Chamber and committees

2020 – 2 buildings £4,874,534

2021 – 5 buildings £6,605,939

2022 – 1 building £929,705

2023 – 1 building £290,018

2024 – 0 buildings £0

No energy efficiency projects were implemented in 2024 due to emergency budget controls.

The current value of the fleet, as at 31 December 2024, is £2,381,991.

The Scottish Government operates a Shared Services approach to IT. 52 Agencies and Public Bodies out with the core Scottish Government take IT services from a centralised IT Service called SCOTSConnect.

The large customer base of over 21,000 staff and shared network brings a high level of standardisation, meaning we can drive economies of scale with better buying power for software and deliver exceptional value for money without compromising the provision of high quality services.

As explained in the answer to questions S6W-33501 and S6W-33502 on 28 January 2025 , decisions on professional memberships are made by Directorates, Divisions and Departments. Professional memberships are, by their nature, used to develop individuals in a professional capacity. We are not aware of any professional memberships that can be shared between individuals or Departments.

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 Scottish Government is committed to improving road infrastructure throughout Scotland as a key factor in securing economic growth and high-quality public infrastructure across Scotland. This includes our ongoing commitment to dual the A9, delivering improvements to the A96 which includes dualling Inverness to Nairn and the Nairn Bypass, delivering a range of measures of improvements to the A83 to reduce the risk of landslips at the Rest and Be Thankful and taking forward design work on the A75 between Springholm and Crocketford.

During 2025-26 main construction works are expected to commence on the third A9 Dualling contract, Tomatin to Moy, following contract award in July 2024, and preparatory works followed by main construction works are expected to commence on the fourth A9 Dualling contract, Tay Crossing to Ballinluig, following anticipated contract award in Summer 2025. In addition, procurement of the fifth A9 Dualling contract, Pitlochry to Killiecrankie, is expected to commence in Summer 2025.

Subject to completing the necessary statutory procedures, we will also during 2025-26 commence the next phase of the medium term improvements to reduce the impact of landslips at the Rest and Be Thankful.

The Scottish Government has provided £4.2bn of funding from 2024 to 2029 for Network Rail to operate, maintain and renew Scotland’s rail infrastructure. The Scottish Government expects Network rail to deliver significant improvements in the capability, resilience and performance of rail infrastructure across the network with this funding.

In addition, the Scottish Government has an impressive record of delivering a rolling programme of rail enhancement projects. Decisions on which further enhancements will commence in 2025-2026 remain subject to consideration by the Investment Decision Making Board at Transport Scotland and myself and will be announced in due course.

The Scottish Government has committed to conduct any future new build or major refurbishment projects following the Net Zero Public Buildings Standard and will ensure its buildings comply with changes to energy efficiency standards where applicable.

6% of buildings owned by the Scottish Government meet an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or B.

Feasibility studies have been conducted to look at options to improve the lower performing buildings.

The Scottish Government published our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 in June 2023. The strategy and plan take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care with an ambition to provide person centred care for all.

The actions contained in the plan will enable health and care professionals to work in partnership with the people they care for to ensure shared decision making with realistic medicine approaches in mind.

Scottish Government launched Single Point of Contact pilots in 2020, which ensure people recently diagnosed with cancer have person-centred support and can discuss their specific circumstances. This helps ease anxieties related to their care and treatment plans and to relay the support available to them and their families. Scottish Government is considering how best to scale up this approach.

We are also working in partnership with Macmillan to improve the service we offer patients with cancer through the Transforming Cancer Care Programme. This partnership is worth £27 million and is the first of its kind in the UK. The programme ensures that every patient with cancer in Scotland has access to a specialist key support worker, who can provide emotional, financial, and practical support to those who need it most.

Regulating service provision and the consumer experience of public EV charging is an area that is reserved to the UK government. The UK Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 established minimum standards in terms of reliability and functionality for all public charge points. I welcome these regulations and I encourage all public charge point owners to comply with them to ensure that drivers receive the level of service that they have every right to expect.

To date, the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million in developing Scotland’s public EV charging network, which has included providing funding to public charge point owners for warranty and maintenance packages.

Our £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund aims to ensure that continued investment in Scotland’s public EV charging network is balanced across urban, rural and island areas by focusing public funding on those parts of Scotland that are less likely to see private investment, including rural an island communities. This fund also supports a transition to a public charging network that is increasingly operated by the private sector and will require those private charge point operators to continue to invest in and maintain Scotland’s public EV charging network to a high standard.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes a register of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) submitted to the Scottish Ministers for confirmation since 2012: https://www.gov.scot/publications/compulsory-purchase-order-register/. The current register, published in December, includes CPOs received up to the end of October 2024.

The register includes information on when a CPO is submitted, who the acquiring authority (i.e. body with compulsory purchase powers) is, the date of the Scottish Ministers’ decision on confirmation, a description of the project, the location, including local authority area, the type of CPO (for example, for Planning, Housing, Energy or Transport purposes) and legislation under which it was made.

CPOs are recorded in the register by local authority area. In the five years to 31 October 2024, the top four such areas for CPOs confirmed or confirmed with modifications were:

• Glasgow City 27 (Housing 25 and Planning 2)
• Highland 6 (Transport 5 and Environment (Water) 1)
• Perth and Kinross 5 (Transport 4 and Planning 1)
• Falkirk 5 (Transport 4 and Energy (Gas) 1)