Chamber and committees

Although it is the statutory responsibility of all local authorities to manage and maintain the school estate, the Scottish Government is providing them with significant funding towards improving their school estate.

The £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme is being delivered in partnership with local authorities and will benefit tens of thousands of pupils across Scotland. It follows on from the successful £1.8 billion Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme which completed in 2021 and delivered 117 new or refurbished schools.

Our latest school estate statistics, published on 10th September 2024, show that the proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition has increased from 62.7% in April 2007 to 91.7 % in April 2024. Investment through the Learning Estate Investment Programme will build on this remarkable progress.

Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) MAT Standards Implementation Team (MIST) has a role in working with and supporting Scotland’s Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in collating information from frontline services and partners that are used for Benchmarking on all 10 MAT standards.

Awareness-raising for the MAT standards would be led through the local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs), the services they commission and Primary Care representatives in health boards.

We are currently working with the other UK administrations to refine the drafting of the Scottish-led FMPs and will undertake further discussions with stakeholders prior to formal consultation. Draft FMPs will be published at the time of the formal consultation. Timings for this will be confirmed in due course.

In 2009, sportscotland’s headquarters moved to Doges, Templeton on the Green, Glasgow and Caledonian House was retained as a “House of Sport”. A full cost-benefit analysis of Caledonian House was conducted in March 2023, and it was concluded the building was not a good use of public money. All existing tenants, including relevant Scottish Governing Bodies of sport, were part of a sportscotland consultation process, have been kept up to date with the process throughout, and were provided ample time to consider their future office needs and find alternative office space.

sportscotland continue to support tenants with information and guidance on alternative accommodation and where possible, have facilitated introductions to wider partners where there is potential to co-locate.

Access to Critical Raw Materials and Technologies is a vitally important issue for our economy, energy security and Net Zero ambitions.

Where areas of potential prospectivity are identified, this does not mean that critical minerals are guaranteed to be found and there are a range of factors which will influence whether or not extraction will take place. This includes the requirement that where new development proposals come forward, applications for planning permission must be made to the relevant local planning authority. Policy 33 of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) sets out that development proposals for the sustainable extraction of minerals will only be supported by that policy where certain criteria are met, this includes demonstrating that there are no significant adverse impacts (including cumulative impact) on any nearby homes and local communities. NPF4 should be read as a whole, alongside local development plans, in applying balanced planning judgement in planning decisions.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any assessment of impacts on communities from these reports at this stage.

No public funding is required from the Scottish Government for the delivery of Commonwealth Games 2026 and the Scottish Government will not provide any financial underwriting. The Commonwealth Games Federation will cover the majority of costs using compensation from the Victorian Government following their withdrawal.

The additional investment will be supplemented by commercial income from ticketing, sponsorship, hospitality and merchandising. The Scottish Government thanks Commonwealth Games Australia for their offer of additional investment and the UK Government for its offer of contingency funding provisions that can be accessed if existing budget funds and contingency have been exceeded and all efforts to reduce costs have been exhausted.

The Scottish Government has conducted a thorough assessment of Commonwealth Games Scotland’s proposal for Glasgow to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, alongside key partners. The collaboration has been positive and as a result, the Scottish Government has given its support for the proposal.

The Scottish Government funds the Glasgow to Campbeltown, Tiree and Barra air services.

Dundee City Council funds the Dundee to London Heathrow air service with financial contributions from the Scottish Government and the UK Government.

Highland Council funds the Wick to Aberdeen air service with a financial contribution from the Scottish Government.

Argyll & Bute Council funds the Oban to Coll, Colonsay and Tiree air services.

Orkney Islands Council fund the Kirkwall to Papa Westray, North Ronaldsay, Westray, Sanday, Stronsay and Eday air services.

Shetland Islands Council fund the Tingwall to Fair Isle and Foula air services.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar fund the Benbecula to Stornoway air service.

Community Councils are not subject to statutory climate change duties.

Public bodies have had statutory climate change duties since 2011. Section 44 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires a public body, in exercising its functions, to: contribute to delivery of Scotland’s national net zero target; help deliver Scotland’s climate change adaptation programme; and act sustainably. Community councils are not subject to these duties, although local authorities are and they have statutory oversight of community councils.

Scottish Government continues to work closely with all local authorities to help deliver our ambitious climate targets. We have worked with COSLA to develop a Climate Delivery Framework that will enable better alignment of our respective targets and collective decision making, supporting delivery. A Scottish Climate Intelligence Service has been established to help build the capacity of local authorities to reduce area wide emissions.

Our investment of £30 million is supporting significant targeted action across a number of specialities, including gynaecology, with around 3,500 additional New Outpatient appointments planned for the longest waiting patients.

NHS Scotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) also continues to work with Health Boards to accelerate implementation of high impact changes, including Active Clinical Referral Treatment (ACRT) and Patient Initiated Review (PIR), freeing up additional capacity in the NHS system and providing sustainable solutions for the future.

CfSD programmes have developed strong clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG), including one for gynaecology, which was established to support, innovate and develop high quality gynaecology services across Scotland, reducing unwarranted variation, promoting a best-in-class and - where appropriate - a once-for-Scotland approach.

This is all part of our programme to drive up productivity and tackle waiting lists, supported by the CfSD. Together, our actions will further enable NHS Scotland to maximise capacity, build greater resilience and deliver reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment.

It is longstanding Scottish Government policy that the provision of an air service wholly within a local authority boundary is a matter for that local authority.

The Scottish Government provides indirect support to the Benbecula to Stornoway service through our subsidy of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited which operates both Benbecula and Stornoway airports. The Comhairle also receives funding from the Scottish Government through the Local Government Settlement. The funding formula does take account of the Comhairle’s need in relation to air transport and includes £377,000 in 2024-25.