research is underway and the report is currently being drafted. We anticipate receiving the report from this work towards the end of summer 2024. The contract for the qualitative research was tendered twice but no compliant bids were received.

We intend to publish the report from the archival analysis in due course, and will work to ensure those who wish to provide feedback and share their experiences will be able to do so. We will then consider next steps thereafter.

The UK Spring Budget, announced by the Chancellor on 6 March, generated £293 million of resource consequentials for 2024-25, of which £237 million relates to Health. Health consequentials will be passed on in full to the Health portfolio, in line with our manifesto commitment.

The remaining £56 million of resource funding will be passed on to local authorities to support the Council Tax freeze. This comes on top of the record funding I announced for local authorities back in December.

Disappointingly, Scotland received no new capital or financial transactions funding so the Scottish Government will continue to see a real-terms cut in our capital block grant – a cumulative loss of over £1.3 billion by 2027-28.

The 2023-24 budget in both resource and capital will be delivered on balance, which is a significant achievement given the pressures we have faced. As per normal practice, following the year-end process, Scottish Ministers will confirm the 2023-24 provisional outturn position to Parliament in June.

HM Inspectors inspect a sample of primary, secondary and special schools annually across Scotland. They evaluate the quality of education using various quality indicators from the quality framework 'How good is our school? (4th edition).'

From the 2015-16 academic year (commencing August 2015) to 10 May 2024, HM Inspectors have inspected a total of 172 schools in Highland and Islands. This number is based on the initial inspection and does not include any subsequent further inspections which took place as a result of the outcome of the initial inspection. The information does not include details of inspections carried out in academic year 2023-24 where fieldwork has been carried out but the reports not yet published.

In Argyll and Bute Council, a total of 45 schools were inspected: 2015-16 two primary schools; 2016-17 four primary and one secondary schools; 2017-18 six primary, one secondary and one special school; 2018-19 eight primary schools; 2019-20 five primary, two secondary schools; 2022-23 nine primary, one secondary school; 2023-24 five primary schools.

In The Highland Council, a total of 94 schools were inspected: 2015-16 seven primary and two secondary schools; 2016-17 nine primary and one secondary school; 2017-18 9 primary, three secondary schools, 2018-19 18 primary, one secondary school; 2019-20 8 primary, two secondary schools; 2022-23 21 primary, three secondary, one special; 2023-24 eight primary, one secondary.

In Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, a total of eleven schools were inspected: 2015-16 two primary; 2016-17 one primary; 2018-19 three primary, one secondary; 2022-23 two primary; 2023-24 one primary, one secondary.

In Orkney Islands Council, a total of eight schools were inspected: 2015-16 two primary; 2016-17 one primary; 2017-18 one primary; 2018-19 one secondary schools; 2019-20 one primary school; 2022-23 two primary school.

In Shetland Islands Council, a total of 14 schools were inspected: 2015-16 one primary and one secondary school; 2016-17 two primary schools; 2017-18 two primary schools; 2018-19 one primary school, one secondary schools; 2019-20 one primary school, one secondary school; 2022-23 three primary schools; 2023-24 one primary school.

NHS Boards are not required to inform the Scottish Government of the number of Golden Hello payments that are made to GPs in each financial year. This is an operational matter for the NHS Boards and the Scottish Government does not directly monitor these operational arrangements. However we will evaluating the role the scheme plays in supporting GP retention.

This is an operational matter for the NHS Boards and the Scottish Government does not directly monitor these operational arrangements. However we will be evaluating the role the scheme plays in supporting GP retention.

The creation of 152 extra specialty training places for trainee doctors went ahead in 2023 as planned. A breakdown of these posts by specialty can be found here .

The recruitment of trainee doctors in 2023 was the most successful to date; a total of 1,231 specialty training posts were advertised and 1,156 (94%) filled. Please note that these figures are accurate as at 26 March 2024 i.e. when end-year data was published. The publication itself can be found here , and a full breakdown of recruitment by specialty can be found here .

The Scottish Government announced funding on 23 November 2023 for further expansion taking place in 2024. This will see 153 additional specialty training places created this year – the largest uplift to date. More information can be found here . The 2024 recruitment cycle is currently underway and will conclude in November.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-27379 on 17 May 2024 and S6W-27276 on 14 May 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 .

We are committed to maximising the public benefits of our renewables revolution and will explore all options open to us to do so.

ScotWind reflects very significant market ambition for offshore wind in Scottish waters and will deliver over £750m in revenues to the public purse in initial option fees.

INTOG projects offer a further significant potential revenue stream for the Scottish Government, amounting to up to £261m in option fees if these are converted to full option agreements.

We are already investing these revenues in our journey to net zero, and the Scottish Budget sets out the multi-million pound investment in 2024-25 to ensure the Scottish workforce, businesses and communities all benefit from the offshore renewables revolution. The programmes promise to also deliver billions more in rental revenues once they become operational, to be invested for the benefit of the people of Scotland, creating thousands of jobs in the process.

Developers have also committed to invest an average projection of £1.5 bn in Scotland per project on the 20 ScotWind projects.

Our strategic investment of up to £500m over the next five years to anchor the offshore wind supply chain in Scotland will support market certainty, create a highly productive, competitive economy, provide thousands of new jobs, embed innovation and boost skills.