Chamber and committees

The CCC suggests that there will be benefits, and that in aggregate the benefits will outweigh the costs.

We are grateful to the CCC for estimating the capital investment and operational savings of net zero. Their Balanced Pathway requires upfront investment which will generate operating cost savings. The Pathway is expected to generate an average net cost to the Scottish economy of around £750 million per year between 2025 and 2050.

CCC estimates represent costs and savings for the whole economy. We are currently working to further understand where these costs and benefits might fall between different actors within the economy, including households.

We have committed to, in legislation, setting out an estimate of the costs and benefits associated with the policies set out in the upcoming Climate Change Plan.

The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal has created 82 jobs. Due to the nature of Deal investment, job creation can arise over several years post project completion. These job figures reflect the early delivery stage of the overall Growth Deal with only five projects fully complete to date.

The Scottish Government has committed to publishing a full set of cost benefit assessments for the forthcoming climate change plan. The upcoming CCP will cover the period from 2026-2040 and will give the best view of the policies required to support our pathway to net zero. The plan will also be subject to, and will publish alongside, a suite of impact assessments including equalities and island impact assessments that will provide particular focus on groups with specific considerations.

I agreed the remit of the Review of Creative Scotland with the independent Chair, Angela Leitch, and it is available on the Scottish Government’s website at the following link: Independent Review of Creative Scotland: remit - gov.scot

The review will include consideration of Creative Scotland’s finances and distribution of funds.

The Review is independent of the Scottish Government and will deliver its recommendations in November.

Transport Scotland does not hold this data. This information would be held by individual local authorities.

Scotland’s resilience to acute food security challenges comes largely from its diversity of supply. Scotland’s food and farming sectors have a critical role to play in Scotland’s food security, producing food for consumption in Scotland, and increasing our economic resilience through exports of food and drink.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) on a number of energy related matters in Scotland, including wind energy infrastructure and grid connection.

In October, the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments jointly commissioned the NESO to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for Great Britain, which is intended to help accelerate and optimise the transition to clean, affordable and secure energy in Great Britain by providing greater clarity on the shape of our future reformed energy system. Scottish Government officials meet regularly with NESO to shape the plan as it develops, including providing representation at formal governance groups.

The Scottish Energy Statistics Hub provides the progress of Scotland’s renewable electricity projects.

We are making good progress towards the levels of peatland restoration implied by the CCC recommendations and to celebrate World Peatlands Day on 2 June, SG announced record levels of peatland restoration during 2024-25.

Through our Peatland ACTION partnership we have restored around 90,000 hectares of degraded Scottish peatlands to date with strong recent annual increases in rates enabled by associated increases in annual budgets.

In 2022-23, Transport Scotland undertook a desk-based review of each Scottish local authority’s application process. Based on the findings, Transport Scotland provided local authorities a list of recommendations, including improved signposting, considerations for applicants requesting paper applications, regular updates on estimated waiting times and publicising the consequences of Blue Badge misuse.

Transport Scotland continues to work closely with local authorities, DfT and Social Security Scotland to continually improve the online application process. More recently, this has resulted in the successful introduction of new Social Security Scotland benefits and their eligibility towards Blue Badge.

The reapplication process is required by the legislation, with the maximum period of issue for a Blue Badge being 3 years. This mitigates the potential for fraudulent applications being submitted and ensures that local authorities meet the needs and demands of future audits.

At a minimum of every 3 years, local authorities need to be satisfied that existing Blue Badge holders continue to reside in the same local authority area and still meet the eligibility criteria. This helps to ensure that the Blue Badge, an extremely valuable concession, is protected from misuse and fraud.

Transport Scotland recommends that applicants who have previously been assessed by a regulated healthcare professional and have been deemed as requiring no further assessment for future badge applications should be able to experience a quicker and easier process when they come to re-apply for a blue badge.

It is recommended that the local authority or regulated healthcare professional should make eligible applicants aware of their ‘not for reassessment’ status after the assessment process has been completed. Following this process, eligible applicants can reapply by completing the ‘Not for Reassessment’ (NFR) application form issued by their local authority.