Chamber and committees

SFRS takes decisions on the best location and type of firefighting appliance based on an assessment of the risk present in individual communities across Scotland. The location of those resources, including specialist assets such as high reach appliances is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

We are clear that ScotWind promises to be transformational in delivering wider economic supply chain benefits to help power Scotland’s green recovery in communities across Scotland. The Supply Chain Development Statements set out ScotWind developers’ initial commitments to the Scottish supply chain, with more than £28bn across the 20 ScotWind offshore wind projects. Government and its agencies continue to work closely with developers and those at the top of the supply chain to ensure that local suppliers in Scotland have a realistic opportunity to compete for key manufacturing contracts.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14814 on 7 March 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14764 on 2 March 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

The Maritime sector is supported by a range of apprenticeships. Recent employer led developments include a full review of the Aquaculture provision to ensure that skills programmes support current and emerging needs.

There is work ongoing to refresh Engineering apprenticeships to support employers in boat/ship building, wind farm and marine construction across production, maintenance and technical support, which employers have told us are critical skill areas.

Skills Development Scotland work closely with key partners and stakeholders to develop Regional Skills Assessments (RSAs) and Sectoral Skills Assessments (SSAs) across Scotland. RSAs and SSAs provide a coherent evidence base to inform future investment in skills, built up from existing datasets and forecasts, which look at current and future skills demand across Scotland to help plan future skills investment in Scotland’s people and businesses. There are several SSAs that are relevant to maritime industries including Engineering, Construction, Energy and Food and Drink.

The Planning, Infrastructure and Place Advisory Group will be made up of a core membership of external delivery partners and key agency representation. The first iteration of our National Planning Framework 4 Delivery Programme, published November 2022, confirmed that we will issue invitations to a range of stakeholders from across sectors to sit on the advisory group, with the flexibility of inviting speciality input as and when required. We intend to invite a range of stakeholders with appropriate expertise and experience.

We continue to keep these estimates under review and will provide updates later in the year, after our planned consultation on a proposed Heat in Buildings Bill.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans at this stage to introduce secondary legislation under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 or Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, regarding the Glasgow School of Art’s (GSA) rebuild of the Mackintosh building.

The Mackintosh building is owned by The Glasgow School of Art, which is an autonomous body with responsibility for its own strategic and operational decision making. The GSA have stated that its plans for a faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh building will take into account the practical constraints of the current regulatory environment. Employers, building owners and managers are responsible for their premises, including duties in relation to fire safety and mitigation.

The Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will continue to engage closely with the GSA at senior management and board level on institutional governance, its plans for the delivery of high quality education, and decision making regarding the rebuild of the Mackintosh building. Historic Environment Scotland, as the lead public body for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment, will continue to work with the GSA, Glasgow City Council and other interested parties on the complex issues surrounding the rebuild of the Mackintosh building.

Evidence about the number of people with learning disabilities in Scotland is collected through the Learning Disability Statistics Scotland publication. The most recent publication, published in 2019, found there were 23,584 adults with learning disabilities known to local authorities across Scotland.

Officials are in discussions with Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Commission for Learning Disabilities about how Learning Disability Statistics Scotland will be improved to provide the most precise picture of people with learning disabilities across Scotland.

Scottish Government understands the important of reliable evidence about people with learning disabilities and has committed to improving the evidence base through its autism and learning/intellectual disability transformation plan 'Towards Transformation'.

The Scottish Government can encourage investment in areas aligned with our climate priorities but the decision on which sectors or projects to invest in is for each individual private company to make.

However, in line with our commitments in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET), the Scottish Government is working to attract and deploy significant domestic and international private investment in Scotland, including net zero sectors. The recently established Investor Panel chaired by the First Minister will bring investor intelligence into policy and regulatory development early in the process and will primarily focus on how we attract capital investment in the physical infrastructure to support our transition to net zero.