Chamber and committees

The Commonwealth Games is a hugely important event for Scottish sport.

Hosting the 2026 Games will deliver economic and sporting opportunities for Glasgow and Scotland, and it is vital that the event leaves a positive legacy.

Scotland, and in particular Glasgow, has a world-renowned reputation for delivering outstanding major events, from Glasgow 2014 to the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships.

Details are still being finalised, but the legacy of Glasgow 2026 is expected to include vital infrastructure upgrades to sporting facilities. which will benefit individuals, communities and clubs in Glasgow, particularly at the grassroots level.

Inspirational performance by Scottish athletes on the world stage can also inspire the public to be more active, try a new sport, or join a local sports club, contributing to our vision of a more active Scotland.

In Scotland, employability services are delivered through the No One Left Behind approach. Through this approach, Scottish and Local Government are working together with public, private, and third sector organisations to design and deliver place-based, person-centred employability services in Scotland.

Self-employed people on low-income and experiencing poverty, particularly parents, are eligible for support through our No One Left Behind offer.

Our services recognise self-employment as a positive destination for participants, with 400 people achieving this outcome between April 2019 and March 2024. Services will ensure on-going support is available to those supported to enter self-employment.

The Scottish Government does not hold any data on the area of renewable energy projects, as described.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero publishes a quarterly Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD)[1] that lists renewable energy projects at the following stages: inception, planning, construction, operation, and decommissioning. This dataset is limited geographically, in that it provides a single grid reference point for a site. And while it does provide significant data on the planning, commissioning and construction of the site, it provides no information on the area covered - as indicated in this interactive map[2].

Prime land for agriculture is defined by the James Hutton Institute’s Land Capability for Agriculture (LCA) measure[3]. LCA 1 to 3.1 is considered ‘prime’ land suitable for arable production. LCA 3.2 to 7 ranges from land considered suitable for mixed agriculture through to land suitable for various types of grazing.

It is possible to plot renewable energy project sites in relation to land capability for agriculture, but such analysis only gives the number of sites registered on prime agricultural and other agricultural land, not the specific locations of the infrastructure and the areas involved. The Scottish Government has explored this for ground mount solar and onshore wind using 2022 data. For operational onshore wind and ground mount solar the number of sites on different types of land and their generation capacity is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Onshore Wind and Ground Mount Solar by Land Type, 2022 1

Scottish Water engages extensively with academia and the private sector to explore the potential for new recovery solutions. As examples Scottish Water is:

1.Working in partnership with the Hydro Nation Chair and Glasgow Caledonian University to investigate advanced technologies for energy recovery solutions from wastewater.

2.Currently designing a resource recovery factory in Alloa with links to the Hydro Nation Chair, Glasgow Caledonian University, the James Hutton Institute and Forth Valley College.

3.Working with the private sector on the trial of ammonia recovery at Cumnock Wastewater Treatment Works, exploration into the use of recovered ammonia as a fertiliser and, phosphorous recovery.

The Energy Saving Trust (EST), on behalf of the Scottish Government, publishes the annual Community and Locally Owned Energy in Scotland (COLO) Report.

This reports against six specific ownership categories (Farm & Estate, Local Authority, Local Business, Community, Housing Association, and Public Sector and Charity) with ownership then broken down by technology and distribution by local authority area. This last category groups public sector and charity organisations together as they are commonly considered not for profit organisations.

The latest report states that, as of December 2023, there are 92 MW of operational capacity across 12,110 installations in the Public Sector and Charity category, across a range of technologies.

A Bill will be introduced to parliament this parliamentary year, with final decisions on timing to be taken as part of the overall legislative programme.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing legislative proposals and other actions to support Community Wealth Building across Scotland. We have undertaken detailed analysis of respondents’ feedback to our public consultation, which can be found on the Scottish Government Website at this link: CWB Consultation Analysis.

As set out in question S6W-29963 which was answered on 24 September 2024, there are 107 entries in the pilot phase of the Cladding Remediation Programme. Entries in the pilot can comprise a single block or building, or a development, or part of a development consisting of multiple blocks or buildings.

Only a Single Building Assessment meeting the Scottish Standards can identify what cladding if any, a building has and further identify whether the cladding is unsafe.

Developers, homeowners or other organisations could have commissioned assessments without informing the Scottish Government. Therefore, the true number may be higher and could increase as further information becomes available.

In terms of the health service, there are no hospitals in Scotland with significant evacuation challenges and unsafe cladding.

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 Scottish Government relies on advice on prostate screening from the UK National Screening Committee (UKNSC).

The UK NSC does not currently recommend population screening for prostate cancer – this was last reviewed in November 2020. As part of this review, the use of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test to identify prostate cancers was considered.

The PSA test identifies the levels of PSA in a male’s blood, however, levels can be raised for a number of reasons and doesn’t confirm the individual has prostate cancer. As a result, while the PSA test can be one helpful tool for GPs when assessing a patient, the test is not definitive enough to detect prostate cancer which may require treatment, can falsely find people who do not have prostate cancer and can also miss some cancers. Therefore, the UK NSC determined that the test would not be a suitable test for a national expansion.

It is anticipated that the UK NSC will review their recommendation for prostate screening in 2024-25, and will take account of any new evidence as part of that process.

Communities are at the heart of our renewable energy ambitions, and we are committed to working with partners to ensure the delivery of renewable energy comes with benefits for people in Scotland and contributes to community wealth building (CWB).

Where communities have an ownership stake in energy production, we are seeing surpluses being used to support local employment and other initiatives. For example, in North Tolsta, on Lewis, one of five Scottish Government Community Wealth Building pilot areas, revenue from a community owned wind turbine supports local jobs, provides grants for home energy improvements and offers financial support for young people attending further and higher education.

The Community Energy Generation Growth Fund, through our Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), recently awarded £1.5 million in grants to 19 community groups across Scotland to develop their own renewable energy projects. These communities are able to earn money from their projects, for example by selling excess energy generation.

As confirmed in the Programme for Government, we will shortly publish the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan to support Scotland’s just transition to a green economy.

Scottish Government capital investment is primarily focussed on the demand sectors of heat, transport and industry.

In support of the delivery of our energy ambitions this financial year (2024-2025) we have allocated:

• over £145 million for active travel, in addition to the over £2 billion we invest in public transport annually.
• £266 million budget for Heat in Buildings.
• £12.2 million for hydrogen projects.
• £9 million to Scotland’s manufacturing industries through the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.
• £2 million to support the Acorn Carbon transport and storage project.
• Our Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray continues to support a range of pioneering projects with an allocation of £16.4 million

Funding for future years will be subject to annual budget allocations.