Chamber and committees

Information regarding ministerial engagements is available on the Scottish Government website and I would refer the member to the following pages:

https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/.

The minister with responsibility for energy met with South of Scotland Enterprise on the following occasions:

• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Chair and Chief Executive of South of Scotland Enterprise on 26 June 2024 to discuss South of Scotland Enterprise’s activity and relevant portfolio issues.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Chair of South of Scotland Enterprise on 8 July 2024 to discuss rural housing.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Chair and Chief Executive of South of Scotland Enterprise on 26 September 2024 to discuss South of Scotland Enterprise’s activity and relevant portfolio issues.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Chair of South of Scotland Enterprise on 19 September 2024 to discuss Public Service Reform.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Chair of South of Scotland Enterprise and a Director of Kight PowerHub BESS (Scotland) on 29 October 2024 to discuss Kight Powerhub’s work.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Business Response Team Leader and Digital Transformation Specialists team of Scottish Enterprise, and the Head of Enterprise and Business of South of Scotland Enterprise, on 31 October 2024 to discuss business resilience.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work attended the South of Scotland Enterprise Natural Capital Roundtable on 4 December 2024 to discuss natural capital investment.

There have been two meetings between the minister with responsibility for energy and representatives of the Scottish National Investment Bank since 2024.

11 January 2024: Meeting between Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy and the Bank to discuss strategic priorities.

12 March 2024: Meeting between Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy and the Bank. Introductory meeting with Chair and Chief Executive of the Bank to discuss the Bank’s progress to date and ambitions for the future.

You can find information about Ministerial engagements on the Scottish Government website at the following link:

Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot

Information regarding ministerial engagements is available on the Scottish Government website and I would refer the member to the following pages:

https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/.

The minister with responsibility for energy met with Highlands and Islands Enterprise on the following occasions:

• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Chair and Chief Executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise on 12 July 2024 to discuss economic development.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Chief Executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise on 23 July 2024 to discuss the space sector.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work delivered a virtual speech to the Highlands and Islands Enterprise All-Staff Conference on 29 August 2024.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Maree Todd MSP on 14 August 2024 to discuss early learning and childcare.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met Natalie Don MSP and the Chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise on 14 August 2024 to discuss rural childcare provision.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work recorded a video for the Highlands and Islands Enterprise all-staff conference on 11 September 2024.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met the Chair and Chief Executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise on 26 September 2024 to discuss the agency’s work.
• The Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work met Highlands and Islands Enterprise on 10 October 2024 to discuss transport.

Part (a) In relation to expenditure on programme delivery, administration, monitoring and evaluation and other overhead costs, the following proportions and values apply concerning the project to date. These are estimates relating to approximately £3m of spend for Link Education International (RISE project) and approximately £2m of expenditure for OXFAM GB (GIRLS project) incurred to date.

A. Programme Delivery

1.RISE project: 69%of budget spent on programme outputs and delivery: £1,888,000 to date

2.GIRLS project: 68% of budget spent on programme outputs and delivery: £1,234,712

B. Administration

1.RISE project: 14% of budget spent on management, technical leadership and reporting: £741,000 to date

2.GIRLS project: 29% of budget spent on administrative costs: £528,418 to date.

C. Monitoring and Evaluation

1.RISE project: Approximately 12% of budget spent on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning: £324,000 to date

2.GIRLS project: Approximately 1.6% of budget spent on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning: £29,973 to date

D. Other overhead costs

1.RISE project: Approximately 5% of budget spent on equipment, safeguarding and other overhead costs: £139,000

2.GIRLS project: Approximately 0.75%% of budget spent on other overhead costs, including equipment: £13,572

Part (b)
The number of children and young people which have been directly supported since the programme's commencement:

A. Enrolment

1.RISE project: Link Education International, with its partners in Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia, have screened around 360,000 children with disabilities or additional needs prior to enrolment in school. The project has also provided around 1,000 assistive devices to children with disabilities, and has supported communities, teachers and parents to engage and support those children.

2.GIRLS project: Oxfam, with its partners in Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia, have supported 3,523 scholarships for girls from marginalised backgrounds to enrol in secondary school and TVET courses.

B, C, D.

Concerning attendance, retention and educational attainment: For both the RISE and GIRLS projects, midline assessments are planned for 2027 to assess the effect of both projects in improving attendance and retention, and for GIRLS only, the effect of the project on improving performance.

Part (a): In February 2024, the Scottish Government launched a 'Call for Proposals' process (see website page https://www.gov.scot/publications/call-proposals-inclusive-education-programme/), which invited qualified organisations to submit proposals for the competitive award of grants supporting the design, implementation and management of the Scottish Government’s International Development Inclusive Education Programme in Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia.

An internal Scottish Government panel, together with input from Zambia's Ministry of Education on behalf of all three partner countries, scored the applications. The highest-scoring proposals led to a grant award to Link Education International (for Strand 1, which became the RISE project), and OXFAM GB (for Strand 2, which become the GIRLS project).

Part (b)

RISE Project: The lead implementing organisation is Link Education International, who implement the project through three local organisations: Link Community Development Malawi, Chance for Childhood in Rwanda, and School to School Zambia.

