Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has published independent analysis on the Energy System and Just Transition and it is available online at https://www.gov.scot/publications/energy-system-transition-independent-analysis.

The analysis suggests potential growth sectors include wind, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage and hydrogen and this is reflected in the Green Industrial Strategy which was published in September 2024. This Strategy’s mission is to ensure that Scotland realises the maximum possible economic benefit from the opportunities created by the global transition to net zero. In particular, with the right focus, support, investment and partnerships, Scottish businesses and workers can innovate, capture new markets, create new jobs and diversify the workforce during the energy transition.

Public sources of information indicate that BAE Systems is among the contenders to supply new frigates for the Royal Norwegian Navy. No discussions have taken place between BAE Systems and the Scottish Government on whether a successful tender would produce subcontracting opportunities for manufacturing or fabrication businesses based in Scotland.

EY’s independent forecasts set out their estimates of future GVA growth across different parts of the UK. They forecast that Aberdeen’s GVA will grow on average 0.9% per annum between 2025 and 2028. The pace of growth in the region is largely expected to be impacted by their assessment of the long term decline in North Sea oil production and its impact on growth in the UK mining and quarrying sector.

The Scottish Government continues to support a just transition for Aberdeen and North East Scotland through the Aberdeen City Region Deal and Just Transition Fund (JTF). Through the Deal we are providing up to £125 million over 10 years to strengthen and diversify the regional economy. JTF is another 10 year programme supporting projects and communities to create jobs, support innovation and secure a highly skilled workforce. From this, £75 million has been allocated to date.

This is in addition to our recently completed Energy Transition Fund, protecting jobs, skills and knowledge in the region while supporting the creation of new jobs. Meanwhile, Aberdeen City has also benefited from £12.9 million Scottish Government regeneration investment since 2014. It will additionally benefit from our £400,000 commitment to support Our Union Street over 2024-25 and 2025-26.

All while we continue working with regional partners and UK Government to support the North East Scotland Investment Zone. This will include funding of up to £160 million over 10 years and the ability of the region to benefit from 100% retention of non-domestic rates. It will give partners the opportunity to invest in regeneration and infrastructure to support further growth within the Investment Zone.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36120 on 10 April 2025, there is significant uncertainty in the economic outlook and economic forecasts can be subject to revision. 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 part of our Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the Scottish Government encourages NHS employers to support the development of staff networks for all nine protected characteristics.
However, as individual employers, Boards are responsible for upholding their obligations under the PSED. Staff networks are just one way in which staff under the protected characteristic of sex are supported, including through the development of equality policy, training, and guidance.

The Thistle operates like any other NHS facility, working closely with community safety partners to prevent and address antisocial behaviour, including the abandonment of drug paraphernalia. While the Scottish Government does not directly collect data on this, local partners such as Glasgow City Council and Police Scotland monitor and report on related public safety concerns. For example, the Council records incidents of discarded needles, and in 2024 Police Scotland reported the disposal of approximately 5,000 needles across two city locations. This data is used by local agencies as part of a coordinated approach to ensure safety.

Reducing health inequalities and supporting people to live longer, healthy and fulfilling lives remains a clear ambition for this Government.

Health inequalities in Scotland have widened in recent years in part due to the impact of austerity, Brexit, COVID and the subsequent cost-of-living crisis.

In order to tackle this mounting challenge, Scottish Government and COSLA, in collaboration with our wider partners, are developing a Population Health Framework to take a cross-government and cross-sector approach to improve the key building blocks of health.

These include: good early years and education; good work and income; healthy places; and equitable health care. Its purpose is to accelerate the recovery and improvement of population health in Scotland with a focus on whole system preventative action.

The Scottish Budget for 2025-26 sets out wide-ranging investment to continue supporting people with the cost of living and deliver progress on our national mission to eradicate child poverty, including:

• £768m to boost delivery of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme,
• up to £90m for the delivery of devolved employability services,
• continuing to invest around £1bn per year in delivering 1,140 hours of funded ELC to all eligible children, and
• committing more than £6.9bn for benefits expenditure including the Scottish Child Payment, almost £1.3bn more than the UK Government gives to the Scottish Government for Social Security.

In terms of planned care waiting times specifically, we are undertaking an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) as part of the refreshed NHSScotland waiting times guidance: November 2023, which will be published later this year.

The development of the EQIA has been informed by the public sector equality duty which requires the Scottish Government to pay due regard to the need to meet its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 when developing new and revised policies.

The EQIA will evaluate how the updated NHSScotland waiting times guidance may affect different segments of the population both positively and negatively, considering the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, sex, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.

Concurrently, our Women’s Health Plan, published in August 2021, aims to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for girls and women across their life course. We recognise women are disproportionately affected by gynaecology waiting times, and timely access to gynaecology services will be a priority as we continue to develop our Women’s Health Plan.

There are no plans to review Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy before the end of the current parliamentary session. This is a ten year strategy and most of its actions relate to the ongoing delivery of our management functions. The progress being made with these is in the updated Scotland's Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 Delivery Plan which was published on 20 March 2025.

The delivery plan is a live document and it will continue to be updated as progress is being made.

Firstly, the landing obligation was fully implemented in Scotland on 1 January 2019. Prior to this date, the landing obligation was phased in gradually, starting with pelagic fisheries in 2015 and extending to demersal fisheries in 2016, with the final phase bringing all Total Allowable Catch (TAC) species under the obligation, except those that are exempt via de minimis or survivability exemptions.

In relation to the allocation of fish quota, the Scottish Government has taken action to promote the use of selective fishing gear and therefore help reduce discards. For 2025, the Scottish Government is primarily allocating a portion of West of Scotland cod following an application process which places the use of selective fishing gear and/or fishing methods associated with a lower environmental impact at its core. The Scottish Government has also acted to allocate a greater share of quota to the 10 metre and under non-sector fleet. This grouping of vessels (which are more limited in the time they can spend at sea and the distance they can travel than larger vessels) is associated with the use of more selective fishing gear (such as the use of handlines).

The Future Catching Policy workshops were completed in autumn last year, with a combination of industry and eNGO input across all fleet segments. The proposals for future technical measures are being finalised and further engagement with stakeholders will take place this year prior to the formal consultation.

On REM, it is our position that the use of REM will have a positive impact on illegal discarding, providing a strong deterrent and an effective monitoring tool. That is one of the reasons why we are deploying it on pelagic fishing vessels and will roll-out further in the future.

Finally, we are committed to reviewing the current penalties regime as part of our Fisheries Management Strategy and will consider the role of fines as part of that.

Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 Delivery Plan update was published on 20 March 2025 and can be accessed via this link: Scotland's Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 Delivery Plan.