Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to working with partners to continue to grow a thriving community energy sector. The latest Community and Locally Owned Energy statistics show that, at the end of December 2023, there was an estimated 1,028 MW of community and locally owned renewable energy in Scotland. This is a progression of 51% towards the Scottish Government’s target of 2 GW of community and locally owned energy by 2030.

Our target includes different types of community and local ownership to reflect the different needs, requirements and opportunities available to communities across Scotland. It also recognises the role these projects play in making Scotland’s net zero transition more local, democratic and inclusive, with energy projects and solutions better tailored to local needs.

The Onshore Wind Sector Deal includes an industry commitment to making community benefit agreements binding at the point of Financial Investment Decision, and to maintaining community benefits and shared ownership agreements as a condition of sale or transfer of a wind farm.

This is supported by a joint Scottish Government and industry commitment to establish a standard approach to the management of community benefits funds and to establish a national register of community benefits and community shared ownership, to ensure transparency and effective reporting.

As set out in the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), the Scottish Government is committed to maximising the benefits flowing into our communities from a just energy transition. The final ESJTP will build on this commitment, as well as the successes of our Community and Renewable Energy Scheme, the Onshore Wind Sector Deal and our Good Practice Principles, to support sustainable and thriving communities as part of our renewables revolution.

I welcome this report and look forward to discussing it with Community Energy Scotland and partners to explore actions to further grow a thriving community energy sector in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is preparing a Voluntary Code of Practice on dismissing and replacing land-owning land maintenance companies.

I acknowledge that there has been a considerable time elapsed since the decision to bring forward a voluntary code of practice on dismissing and replacing land-owning maintenance companies.

Unfortunately, due to other pressures, work has not progressed on the voluntary code of practice as anticipated.

The Scottish Government is preparing an update for publication on progress on the Family Justice Modernisation Strategy (the FJMS). I will write to the Member as soon as this is available.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26002 on 18 March 2024, which provides an update on implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act). 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/questions-and-answers .

On further reforms in family justice, I assume the member’s reference to “custodial arrangements for children” is to child contact and residence arrangements. Making further progress on implementing the FJMS and the 2020 Act is our priority in relation to child contact and residence. The Scottish Government does not plan any further primary legislation on child contact and residence at this time.

The Scottish Government have recently corresponded with the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on this question. See Electronic patient record | Scottish Parliament Website . To support our ambitions set out in the 2021 Strategy - Digital Healthcare Scotland % (digihealthcare.scot) we will be publishing our Delivery Plan for 2024-25 in late April 2024.

The Deputy First Minister has confirmed in a letter on 6 March to COSLA that £62.7 million of additional funding will be provided in 2024-25 and local authorities will have full autonomy to allocate the funding based on local needs and priorities. While all new funding has to be discussed and agreed through the formal financial governance process including the Settlement and Distribution Group (SDG) and COSLA Leaders, Aberdeenshire Council's provisional share of the additional £62.7 million is estimated to be around £2.9 million.

In addition, Aberdeenshire Council will receive around £8 million following the Council’s decision to freeze Council Tax and all Councils will receive their fair share of the currently undistributed sum of £201.1 million following agreement with COSLA.

The number of medical training places is calculated by the training year they are advertised/filled rather than by financial year. Most posts start in August to September of each year, with a smaller number from a subsequent recruitment round starting in February. The figures quoted in the following table are specific to training years, with data for 2024 not yet available.

Prostate BRCA1/2 genetic testing to support access to Olaparib is available to all eligible patients in Scotland. The testing has been implemented with funding from Scottish Government in 2023-24.

In Scotland genomic testing is provided through a network of four NHS laboratories which are commissioned through NHS National Services Division (NSD), part of NHS National Services Scotland. The laboratories work in conjunction with the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM) to deliver a directory of genomic tests for people across Scotland as a whole and to ensure that testing is embedded within end-to-end clinical pathways.

The latest published data shows that North Ayrshire Council have paid a total of £187.2 million in unitary charge payments since 2007-08 for its North Ayrshire Schools PFI contract and that the total projected payments from 2023-24 onwards until contract expiry are estimated at £253.6 million.

It also shows that North Ayrshire Council have paid a total of £20.5 million in unitary charge payments since 2017-18 for its Largs Campus contract, which formed part of the NPD/hub Programme and the total projected payments from 2023-24 onwards until contract expiry are estimated at £91.5 million.