Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has committed through its 2024 Programme for Government to review the way the culture sector is supported. This ongoing culture sector support programme will, amongst other things, explore alternative and additional funding mechanisms to grow the overall funding pot for culture in Scotland. A Percentage for the Arts scheme is one of the mechanisms that will be considered as part of this programme.

The purpose of the meeting on 26 February 2025 was to update myself and the Minister for Climate Action on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, the reform options being considered by UK Government, and the potential impact of those options for Scotland.

The briefing paper for this meeting, and list of attendees, including ministers, have already been released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). It is standard procedure for names of officials to be redacted in all FOIs under Section 38(1)(b), due to protections around the sharing of Third Party Data, whereby personal data is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR and in section 34(1) of the DPA 2018.

Upon review of the FOI, section 29(1)(a) was not cited as a redaction used. Information has been redacted under 30(b)(i), however, was redacted due to it relating to the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers to have space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching a settled public position.

In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded.

We are working with the UK Government to consider options to potentially streamline Growth Deal governance whilst continuing to ensure a level of scrutiny appropriate to the £3.4 billion of public funding we are collectively investing in the programme. Any changes made to Growth Deal governance would require joint Government endorsement.

Prior to 1 September 2024, the Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (Scotland) Order 2007 required all keepers with 50 or more poultry at any single premises to notify the Scottish Ministers (in writing) in relation to those premises. The information required by the legislation was held on the GB Poultry Register, and processes to support the enforcement of this legislation, which is the responsibility of local authorities, were long established.

The amendment of this legislation ((by The Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2024), which extended this legal requirement to all bird keepers (with exceptions) and the introduction of the Scottish Kept Bird Register, has merely meant an extension to the enforcement process already in place. Since 1 September 2024 local authorities have continued to seek information regarding the registration status of keepers, using this data to enforce this legal requirement.

To further support this, Scottish Government, in consultation with Local Authorities has developed draft Local Authority Bird Registration Enforcement Guidance for all Scottish Local Authorities, and this guidance is currently being reviewed by The Scottish Local Authority Animal Health and Welfare Strategy Group.

The draft guidelines are based primarily on an educational approach to enforcement of the Scottish Kept Bird Register, particularly whilst keepers grow familiar with the system. However, prosecution for persistent offenders remains an option.

Supporting people with ME/CFS, long COVID and similar conditions is a priority for this government and this commitment is reiterated within the recent Programme for Government.

Funding has not yet been allocated to individual NHS health boards. We want this money to have maximum impact and are working closely and carefully with boards across Scotland to allocate it as quickly and effectively as possible.

We have put a number of measures in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the Growth Deals.

The activities supported by Regional Growth Deals are designed by Local Authorities in consultation with the communities they serve. The decision-making structures supporting the Deals include elected members chosen by communities to serve their areas.

Information on Deal delivery is provided through published annual reports and regular updates on specific projects and programmes, all made available on each individual Growth Deal’s website.

In financial year 2025-26, City and Regional Growth Deals have a combined budget of £215 million. We are working with individual deals to finalise allocations for the year ahead, aligned with the anticipated profile for programme delivery. We expect to conclude discussions and confirm allocations by the end of May.

Members of the public can access detailed data, including total applications made, on the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme for the 2023-24 financial year at https://www.gov.scot/publications/home-energy-scotland-grant-and-loan-scheme-awards/. Work is ongoing to release further scheme data, with the next publication expected shortly.

For average processing times, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36322 on 22 April 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 I have set out in my statement to Parliament in April, we intend to introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill in Year 5 of this Parliamentary Session. The final decision on the provisions of the Bill, to be introduced later this year, will be made collectively by Cabinet ahead of its introduction.

The Scottish Government endeavours to provide information in response to requests wherever possible. The provisions of section 29(1)(a) (formulation or development of government policy) or other exemptions under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) should only be applied in order to withhold information where necessary, in the public interest.

Anyone who has made a request for information has the right to ask the Scottish Government to carry out a review if they have concerns about the handling of their request. The Scottish Government has a statutory obligation to carry out such a review and provide a further response to the requester within 20 working days. The review will be carried out by a Scottish Government official who was not involved in the decision-making process for the original request, and who can therefore consider afresh any matters of concern raised by the requester - including whether exemptions from disclosure have been appropriately applied. Following the review, the requester has the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision on their request, if they remain dissatisfied.

Outside of the statutory process for individual reviews described above, there is no requirement for the Scottish Government to proactively revisit FOI responses previously issued to see if the sensitivity of information has changed over time in a way which would mean exemptions no longer apply. As the Scottish Government responds to over 5,000 requests per year, it would be impractical to do so.

However, the Scottish Government is also committed to making information about all areas of its work proactively available, for example through its frequent planned publications on the Scottish Government website.