The Scottish Government maintains regular contact with the UK Government regarding energy matters, including issues of supply. These engagements forma critical part of our approach to issues of resilience.

The Energy Consents Unit(ECU)does not grant consent to renewable energy applications that were previously refused by local authorities.

The ECU administers applications made directly to the Scottish Ministers under Sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989.

When a local authority refuses an application made under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, the applicant is able to make an appeal to the Scottish Ministers.

The appeal process is administered by the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA), and the ECU has no role in this process.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) publishes ‘Renewable electricity – number of sites by region’ on an annual basis as part of the Accredited Official Statistics publication Energy Trends. The latest statistics were published on 30 September 2025 and show that as at the end of 2024, there were a total of 3,721 onshore and offshore wind sites based in Scotland.

Site specific information is not published and would be needed to provide the requested breakdowns. This is held by DESNZ.

The Scottish Government has spent £234,285.95 in setting up the Deposit Return Scheme since 2018. This includes the costs associated with consultation, publication of regulations and associated documents, evaluations, independent reviews and assurance.

In addition, as of January 2026, the costs incurred by the Scottish Government in the legal challenge from BIFFA Waste Services Ltd in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme is £447,092.

Civil Servants operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of their work at any given time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time spent working on particular matters. It is therefore not possible to provide an expenditure figure regarding how much the Scottish Government has spent on work by Civil Servants involved with the Deposit Return Scheme.

As matters relating to the setting and management of constraint payments are reserved, the Scottish Government has not made its own assessment of expected future changes in curtailment costs.

All regulation and legislation relating to electricity networks is reserved to the UK Government. The responsibility for the balancing the grid lies with the National Energy System Operator (NESO). More information including data on balancing costs can be found here: Balancing costs | National Energy System Operator.

Since 1 January 2024, the Energy Consents Unit has received 57 applications for consent to construct, extend and/or operate wind farms under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Two of these applications have been approved in this time, with the remaining 55 currently being processed by the Energy Consents Unit and awaiting determination by Scottish Ministers.

The Inquiry is currently in its early set-up phase, and the detailed Terms of Reference for the Inquiry will be developed over the coming months with Professor Jay. I need to be clear that it is not for Ministers to direct an independent inquiry chair on costs and duration.

Through my discussions with Professor Jay so far, she has said she wants to ensure the Inquiry delivered at pace while ensuring it has the flexibility to investigate any areas it deems necessary. My officials continue to work at pace on the initial set-up of the inquiry.

Mr Findlay was amongst cross-party MSPs invited to a briefing session which I chaired on 16 March to engage with Professor Jay and the Inspectorates leading the National Review into group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation to hear more about progress on these matters.

Post-election, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills will provide an update to the Scottish Parliament as work to formally establish the Inquiry advances.

The Rural and Islands Housing Fund aims to increase the supply of affordable housing of all tenures in rural Scotland. It has been operational since 2016 and provides capital grant, as well as feasibility funding to community groups, development trusts, private landowners and other established organisations to support the delivery of affordable homes in rural and island communities. The fund is open until March 2028 with a budget of up to £37 million. Applications from individuals are not eligible for the fund.

The Rural and Island Housing Grant Scheme is a recently announced proposal aimed at supporting individuals, including first time buyers, families, rural returners and others to access home ownership in the rural and island communities. The development of the scheme will be taken forward with rural partners and is intended to provide modest capital grants to help meet the cost of buying a home and supporting more properties to be used as permanent residencies. It has an indicative budget of up to £20 million over a four year period.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the quantity of gravel extracted from the River Esk at Langholm in each of the past five years.

The Scottish Government and its agencies have not taken any actions to dredge the River Esk in Langholm.

Local Authorities are responsible for producing local flood risk management plans, and developing, delivering and maintaining flood protection actions. Dumfries and Galloway Council put forward a flood protection scheme for Langholm in its 2015 Local Flood Risk Management Plan, but it was withdrawn due to a lack of community support.

While dredging can play a role in certain flood-management and river-management situations, it is not always effective in reducing water levels and can, in some cases, increase flood risk downstream. It also has the potential to cause significant environmental harm if carried out without the proper due diligence.

Where dredging is appropriate, it can be undertaken subject to certain regulatory controls. Further information is available on the SEPA website at Dredging | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency including specific advice for land managers Dredging –A land managers guide to the rules.