Chamber and committees

To support future planning decisions, we accepted the review’s recommendation to develop an indicative capacity cap. It is important that any indicative cap is as robust as possible and developing such a cap is a significant piece of work.

For that reason, we are undertaking work to improve the quality of data on waste to support the development of an indicative cap. This includes, working with other governments of the UK to implement mandatory Digital Waste Tracking from April 2025, which will provide a step-change in the quality of Scottish waste data, and engaging with partners, including ZWS and SEPA, to draw together key waste composition, carbon and environmental impact data insights.

Together, these initiatives will provide invaluable data to support the accurate forecasting of Scotland’s waste infrastructure needs and the development of an indicative cap. Further information on these developments can be found here:

Digital Waste Tracking Consultation Response.

Outcome of the Household Waste Composition Analysis.

Our draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map, published 18 January 2024, set out further detail and associated timescales on the steps we will take to minimise the environmental and climate impacts of waste, including the development of an indicative capacity cap.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing financial support for bereaved people on a low-income.

Funeral Support Payment has provided £51.1 million of support to over 26,000 people since launching in September 2019. The average award for 2024-25, up to 30 June 2024, is £2,065. There is a statutory duty to uprate the payment and in 2024/25 we increased the flat rate payment by 6.7%.

We are committed to continually reviewing and improving Funeral Support Payment; we substantially widened eligibility compared to the UK Government’s Funeral Expenses Payment at launch and have recently introduced legislation to make further improvements.

Under the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act VisitScotland have a duty to prepare and publish guidance for local authorities on the introduction and administration of a visitor levy. Whilst that guidance is for local authorities, it will be of interest to businesses and other organisations. Scottish Ministers are currently considering that guidance, as required under section 23 of the Act. Local authorities are best placed to provide guidance to businesses in their area on the specific visitor levy schemes they decide to put in place.

This information is not held centrally. Public Health Scotland publish information on the number of Dental Practices in Scotland and this can be found at:

Dental Practices and Patient Registrations - Datasets - Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data (nhs.scot)

The following below shows the number of practices that have received financial support through Scottish Dental Access Initiative grants in each of the last five years.

The Energy System and Just Transition: Independent Analysis published in support our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan highlights the need for careful management of the North Sea energy transition, including the fields linked to the Forties System.

Offshore oil and gas licensing and consenting, as well as the associated fiscal regime, are reserved to the UK Government.

Publication of the outputs from a programme of work to better understand our energy requirements as we transition to net zero - Energy system and Just Transition: independent analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal includes a commitment of up to £5m from both the Scottish Government and the UK Government to assess the benefits and challenges of extending the Borders Railway to Carlisle. This includes the undertaking of associated detailed feasibility work to fully understand the factors associated with re-instatement of the railway. Whilst the project is still going through the business case development phase, no funding has yet been drawn down to date, however the Scottish Government remains committed to enabling Growth Deal Partners to progress this project.

We recognise that there are a number of complexities within this project and we need to make sure that the extensive feasibility work undertaken is fit for purpose from both a transport appraisal perspective as well as meeting Growth Deal criteria. The cross-border nature of this particular project also means that input and agreement from both Governments is needed for this to advance. The Scottish Government recently approved its contribution for the recruitment of a Project Manager to progress the feasibility work necessary to support the project business case and we hope similar approval is obtained from UK Government post October Spending Review to allow this element of the project to commence .

The Scottish Government continues to work with UK Government and Scottish Borders Council, the lead delivery partner, in an effort to move this project forward.

The Scottish Government, through Transport Scotland’s Trunk Road Casualty Reduction programme of works, is delivering signalisation works on the A75 at the Cuckoo Bridge Roundabout. The works are currently programmed to start on site in January 2025.

The Scottish Government provided funding in 2023-24 to carry out a piece of quantitative research to establish a baseline measure of public awareness and understanding of the symptoms and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (including awareness of FAST (Face, Arm, Speech, Time), to track progress over time should communications activity be undertaken in this area, and to inform and consider the case for public information campaigns in relation to cardiovascular disease.

This research did not provide any evidence to support the use or not of BE FAST. The decision not to adopt BE FAST was based on existing research and the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke for the UK and Ireland and is aligned with the stance of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, Stroke Association and the rest of the United Kingdom’s health services.

Following his appointment as First Minister, Humza Yousaf met with James Hamilton on 27 July 2023 and with Lady Dame Elish Angliolini on 2 August 2023. Scottish Government officials have also engaged with the First Minister's independent advisers on a number of occasions in the course of routine business, including to consult them on the 2023 edition of the Code prior to its publication.

The remaining Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF) allocation for the community element of the Victoria Road School project has been reprofiled into 2024-2025. Confirmation on whether the project will be progressed in 2024-2025 is awaited from Aberdeen City Council.