Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has committed or already invested £87m in Grangemouth. This includes the newly established £25m Grangemouth Just Transition Fund which will support near term low carbon opportunities that have emerged following the conclusion of Project Willow. A table outlining the full breakdown of the £87m sum has been included in the following table.

The UK Government has recently launched a consultation on proposed updates to the guidance for assessing and rating wind turbine noise. These updates aim to reflect the latest evidence on turbine noise emissions, advances in turbine technology, and evolving assessment methodologies, while aligning with broader government policies on noise and Net Zero.

The consultation provides an opportunity for members of the public and stakeholders to engage with and comment on proposed updates to ETSU-R-97. Feedback received during the consultation will help finalise the guidance.

The consultation and the Draft Assessment and Rating of Wind Turbine Noise Guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/assessment-and-rating-of-wind-turbine-noise-guidance-proposed-updates

I encourage anyone with an interest in this area to respond to the consultation.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38932 on 22 July 2025. 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.

This matter is not currently under consideration by the Scottish Government. Any proposal to alter road responsibilities would raise a number of propriety and legal considerations, including the statutory basis for such a change. As the designated roads authority for the Clyde Tunnel, it would be for Glasgow City Council to take the lead in developing any proposal. This would involve engaging with relevant stakeholders to ensure that all implications including legal, operational, and strategic, are fully explored as part of a robust and transparent process.

The 2025-26 budget provided local government in Scotland with record funding of over £15.1 billion, one of the largest increases in funding in recent times and a real terms increase of 5.5 per cent.

In 2025-26, Glasgow City Council will receive over £1.7 billion to support day to day services, which equates to an extra £86.5 million or an additional 5.3% compared to 2024-25.

However, the Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on road maintenance, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

It is the Scottish Government’s assessment that the Clyde Tunnel does not sufficiently meet the criteria to be incorporated into the strategic motorway and trunk road network and is currently appropriately classified in the hierarchy of Scotland’s roads as a principal “A” class road. Principal A Class roads are best managed locally rather than centrally and function as main roads which distribute traffic to and from the strategic trunk road network.

Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic.

To date, Transport Scotland has not held specific discussions with Glasgow City Council regarding any potential camera toll system, utilising numberplate recognition technology, to charge for daily use of the Clyde Tunnel.

The responsibility for energy security is reserved to the UK Government and as is any contingency planning. However, the Scottish Government works closely with the UK Government on a range of issues to ensure Scotland’s needs are met.

We have made £3 million available this year for Police Scotland specifically to work alongside retailers to tackle crime affecting their sector, which costs businesses millions each year and has a knock-on effect on the prices we pay in the shops. This forms part of a record investment of £1.64 billion for policing this year – an increase of £90 million on 2024-25.

Police Scotland’s action plan aims to tackle retail crime through a number of specific actions on how to prevent such incidents and pursue those responsible. The newly-established Retail Crime Taskforce will target repeat offenders of retail crime by using analytical data and intelligence to carry out proactive enforcement activities in areas most heavily impacted.

The team will also engage with retailers to identify ways in which they can enhance security and crime prevention measures in place and reduce incidents occurring.

The Scottish Government’s investment will also be used to develop diversionary programmes aimed at reducing reoffending and youth offending, with a focus on the role of organised crime.

We have also provided over £6 million to implement actions within the Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, since 2023, which specifically seeks to prevent violence from happening and if and when it does occur, to reduce the harm.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the UK Government on a range of issues regarding Scotland’s fuel security and sites of national significance for Scotland such as Mossmorran. We are committed to ensuring that we support businesses as they seek to decarbonise and working collaboratively with the UK Government on these issues.