GIRLS Project: The lead implementing organisation is Oxfam GB, who implement the project through three local organisations: Concerned Youth Organisation in Malawi, Young Women’s Christian Association in Rwanda and Young Women’s Christian Association in Zambia.

Part c). As set out in the answer to S7W-01962 on 20 August 2026, to date Oxfam GB has been paid £2,052,862, and Link Education International has been paid £3,086,573. The partner organisations working with each project are listed below, with estimate amounts paid to each for the purposes of implementing the contract, to date since commencement of the projects

1. RISE project

Link Education International (grant-holder): £211,885

Link Community Development Malawi: £937,901

Chance for Childhood Rwanda: £949,875

School to School Zambia: £986,912

2. GIRLS project

Oxfam £922,871

Concerned Youth Organisation Malawi: £285,000

Young Women’s Christian Association in Rwanda: £600,957

Young Women’s Christian Association in Zambia: £244,034

Part d). The following outputs and outcomes were set for delivery partners at the commencement of the programme, as set out in the logical framework documents maintained by each project, with targets set for each project.

1. RISE project outcomes

1.Access, enrolment and attendance: Children with disabilities attend school regularly

2.Retention: Children with disabilities, particularly girls, are retained throughout the course of the programme

3.Perception: There is a positive change in the perception of children with disabilities, particularly girls, and their families

4.Wellbeing: Children with disabilities, particularly girls, have more confidence

2. RISE outputs

1.Children with disabilities' access to screening, assessment, referrals and assistive devices is available and improved

2.Inclusive education is included in the day to day operations of schools

3.Community and school staff are orientated to CWD safety and wellbeing needs

3. GIRLS project outcomes

1.Increased provision of scholarships and other supportive interventions to remove barriers for young women to access and complete secondary education and transition from secondary to tertiary education and TVET.

2.Increased girls and women’s enrolment, retention, participation and performance in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

4. GIRLS project outputs

1.Increased bursaries to girls and young women at secondary education, tertiary and TVET institutions, within the impact areas.

2.Improved access to schools by girls and other vulnerable children, within the project localities.

3.Improved access to safe learning environments at secondary, TVET, and tertiary schools and safe working environment for targeted female learners

4.Increased knowledge of STEM and TVET opportunities for targeted girls and young women localities.

5.Improved provision and access to counselling, career guidance, mentorship and role models for program participants

6.Improved capacity of teachers in pedagogy, STEM and TVET, within the project impact schools

Part e)

The outputs and outcomes are expected to be achieved by the end of the programme, and will be assessed through project monitoring and evaluation activities.

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.

Part a) From the announced £12.5m, approximately £5.1m has been paid to date across the financial years of 2024-25, 2025-26 and in the first quarter of 2026-27.

Table 1 below breaks down the payments made to date, broken down by i) financial year ii) per project iii) per partner country. Note that the partner country allocations may not sum to total of grant in that year due to routine over- or underspend in the previous year.

TABLE 1

The Scottish minister with responsibility for energy has met Crown Estate Scotland twice since 2024.

• The Minister for Energy and the Environment met the Chair and Chief Executive of Crown Estate Scotland on 16 January 2024 to discuss Energy
• The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy met the Chief Executive of Crown Estate Scotland on 20 November 2025 to discuss Offshore Wind

All ministerial engagements are published on The Scottish Government website at - www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/

An assessment into the rising costs of horticulture businesses has not been undertaken by the Scottish Government, however, the Horticultural Trades Association has recently published a briefing outlining the ‘Cost of Doing Business’ for the environmental horticulture sector across the UK as a whole. This can be found here: https://hta.org.uk/public-affairs-policy/briefings-consultations-and-reports/stakeholder-section/stakeholder-briefings. The Scottish Government recognises the current challenges outlined in this assessment, which environmental horticulture businesses are facing, the majority of which are family-run SMEs. That is why the Scottish Government continues to offer the Small Business Bonus Scheme to help address the rising costs that businesses are facing. In addition, Scottish Government backed schemes have helped businesses reduce energy costs through grants for energy efficient equipment and renewable technologies.

The Scottish Government has regular engagement with the environmental horticulture sector and recognises the important role of environmental horticulture in the development of green landscaping and infrastructure. Horticultural businesses and expertise are integral to the supply of trees and plants, and are well-placed to help address environmental challenges, as well as contribute to the Scottish population’s mental and physical health, through the creation of gardens and greenspaces. These benefits are set out in the Horticulture Trades Association’s Scottish Environmental Horticulture Manifesto, which the Scottish Government welcomed in autumn 2025. The Scottish Government looks forward to continued constructive work with the environmental horticulture sector to ensure that the shared ambitions for green growth and for a healthy and climate resilient nation are achieved.

The Scottish Government has not made any specific assessment of the impact of the non-domestic rates regime in Scotland on environmental horticulture businesses, however the Scottish Budget 2026-27 delivered a competitive rates package including decreasing the Basic, Intermediate and Higher Property Rates in 2026-27, delivering the lowest Basic Property Rate since 2018. The Budget also continues to support businesses and communities with a strong relief package worth over £870 million, including the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which remains the most generous of its kind in the UK. We estimate that over 100,000 properties will remain eligible for the Small Business Bonus Scheme in 2026-27.