Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government supports music venues through Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Funding which has increased by £20 million, providing a major boost to Scotland’s cultural sector. This investment provides stability for organisations to plan and deliver high-quality programmes in theatre, visual arts, literature, and music.

Forty-six music organisations now receive multi-year support which is more than double the previous number – with potentially three more in development for
2026-27. The Scottish Government has also put in place 40% non-domestic rates relief for Music Venues with capacity up to 1,500 for 2025-26.

Every area of government which is or may be affected by the Supreme Court judgment is reviewing policies, guidance and legislation. This action is co-ordinated by the Working Group on the Supreme Court Judgment, convened by the Permanent Secretary, to ensure a cross-government approach and understanding is taken to this complex area of work.

The Scottish Government maintains regular communication with the United Kingdom Government regarding the Dunard Centre, as joint funders of the project through the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal. On the additional capital costs for the project, we have engaged regularly with the UK Government and regional partners through a range of interactions over a number of months.

I can confirm that the Scottish Government has not held discussions with Police Scotland about upgrading its tasers. Any such upgrade would be an operational matter for the Chief Constable.

The Scottish Government does not regard it as appropriate to engage in public comment in respect of live court proceedings.

As part of the due diligence required for the additional £20 million pledge, the Scottish Government continues to work with IMPACT Scotland to ensure all cost mitigation measures have been taken to reduce the risk of further increases in construction costs, in addition to assessment of the affordability of latest cost estimates and future sustainability of the organisation post-construction.

The Scottish Government was informally updated that the project capital costs for the Dunard Centre were expected to rise during the course of regular engagement with IMPACT Scotland, the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal Programme Management Office and the United Kingdom Government. The Scottish Government was then notified of the scale of the increase in project capital costs for the Dunard Centre on 26 June 2025 as part of a discussion with IMPACT Scotland.

The additional £20 million pledge from the Scottish Government towards the construction of the Dunard Centre, Edinburgh’s first purpose-built concert hall in 100 years, will be factored into the upcoming spending review and is not set to impact wider funding for culture.

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

The SPS Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody protects the rights and welfare of transgender people living in Scotland’s prisons in a way which promotes the safety of all people in custody.

When placing a transgender person within our estate, we adopt an individualised approach to ensure the safety of everyone in our care by assessing and managing identified known risk.

There is a total of 21 transgender people in custody representing 0.3% of the total prison population. As a public body we must uphold our statutory obligation to ensure everyone in our care has their personal information protected. Given these small numbers, we are unable to provide any further disaggregation of this data due to potential risk of identification of individuals.

SPS also aim to publish prison numbers and relevant data on a quarterly basis, the last of which can be found here.

The Scottish Government recognises the report’s findings on increasing pressure on Shetland’s marine space from energy developments and will use it to inform our fisheries co-existence work.

We are committed to managing Scotland’s seas to ensure sustainable use of resources and to minimise impacts on existing users, including fishers.

Shetland’s fishing fleet and the wider Scottish sector are vital to our economy and communities, and we aim to secure a prosperous future for them while meeting net zero targets. To achieve this, we are updating the Sectoral Marine Plan for offshore wind, developing National Marine Plan 2, and commissioning work on cumulative impacts.

Fishing representatives are key stakeholders in these processes, and we will continue to engage with them through planning and consenting stages, alongside workstreams under the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council to support coexistence between offshore wind and fisheries.