Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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

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

SPS have no specific evidence as to why the use of steroids is reportedly increasing within prisons. However, in collaboration with our Partners at Dundee University, the regular re-calibration of Rapiscan machines does support our ability to identify new substances.

We recognise the profound impact that illicit articles entering our prisons and acknowledge the continued need to support to those in our care who misuse substances and those who are on their recovery journey.

There is no set timescale for ministerial decisions on energy consents. The consideration to be undertaken by ministers before reaching a determination will depend on the particulars of each application.

The Scottish Government is committed to land reform and improving transparency of those who own and control land in Scotland is at the heart of our land reform objectives.

The Scottish Government will continue to review any evidence – including that arising from the Scottish Land Commission’s report on land and property taxation – and assess this as part of our wider approach to tax policy

Registers of Scotland are currently working to deliver the benefits of a completed land register through their Unlocking Sasines project. This uses spatial data to help ‘unlock’ the historic information in the Sasine register, which means that they can link Sasine property search sheets to a map for the first time, making it visually more helpful and accessible. Additionally, the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will improve transparency and help ensure that large scale land holdings deliver in the public interest. The Bill will place legal responsibilities on the owners of the very largest landholdings to set out – through Land Management Plans - how they use their land and how that contributes to key public policy priorities, like addressing climate change and protecting and restoring nature.

The Scottish Government publicly consulted on the draft Onshore Wind Policy Statement between October 2021 and January 2022. A final Onshore Wind Policy Statement was published in December 2022 after careful consideration of the 163 responses received during the consultation period. An analysis of the consultation responses can be found on the Scottish Government website – Supporting documents - Onshore wind policy statement refresh - draft: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The final Onshore Wind Policy Statement set out our ambition for 20GW of onshore wind to be installed by 2030. The Policy Statement also set out measures that the Scottish Government would take to reach our ambition of 20GW of onshore wind by 2030 and to ensure that Scotland’s people benefit from this ambition.

One such measure was the establishment of the Onshore Wind Strategic Leadership Group (SLG), which consists of government representatives, onshore wind industry leaders, Scottish Renewables, relevant Scottish Government agencies, Supply Chain representatives and a body representing issues affecting local communities. The SLG was tasked with the development of the Scottish Onshore Wind Sector Deal. Since the publication of the Sector Deal in September 2023, the SLG monitors and scrutinises the delivery of the deal. There was no direct engagement with trade unions during the drafting of the Sector Deal.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30309 on 28 October 2024. 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

Work is progressing towards finalisation of research after which a report will be published.

The 152nd Open, which took place at Royal Troon in South Ayrshire from 14-21 July 2024, was a significant success for Scotland. The Championship enjoyed a record crowd for Troon, with over 250,000 spectators in attendance, more than half of whom travelled from outside of Scotland.

Independent research from Sheffield Hallam University’s Sport Industry Research Centre has found that The 152nd Open generated an estimated £87.3 million in total economic impact – new money entering the economy – for Scotland. Ayrshire received total economic impact of an estimated £43.8 million.

The figures for this year’s Championship bring the total economic benefit generated by the ten stagings of The Open in Scotland since 2005 to £1.36 billion.

The Open is synonymous with Scotland and of significant importance to our country from an economic and reputational perspective. Scottish Ministers have therefore committed funding for a renewed long-term agreement with The R&A starting in 2024, which will ensure that its major championships are staged in Scotland regularly until 2034. The agreement guarantees that 14 major championships organised by The R&A will be staged in Scotland across its lifetime, including five stagings of The Open.

The agreement also brings an exclusive benefits package for Scotland, covering elements such as international promotion, advertising and support for Scottish Government policies, notably in relation to sustainability and health.

As well as delivering significant economic benefits at national and local level, the investment in The R&A’s major championships will drive tourism and showcase Scotland as a world-class stage for major events.

Funding from the Scottish Government and VisitScotland is £1 million per year for 11 years, therefore totalling £11 million. Given the economic impact and wider value that can be expected, this represents very strong value for money.

The Migraine Trust were awarded £85,675 in 2022-23 through the Scottish Government Neurological Care & Support Framework, for work upskilling community, primary and secondary care pharmacists across NHS Grampian to help people with migraine manage their symptoms and treatments more effectively.

The Scottish Government funded an additional £135,501 in 2023-24 to further embed this work locally, and to partner with other Health Boards to extend the reach of pharmacists trained and increase care and support for people living with migraine based on the blueprint NHS Grampian approach.

We understand that a further six NHS Boards are working towards adopting this model of migraine care in future, including NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian & NHS Tayside who have project teams in place with plans to undertake work with support from the NHS Grampian/Migraine Trust project team.

An eLearning programme for NHS Education for Scotland’s platform TURAS has been developed through the project. This comprises a suite of training materials available for all pharmacists and pharmacy teams in Scotland to access.

The project in Grampian has forged links with Robert Gordon University’s School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences with the aim of helping to shape students’ learning, towards create a sustainable change to the way migraine care is given.

We receive regular progress updates from the Migraine Trust and myself visited the project in August. We are discussing options with the Migraine Trust for further adoption of this approach to delivering care for people with migraine.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the legal, ethical and proportionate use of new technologies in policing, which takes account of ethical and human rights obligations, to ensure that the adoption of any new technology for policing purposes is done in a way that secures public confidence.

That is why we commissioned a report into emerging technologies in policing from an independent advisory group, which was published in February 2023 (Independent advisory group on new and emerging technologies in policing: final report ). The report confirmed that Scotland is in a strong position to become world-leading in adopting a rights-based, ethical approach to the adoption of emerging technologies in policing.

Any decision to deploy Live Facial Recognition technology is an operational matter for the Chief Constable under the scrutiny of the Scottish Police Authority. The Chief Constable is responsible for operational policing and is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority for this - not to Scottish Ministers. These arrangements are in law and in place to ensure public confidence that the police act independently, free from Ministerial interference.

I have written to the Scottish Police Authority to seek assurances that a transparent and robust process will be adopted in considering and scrutinising any plans for the future deployment of Live Facial Recognition technology.