Chamber and committees

There are 6 buildings with Solar PV, 1 building with an air source heat pump, 2 buildings with biomass heating.

The solar PV provides approximately 5% of each of the building’s total electricity use.

The air source heat pump replaced a gas boiler.

The biomass boilers replaced gas and oil heating at rural locations.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the delivery of national emissions reduction targets, directed by our new Carbon Management Plan. As part of ongoing maintenance and upgrades within our buildings, we aim to incorporate energy efficiency improvements alongside these works wherever possible.

The Scottish Government have terminated software subscriptions for several operational reasons. These include non-renewal on contract expiry, replacement with more modern services and the loss of business requirement to run the software.

The Scottish Government is investing £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to free, high-quality outdoor play in their own communities. Since funding began in 2021, a total of 887 play parks have been renewed or are in the process of being renewed by local authority partners, up to April 2024. Local authority partners will be reporting on progress in 2024-25 in April 2025. Local authority partners have confirmed that all funding provided to date is allocated to the current and future renewal of play parks that have been identified by the local authority in need of improvement.

1.The Scottish Government do not hold this information on Modern Apprentices centrally.

2.Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have operational responsibility for apprenticeships in Scotland. They have supplied the following data:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-32827 on 16 January 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

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Police Scotland would be the best suited to provide the required information on this matter.

The Scottish Government recognises the positive contribution older people make to their communities. We aim to enable better access to services for older people as and when they need them, and to ensure people are financially secure and supported as they age.

Our 2021 Population Strategy sets out our ambition that as Scotland’s population lives longer - which is to be celebrated - that people are healthy and active, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of our public services.

An example is NHS Education for Scotland's National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, launched in October 2023. The Centre is working with Health Boards and Health and Social Care partnerships to drive improvements in sustainability and the capability of rural and island primary and community care services, aligned to the specific needs of communities.

The Scottish Government recognises that healthcare services should be planned and developed to meet the needs of patient populations and communities, including those in our rural areas.

In order to tackle the decline in Scotland’s population health and widening of health inequalities, the Scottish Government (SG) is developing a Population Health Framework (PHF), to take a cross-government and cross-sector approach to improve the key building blocks of health including: good early years and education; good work and income; healthy places; and equitable health care.

Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships are responsible for the diverse needs of their populations and plan their service provision according to that need. Officials engage with Health Boards and HSCPs on a regular basis to review health outcomes.

The number of cancelled operations under ‘non-clinical/capacity reasons’ is the most granular level of detail that’s provided from PHS’s website, breakdown as follows: