Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working with Forth Valley College, UK Government, Skills Development Scotland and Petroineos as part of the Refinery Skills Intervention, which is currently ongoing.

To date the skills intervention targeted at Petroineos workers has had a high uptake. As of 20 August, 306 workers have enrolled in the reskilling programme and over 200 workers have either completed training or are actively undergoing retraining. The remaining individuals who are registered for training will commence according to redundancy schedule and personal preference.

The assessment process for seabed leasing for offshore wind and other marine renewable developments and the criteria that underpins that process, is a matter for Crown Estate Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39915 on 3 September 2025. 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.

Fires within wind turbine nacelles are rare, but they present significant challenges due to height, access limitations, and associated electrical and mechanical hazards.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) does not hold specific specialist equipment to extinguish nacelle fires. SFRS adopts a defensive strategy that prioritises public and firefighter safety, containment of the incident, and protection of the environment. Firefighting operations are not undertaken within the nacelle or tower itself. This approach is consistent with UK-wide national operational guidance.

Information is not held centrally on the number of dog thefts in Scotland. When the theft of a dog is reported to the police, it may be recorded under a number of crimes, depending on the circumstances (for example theft, housebreaking or robbery). The data the Scottish Government receive from Police Scotland on recorded crime is a simple count of recorded crimes by crime type and does not contain any detail on the specifics of each crime e.g. the type of item stolen.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39732 on 26 August 2025. 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.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked them to respond. Scottish Water have provided estimates for the average total daily leakage levels in each month since January 2021 from water mains in the area requested (covering Argyll Islands, Argyll Mainland, Caithness, Fort William, Orkney, Ness, Shetland, Skye, West Coast, and Western Islands) in the following table. Figures are given in megalitres per day.

Paragraph 8 in part 2 of the Primary Medical Services (Premises Development Grants, Improvement Grants and Premises Costs) Directions 2004 sets out that:

Health Boards must have in place a plan for the development of premises to support the provision of Primary Medical Services. This plan must be approved in consultation with the local Area Medical Committee. This plan should be updated annually and be consistent with the Health Board’s wider Property Strategy.

The Scottish Government does not believe that including a presumption in the directions that NHS boards should support proposals for new or improved premises if a suitable proposal and adequate funding package can be formulated would be a material improvement on the general requirement for NHS boards’ wider property strategies to cover the needs of primary medical services.

Barring a minor and temporary amendment during the pandemic, the Scottish Government has not changed the Primary Medical Services (Premises Development Grants, Improvement Grants and Premises Costs) Directions 2004 since 2004.

Plans to revise the directions are being discussed with the Scottish GP Committee as part of our current contract negotiations.

Paragraph 8 in part 2 of the Primary Medical Services (Premises Development Grants, Improvement Grants and Premises Costs) Directions 2004 sets out that:

Health Boards must have in place a plan for the development of premises to support the provision of Primary Medical Services. This plan must be approved in consultation with the local Area Medical Committee. This plan should be updated annually and be consistent with the Health Board’s wider Property Strategy.

The Scottish Government does not believe that including guidance in the directions that NHS boards should make projects a priority for funding based on the age of existing buildings and population growth would be a material improvement on the general requirement for NHS boards’ wider property strategies to cover the needs of primary medical services.