The National Flood Resilience Strategy sets out Scottish Government’s long-term commitment to improving Scotland’s resilience to flooding, developed in direct response to the climate emergency and the increasing challenges posed by flood risk. The Strategy recognises the essential role of communities in strengthening local flood resilience, and that is why we continue to support the vital work the Scottish Flood Forum does.

Scottish Government provides funding to the Scottish Flood Forum to enable them to work with communities and local authorities across Scotland to help reduce the impacts of flooding. This funding supports the Forum to deliver immediate assistance to affected communities and to provide wider preparedness, response and recovery support. This includes property-level protection assessments, the establishment and ongoing support of community resilience groups in flood-risk areas, and engagement with local authorities to assist in the delivery of flood risk management plans and training on good practice. The Scottish Flood Forum also has a flood bus which showcases Property Flood Resilience measures, giving householders a hands-on way to see how products work, understand their relevance to their homes, and ask questions.

The Scottish Government views the Scottish Flood Forum as an important partner in the development of flood resilience policy. Part of the funding enables the Scottish Flood Forum to contribute its expertise to inform policy development, helping to improve outcomes for individuals and communities vulnerable to flooding.

Funding as set out in the following table:

In my letter to the Presiding Officer of 24 February 2026 and the examples that I gave, I confirmed all of the examples that Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service could find based on the records available to them.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) enforcement powers in relation to aquaculture.

SEPA already has a number of options in its enforcement toolkit, ranging from informal advice and guidance to the use of formal enforcement measures including final warning letters, statutory notices, monetary penalties, and reports to the Procurator Fiscal recommending prosecution.

For the purpose of environmental protection, SEPA places licence conditions on marine fish farm operators and SEPA’s enforcement action is designed to secure compliance using the most appropriate and effective method. Decisions on enforcement are taken in line with its publicly available Enforcement Policy and guidance on the use of enforcement action. The form of enforcement action (which may be used alone or in combination with other approaches) will differ depending on the nature of the non-compliance, the harm caused and the history of the responsible person in question. SEPA also considers what immediate action is needed for the protection of the environment.

Any instance of non-compliance is concerning. SEPA’s new Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme (EPAS) will provide a common standard to rate the environmental performance of SEPA-authorised operators and drive improvements in compliance.

SEPA will publish EPAS ratings when its new digital systems are in place which is anticipated to be during 2027.

In my letter to the Presiding Officer of 24 February 2026 and the examples that I gave, I confirmed all of the examples that Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service could find based on the records available to them.

The Scottish Government does not routinely provide financial support to SSE plc or its subsidiaries. Electricity networks are a regulated industry, with Ofgem, the GB energy regulator, responsible for regulation.

Decisions about the delivery of education are devolved to local authorities. As such the Scottish Government has not issued guidance on specific or appropriate levels of device or screen use in classroom settings. It is for councils to decide how and when digital technology is used to support learning, in line with their local education and digital strategies. We have published guidance for parents on screen time for school-aged children via Parent Club.

The First Minister, Deputy First Minister and I have repeatedly urged the Prime Minister and Secretary of State to get a move on and make key decisions to progress Acorn. The immediate one is to release the £200 million that was announced last June, then we need confirmation of the full funding package, just as the Track-1 projects in England have had.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to Acorn and continues to work closely with key partners, providing funding and policy support during this key phase of development.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-44369 on 25 March 2026. 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.

Planning associated with the security of fuel and energy supplies is a reserved matter. It is for the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero to assess the adequacy of gas storage for Scotland and the rest of Great Britain. We remain in close contact with the UK Government on these matters.

Responsibility for assessing security of supply rests with the UK Government and the National Energy System Operator, as a reserved matter. Balancing of the grid including determining relevant costs is also a reserved matter.

The Scottish Government is confident that NESO, as the body responsible for system operability, will ensure that grid stability and security of supply are maintained as the energy system transitions.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with NESO colleagues to discuss relevant issues including security of supply as required.