Chamber and committees

Local authorities are responsible for enforcing Smoke Control Areas and investigating smoke nuisance complaints under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The Scottish Government is a partner in the Save a Life for Scotland Partnership, which is working to ensure that all school aged children in Scotland will be given the opportunity to be equipped with CPR skills and increase defibrillator familiarisation across Scotland.

This has included delivery of Restart a Heart Day Live last year. This was a live stream CPR training event targeted at school-age children, which included information on defibrillation. The Scottish Government has committed to working with Save a Life for Scotland to support Restart a Heart Day Live again in 2025.

Decisions on whether to install defibrillators in schools are a matter for local authorities. The Scottish Government published a guide in 2018 providing advice on purchasing and installing a public access defibrillator. This can be found at the following link: Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: guide to public access defibrillators - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested regarding defibrillators in nurseries and schools.

We have undertaken a full policy development process in order to reach a finalised position on onshore conventional oil and gas in Scotland, in line with statutory requirements.

Having considered stakeholders’ views and the evidence received alongside wider Scottish Government energy and climate change policies, our preferred policy position of no support for onshore conventional oil and gas development in Scotland was confirmed in January 2023.

The preferred policy position was subject to statutory and other assessments before the policy-making process was completed, including in our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, and our National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).

Following this comprehensive policymaking process, the Scottish Government’s finalised policy position is of no support for onshore conventional oil and gas in Scotland. The finalised policy statement can be viewed here: www.gov.scot/publications/onshore-conventional-oil-and-gas-policy-position.

We have undertaken a full policy development process in order to reach a finalised position on coal extraction in Scotland, in line with statutory requirements.

Having considered stakeholders’ views and the evidence received alongside wider Scottish Government energy and climate change policies, we confirmed our preferred policy position of no support for coal extraction in Scotland in October 2022.

The preferred policy position was subject to statutory and other assessments before the policy-making process was completed, including in our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, and our National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).

Following this comprehensive policymaking process, the Scottish Government’s finalised policy position is of no support for coal extraction in Scotland. The finalised policy statement can be viewed here: Onshore conventional oil and gas: policy position - gov.scot

Coal exploitation is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and the Mining Remediation Authority is responsible for licensing coal mining activity in Scotland. Scotland’s planning system is fully devolved to the Scottish Government. Scottish Ministers have today written to UK Ministers to set out our finalised position on coal extraction.

I am pleased to confirm that we have now laid the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (Scottish Carbon Budgets) Amendment Regulations 2025 in Parliament.

The proposed regulations, if approved by the Scottish Parliament, will amend the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 to set an emissions reduction trajectory through a carbon budget framework for the five year periods between 2026 and 2045.

The levels of proposed carbon budgets mirror the advice on targets from the independent Climate Change Committee, and will provide a pathway for Scotland to achieve net zero by 2045.

The Scottish Government’s Enterprise Agencies have a key role in promoting economic and business growth in Scotland. As this is an operational matter, I have asked each of their Chief Executives to write to you with a full response.

To tackle the ongoing Housing Emergency, the Scottish Government is investing £768 million in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) for 2025-2026, a 38% increase compared to 2024-2025. Of this, £688 million is capital, which is a 44% increase compared with the previous year. This includes £40 million targeted towards acquisitions to support the local authorities with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures.

In addition are also investing an additional £4 million in the Ending Homelessness Together budget for 2025-2026 to help local authorities, frontline services and relevant partners prepare for new prevention measures and to help them to respond to the housing emergency by preventing homelessness before it occurs.

We have also announced a long-term commitment of £100 million for Mid-Market Rent – and with institutional investment we will grow that fund to at least £500 million to support the construction of around 2,800 mid-market rent homes.

The Scottish Government supports the full range of businesses primarily through its enterprise agencies, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise. As such the allocation of this direct funding to the size of businesses is held by each agency along with the number of businesses supported outside the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Please email Scottish Government Enterprise Sponsorship team on [email protected] if you would like to contact the agencies directly.