Chamber and committees

Public bodies and organisations operating in Scotland can be affected by a wide range of law in both devolved and reserved areas, with differing statutory mechanisms for enforcement. The Scottish Ministers may, in some cases, be subject to statutory duties to issue guidance to affected organisations and groups. However, other public bodies will have a statutory roles in regulating enforcement and issuing guidance about areas of law, including those reserved to the UK Parliament.

For payments made by the Scottish Government to public bodies and publicly funded organisations in Scotland, the Scottish Government expects those bodies to comply with the full range of legal obligations imposed on them by all relevant legislation. This includes duties under the Equality Act 2010, where key provisions on matters such as discrimination and the various protected characteristics, including sex, are reserved, or under health and safety workplace regulations, which are also reserved.

Local Government funding allocations are routinely published in Local Government Finance Circulars. The allocations in question are available at:

2013-14 - Circular 2/2013

2014-15 - Circular 2/2014

2015-16 - Circular 2/2015

2016-17 - Circular 1/2016

2017-18 - Circular 1/2017

2018-19 - Circular 4/2018

2019-20 - Circular 2/2019

2020-21 - Circular 4/2020

2021-22 - Circular 5/2021

2022-23 - Circular 1/2022

2023-24 - Circular 3/2023

2024-25 - Circular 2/2024

2025-26 - Circular 1/2025

The Scottish Government is working with industry through the ministerially-led Construction Leadership Forum (CLF) to support the green energy transition, embracing the opportunities to grow Scotland’s economy, and as part of this work to explore natural material use. In addition, Scottish Government fund Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), who have undertaken extensive research into innovative construction materials.

Construction Leadership Forum

In 2023, the Construction Leadership Forum (CLF) published a report commissioned by construction innovation centre, Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), which identified and analysed the five highest value and highest growth low carbon energy supply chains in Scotland, and included natural construction materials. The report can be found online.

The CLF’s Transformation Action Plan was launched on 25 Jan 2024. Actions on key areas such as skills, net zero, and supply chains are now being implemented by eleven CLF working groups, overseen by a Transformation Board.

The CLF Net Zero working group, chaired by Stephen Good, CEO of BE-ST, and Gordon Nelson, Federation of Master Builders, has been meeting regularly and work is currently progressing. The group is focussed on driving a just transition to being net zero in embodied carbon, industry operations, and over asset life cycles, which was a commitment in the Construction Accord.

Built Environment – Smarter Transformation

The Scottish Government provide funding to Scotland’s construction innovation centre, BE-ST, who have undertaken extensive research into innovative construction materials.

BE-ST and Zero Waste Scotland asked the University of Edinburgh to prepare a report looking into the availability, performance, manufacturing supply chains, and market analysis of Natural Fibre and Circular Insulation options. Published in 2023, the report can be accessed online.

BE-ST have undertaken a number of other projects supporting and expanding the supply chains for natural construction materials, including:

• Sylvan Stuart Integra House: funded by BE-ST (then CSIC) with academic support from Robert Gordon University, exploring the application of (imported) blown wood fibre insulation. In order to consider this type of insulation as a valid method for Integra House, a series of blowing trials were undertaken at BE-ST to understand the potential of incorporating blown wood fibre insulation into the manufacturing process.
• MDF-R: blown-in recycled MDF (product now fully commercialised and available). Settlement testing was carried out at BE-ST to determine the optimum density with no settlement in accordance with British Standards. Testing also investigated the settlement of the installed product under vibration and the optimum density to remove the chance of settlement.
• Sisaltech: Developing Sisalwool product (product now fully commercialised and available). Product prototyping support – Sisal fibre and textile waste material blending on BE-ST’s Spike Former and Thermobonding line, with further prototype development on BE-ST’s Stonemaker casting press. BE-ST also provided consultancy on type testing, product certification and route to market.
• IndiNature: Developing the IndiTherm product (now fully commercialised and available). Product prototyping support – Hemp fibre blending on BE-ST’s Spike Former. BE-ST also provided consultancy on type testing, product certification, and route to market, and supported the certification process with an equipment loan to IndiNature, who have been supported financially through Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish National Investment Bank.

