Chamber and committees

The first three year Creating Hope Together action plan was published in 2022 and covers the period 2022-2025.

As outlined in the answer S6W-35639 on 27 March 2025, we are starting to develop our next three-year action plan which we intend to publish in early 2026. This will build on the existing suicide prevention work and the significant insights gathered over the lifespan of the current action plan, as well as reflecting emerging and new evidence on suicide prevention. We will be engaging with our key stakeholders, our lived experience panels and others in the coming months so that they can help shape the next action plan.

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

We are continuing to work closely with partners to design and plan the expansion of suicide bereavement support across Scotland, taking account of the evaluation findings and existing local provision.

In addition to delivering suicide bereavement support services in Highland and Ayrshire & Arran Health Boards, Suicide Prevention Scotland has progressed discussions to establish suicide bereavement support which connects to existing local and national provision in several NHS Board areas. These are: Borders, Tayside, Fife, Shetland, Dumfries & Galloway and Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

We will continue our discussions with the remaining health boards over the coming months.

Suicide Prevention Scotland, the delivery vehicle for Creating Hope Together, has been engaging with Suicide Prevention Leads in local areas to facilitate the development of local suicide bereavement approaches that meet the needs of their communities.

Specifically, in the Borders region, there has been good engagement with the local suicide prevention lead within the Health and Social Care Partnership to progress work to develop a local Suicide Bereavement Service. It is anticipated this will connect to the existing After a Suicide Working Group and Wellbeing Hub resources.

As per the response provided to question S6W-34540 on 4 March 2025, Compensation provisions do exist where land, or rights over land, are acquired by compulsion for the development of energy infrastructure under the Electricity Act 1989. However, there is no statutory provision or process set out in the Act to financially compensate those who consider their property value may be affected.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-36341 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

The amount of brokerage owed by each NHS Board is outlined in the following table:

Alan Gray, Director of Health and Social Care Finance, wrote to Chief Executives of NHS Scotland on 04 December 2024 to provide the details of the indicative funding settlement for NHS Boards in the Scottish Government Budget 2025-26.

The letter confirmed that brokerage would not be available for 2025-26 and that NHS Boards would be expected to work towards a break-even trajectory in their three-year financial plans.

Following submission of three-year plans, Boards who are not anticipating to breakeven have been required to submit recovery plans for 2025-26 to achieve set levels of overspend. Should these not be agreed, these boards will be required to seek authority from the Scottish Government to spend above agreed levels.

NHS Board overspends in 2025-26, up to and inclusive of the agreed levels, are not repayable and will not be included in historic cumulative brokerage levels. For NHS Boards who are forecasting breakeven positions in their financial plan, no deficit is permitted and any overspend will be included as an overspend in their financial statements.

Alan Gray, Director of Health and Social Care Finance, wrote to Chief Executives of NHS Scotland on 04 December 2024 to provide the details of the indicative funding settlement for NHS Boards in the Scottish Government Budget 2025-26. This letter set out the Scottish Government position that brokerage would not be available in 2025-26.

NHS Borders are at Level 3 of the NHS Support and Intervention Escalation Framework. and the Board continue to receive enhanced monitoring and support commissioned by Scottish Government’s NHS Scotland Finance Delivery Unit; to support the Board to return to financial sustainability.

Under the terms of this support, the Scottish Government’s NHS Scotland Financial Delivery Unit maintain frequent contact with NHS Borders Executives regarding its financial position. At present, these conversations are focussed on securing a credible path to balance and, once this has been established and on course to be achieved, conversations will commence on brokerage repayment.

Under the Ministerial code, it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on the merits or otherwise of any development that is before them, or could come before them, for a decision through the application or appeal process.

On network infrastructure in general, the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan sets out that investment to upgrade Scotland’s transmission network is needed to manage constraints and enable more renewable power to reach where it is needed. The Scottish Government also recognises the need for communities to be meaningfully engaged and consulted, to ensure they can have their say on proposed projects and influence design proposals to minimise potential impacts. Our fourth National Planning Framework ensures that potential impacts on communities and nature are important considerations in the decision-making process.

Legislation and regulations relating to electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for the strategic approach to transmission investment. Regulation of electricity networks, including approval of investment in infrastructure, is the responsibility of the regulator Ofgem. As such, the Scottish Government has no role in the regulation of electricity networks apart from its statutory planning and consenting processes.

The Scottish Government values our land for its multiple uses, which include food production, nature restoration, energy security and to our economy.

Many large-scale renewable energy projects lease the land where they are sited. Land managers will have site specific insights on how land is best used given its location, local demands and economic returns.

To deliver our Vision for Agriculture, we want to ensure that farming across Scotland continues sustainably into the future, by shifting to low carbon sustainable farming by producing high-quality food for the nation. While also using our land in alternative ways to help contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and delivering increased biodiversity and wider environmental benefits.