Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01058 on 13 July 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01334 on 13 July 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01058 on 13 July 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.

We are grateful for the work of all six Advisory Groups in developing their recommendations. These recommendations were made for Scottish Ministers to consider. It is for Scottish Ministers to decide whether and to what extend any of the recommendations become government policy.

NHS Grampian has advised that no detainees were transferred between Inverness and Kittybrewster custody suites in the last 12 months specifically to access methadone or other opioid substitution therapy. While such transfers may be considered where clinically necessary, this has not been required during this period.

NHS Grampian has further advised that information on transfers to accident and emergency departments is not routinely collated centrally and could only be obtained through a manual review of individual clinical records.

Decisions to transfer detainees to secondary care are made on the basis of clinical need where this cannot be safely managed within the custody setting.

Of the £4.1 billion Scottish Government investment in affordable homes, we have now published Resource Planning Assumptions (RPAs) totalling £2.94 billion and within that the four year RPA for Angus Council area is £42.332 million. Planned budgets beyond 2029-30 have not been agreed.

We are carefully considering the recommendations made by the Long Term Conditions advisory groups, established under the previous government, to inform our way forward for long term conditions. Our Programme for Government for 2026-27 will be put to the Parliament in due course.

As I set out in my previous response, the UK Government did not provide a detailed policy design or a full assessment of the potential impacts of zonal pricing on consumers, communities and businesses in Scotland.

We engaged with a broad range of stakeholders and noted that the available evidence on the impact of introducing zonal pricing was mixed. Some organisations highlighted the potential for zonal pricing to reduce electricity costs in parts of Scotland – but this would not materialise for another 10 years. Renewable energy developers and wider industry stakeholders raised significant concerns about the potential impact on investor confidence and associated risk premium which could erode any benefit.

Given these competing considerations, and the absence of a clear, evidence-based policy framework from the UK Government, the Scottish Government has not adopted a formal position either in support of or against the introduction of zonal pricing. Rather the Scottish Government calls on the UK Government to take immediate action to reduce the high cost of energy bills today – for example through introducing a social tariff.

The responses provided to previous questions reflect this position and are in line with the commitment in the Scottish Ministerial Code to be as open as possible with Parliament, setting out both the limits of the available evidence and the basis on which the Scottish Government has engaged on this issue.

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 includes the option to introduce an authorisation scheme through regulations as set out in Section 5 of the Act, to allow the use, supply or possession of glue traps. However, we have received no evidence to date that introducing an authorisation scheme is necessary.

British Heart Foundation (BHF) Scotland chaired Long Term Conditions Advisory Group 1 on cardiometabolic and kidney conditions. We are grateful to all the third sector organisations, including BHF Scotland, who have engaged with our work to date and welcome continued engagement with BHF Scotland as our work on long term conditions develops.

The consultation carried out as part of the compulsory purchase reform programme included questions on Compulsory Sale Orders and responses are currently being analysed. The Scottish Government will publish a summary of responses to that consultation and associated analysis report, as well as an update on the compulsory purchase reform programme shortly.