Chamber and committees

There are no further funding rounds for the Energy Transition Fund scheduled. All funds are allocated to the projects identified when the fund was launched in 2020.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children across Scotland can access high quality play opportunities in a range of settings. Through play, children and young people can explore the world around them in a creative and engaging way. It is important for their growth, development and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government has delivered funding of £20 million in the first three years of the play park renewal programme. Distribution and allocation of the remaining funding has been agreed with COSLA and we have written to all local authorities confirming their funding allocation until 2026 as per the table:

I am pleased to announce a package of support, co-funded with Nationwide Foundation, of up to £960,000 over the next three years. It will support the staff capacity and expertise within Communities Housing Trust and South of Scotland Community Housing to bring forward the projects in their pipeline to delivery.

This commitment will form part of the Remote, Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan that will be published in the Autumn.

The establishment of new Gaelic medium schools is a matter for local authorities and the Scottish Government will seek to provide support where possible. Officials from the Gaelic and Scots team discussed these matters with COSLA in a meeting in June 2022 and there were further exchanges in September 2022. The establishment of new Gaelic medium schools or Gaelic medium units in schools features regularly in discussion with local authorities and in particular the Gaelic and Scots team has discussed these matters recently with the following local authorities; Glasgow, Edinburgh, Highland, Argyll and Bute, Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and North Lanarkshire.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20615 on 14 August 2023 which provided an update on the Scottish Government’s REM policy, including links to the publication of the outcome report from the consultation which ran from 15 March to 22 June 2022. That report can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805256588

The REM consultation outcome report confirmed that legislation relating to the mandatory introduction of REM to all scallop dredge and large pelagic vessels fishing in Scottish waters, and to all Scottish scallop dredge and pelagic vessels fishing outwith Scottish waters, will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament in 2023.

The report also confirmed that further work will be undertaken to scope options for the wider use of REM in other fleet segments (specifically vessels in the demersal fleet with an overall length of 12 metres or more) but that this will be considered in conjunction with the development of the Scottish Government’s Future Catching Policy.

The Scottish Government has also published a consultation on extending vessel tracking and monitoring technology on under 12 meter commercial fishing vessels. The consultation documents can be found here: https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/improving-inshore-fisheries-data/ The consultation closes on 7 November 2023.

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

Scotland's Gross Fixed Capital Formation in 2022 was £34,384 million. This was 18.4 percent of onshore GDP in that year.

Since 1 April 2019 the (a) average (mean) time between a new woodland creation application being submitted to Scottish Forestry and a decision on the application being communicated to the applicant is 89 days and (b) the median time is 70 days.

The Scottish Government last discussed expanding access to environmental health courses accredited by the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland with tertiary education providers on 28 June 2023.

All newly qualified teachers (NQTs) are guaranteed a place on the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) probationer. Data on the number of teachers who are then in employment in a publicly funded school in the year following their probationary year will be is published in the Teacher census supplementary statistics in March and can be accessed at https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/ .

The recruitment and employment of teachers in local authority schools are matters for individual councils, as they have the statutory duty for education expenditure and to deliver education.

Scottish Ministers have discussed their opposition to the UK Government’s Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill with Welsh Government ministers, including during meetings of the Intergovernmental Ministerial Group also attended by UK Government Ministers and senior officials from the Northern Ireland Executive.