Solar energy developments with a capacity over 50MW are considered by Scottish Ministers under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. All solar developments approved by Scottish Ministers in the last five years have been ground mounted.

Solar energy developments with a capacity of 50MW or less require planning permission from the relevant planning authority. The Scottish Government does not hold information on planning applications determined by planning authorities for ground mounted or grounded solar panels. However, this information could be obtained from individual planning authorities.

Householders and businesses also have certain permitted development rights (PDR) for the installation of solar panels on their properties. Provided that the relevant conditions are complied with, these PDR allow for the installation of solar panels without the requirement for a planning application. In doing so, they save the time and expense associated with applying for planning permission. Accordingly, data is not available on those developments carried out under PDR.

The following table outlines the last five financial years of allocations for Fair Start Scotland:

The First Minister confirmed the Scottish Government’s intention to bring forward a Heat in Buildings Bill in the recent Programme for Government. We will continue to work with businesses, including the private rented sector to understand the impacts and benefits of our proposals. The Bill and any subsequent regulations will each be accompanied by a full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment.

The Scottish Parliament publishes a renewable energy map of Scotland which is available here Renewable energy map of Scotland – SPICe Spotlight | Solas air SPICe (spice-spotlight.scot) This makes available details of operational and planned renewable energy generation projects.

The data that the map is based on comes from the Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract, which is maintained by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The Electricity System Operator (ESO) provides a map which provides a view of the current and what the potential future electricity transmission system could look like out to 2040. Note this is for illustrative purposes only. The map can be viewed here - Web map | ESO (nationalgrideso.com)

The Scottish Government is not, at this time, considering to establish anything further to this already publicly available information.

As noted in the answer to question S6W-29325 on 16 September 2024, the Bank cannot invest in local authorities and it does not make sub-commercial investments or provide grant funding.

As the Bank has operational independence it can work with local authorities and create joint venture structures, as long as the Bank is not investing in the local authority.

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 Mixed Tenure Improvement Service is delivered by the City of Edinburgh Council using powers as set out in the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004. The Scottish Government does not collect or collate information about the management fees charged by local authorities or housing associations as part of Tenement Management Schemes.

The guidance issued by the Scottish Government about the design and delivery of Area Based Schemes (ABS) allows for councils to claim up to 20% of their grant award as enabling costs. This ensures that participating households are not asked to help meet wider household engagement, survey, scaffolding and management costs for ABS projects as a whole.

The Scottish Government does not provide funding in support of the Mixed Tenure Improvement Service operated by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The total amount of grant claimed as part of the Area Based Schemes programme by the City of Edinburgh Council since 2020 is published on the Scottish Government website. Area-Based Schemes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The latest labour productivity statistics for Scotland are available at Labour productivity statistics: 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This reports estimates of gross value added (GVA) per hour worked and per job filled for the whole economy and for industry sectors, including results for the public administration and defence, education, and health and social care sectors. Results from the statistics release for 2022 were reported within the Public sector: economic overview publication available at Public sector: economic overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

An update on the Government’s Public Service Reform (PSR) programme will be shared with the Finance and Public Administration Committee setting out the details of a wide range of activity, including work to drive efficiency and effectiveness. A key component of this is the Public Bodies Programme where work is progressing to gather comparable and consistent data across public bodies to interrogate efficiency and effectiveness. This data and our wider engagement will drive a culture of continuous improvement across all public bodies.

Under its remit, the Scottish National Investment Bank (‘the Bank’) cannot invest in local authorities or give guarantees. However, they can work with local authorities and create joint venture structures, as long as the Bank is not investing in the local authority.

The Bank is operationally independent. As such it makes its investment decisions independent of the Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers.

Latest data shows that both output and employment in the hospitality sector are above pre-pandemic levels. However, the sector continues to face challenges related to rising costs, squeezed household budgets and staff shortages. Whilst cost rises and recruitment difficulties have eased somewhat over the last 12 months, the sector remains more impacted than the economy overall. These challenges appear to be affecting business viability, with insolvencies and business closures in the sector rising over the past two years. However, the insolvency rate in the sector remains lower than that in the rest of Great Britain and the business closure rate remains lower than in the UK as a whole and is broadly in-line with the pre-pandemic period. The total number of businesses in the sector is growing modestly, with business births marginally exceeding closures.

The Scottish Government’s Evaluation of COVID-19 Business Support Measures in Scotland, published in June 2022, found that the Accommodation and Food Services sector had the highest proportion of firms receiving support from Scottish Government grants out of all sectors and was also one of the sectors that benefited most from the support provided by the Scottish and UK Governments, in terms of the proportion of businesses reporting that the support helped them continue trading.

The forthcoming Fair Work Convention Hospitality Inquiry Report, which will be published on 24 September 2024, includes a high-level assessment of the recovery of the hospitality sector since the pandemic and subsequent cost crisis as underpinning evidence for its more detailed assessment of fair work within the sector.

The Scottish Government wants a strong and high value hospitality sector in Scotland. We will do all we can to support businesses to be successful and resilient and will continue to engage directly with the sector, to monitor evolving impacts of the ongoing cost crisis, and to work with the UK Government to support Scottish businesses. The 2024-25 Scottish Budget delivers a competitive non-domestic rates regime with the lowest poundage in the UK for the sixth year in a row, and a package of reliefs worth an estimated £685 million, including the Small Business Bonus Scheme which continues to be the most generous relief of its kind in the UK. We estimate around half the properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are eligible for 100% Small Business Bonus Scheme relief in 2024-25.