The delivery of domestic launch capability would close the last link in the end-to-end space value chain. This would allow the manufacture, launch and exploitation of small satellite data all to take place in Scotland and give the sector a unique offering to the global market.

This is something long recognised by the Scottish Government and is why we worked in collaboration with industry and academia to develop the jointly owned “A Strategy for Space in Scotland”. Published in 2021, this document sets out the ambitions for the sector regarding delivery of launch capability and facilitating wider growth of the Scottish space eco-system.

The Scottish Government support the Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) model which can help leverage local investment, encourage innovation, unlock opportunities, and deliver sustainable change and improvement for local places.

We fund Scotland’s Improvement Districts (SIDs) as the National Centre for Improvement Districts in Scotland to provide advice and governance support for BIDs in Scotland. We also provide seedcorn grant funding to support the initial development of new BIDs, subject to budget availability.

As set out in the response to question S6W-34780, increasing the rate of the Additional Dwelling Supplement is intended to support increased opportunities for first-time buyers and home movers while raising vital additional revenue to support public services. This takes account of the latest Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and its assumptions regarding the behavioural effects of the rate increase.

For progress on SaxaVord and Sutherland Spaceports, I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-34559 and S6W-34600 on 6 March 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.

The Scottish Government is supportive of multiple launch locations, which increase Scotland's offering to the global market, add resilience to the Scottish launch sector and increase the chances of delivering economic benefits to local communities.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Following discussions with Historic Environment Scotland (HES), SPS has been granted an extension to the HMP Barlinnie public consultation on the proposed listing of buildings.

The extension has been extended until 31 May 2025 to allow SPS to fully consider the extent of the listing and accurately comment on all aspects that are material to the HES decision making process.

HES supported the request and indicated that an extension such as this is normal when considering complex cases such as HMP Barlinnie.

Delivering high quality endoscopy is a priority of the NHS Scotland clinical and service teams.

The Scottish Government commissioned the National Endoscopy Programme Team, with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), and Scottish Government officials routinely monitor Health Board performance against the eight key diagnostic tests, including upper endoscopy, lower endoscopy, colonoscopy, cystoscopy, which are used for the diagnosis and surveillance of gastrointestinal problems such as ulcerative colitis and intestinal polyps.

The National Endoscopy Programme Team also supports on-site visits to all Boards to identify local issues, offer Boards support to develop Demand, Capacity, Activity and Queue (DCAQ) information/capacity planning, and promote alternatives to traditional endoscopy such as CytoSCOT, where clinically appropriate.

In addition, CfSD’s Gastroenterology Specialty Delivery Group (SDG) is working to develop national pathway recommendations for gastroenterology diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Disease. These pathways will reduce unwarranted variation by standardising service provision and pathways on a best-of-class and once-for-Scotland basis wherever possible.

Performance data relating to the number of waits for one of eight key diagnostic tests is published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) on a quarterly basis. The latest publication provides data up to 31 December 2024 and is available here: Diagnostic waiting times - Waits for key diagnostic tests 25 February 2025 - NHS waiting times - diagnostics - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The Scottish Government is taking action to create jobs and boost employability in our coalfields communities. We are investing over £900 million in Growth Deals for Ayrshire, Glasgow (including North and South Lanarkshire), and Edinburgh and South East Scotland which includes Fife. This funding is creating thousands of new jobs and maintaining existing jobs across these areas. The UK Government is providing match funding.

No One Left Behind is a Scotland-wide strategy delivering employability support to those eligible and furthest from the labour market. It is a collaboration between the Scottish Government and local authorities, and aligns and integrates services in each local area to offer an all-round, holistic approach.

Regeneration programmes such as Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, Investing in Communities Fund and Strengthening Communities Programme are supporting job creation, training, and employability skills. In addition we have provided over £29 million in funding to CRT since 1999 to invest in improving outcomes for former coalfield communities.