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Following the Scottish Government’s announcement of the proposed solar deployment ambition for Scotland in October, we are now working with industry and community stakeholders to agree a suitable level of community benefit for large scale solar projects. As a result, we will now publish our final Solar Vision with the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan in Summer 2024.

We intend to publish the draft Bioenergy Policy Statement for consultation in the new year, and before the end of February 2024.

In line with the principles of the Verity House Agreement, the Scottish Government is committed to working in partnership with COSLA, as the representative of local government, to seek their views on proposed amendments for the Members’ Bill.

The Scottish Government does not provide any direct financial support. British Transport Police Authority (BTPA), as an independent body, is responsible for ensuring that BTP force is efficient and effective in its work to keep railways in Scotland safe.

We routinely speak to the Scottish footballing authorities on wide a range of topics, including the behaviour of fans. It should be noted that the majority of supporters across the country go to football to support their team in a safe and responsible manner and that incidents, such as booing during commemorative events, are the actions of a minority. Nevertheless we condemn such actions.

As this match falls under the auspices of the Scottish Professional Football League, it is for them to investigate any incidents and take any appropriate actions against the clubs. Any individuals identified as engaging in criminal behaviour during these investigations will be reported to the police. We have not spoken to either Celtic FC, the Scottish FA or the SPFL about this specific incident.

Clubs are taking action when they can and we welcome the decision by Celtic to ban sections of their fans who, despite numerous requests by the club, continued to demonstrate anti-social behaviour. We would support other clubs in taking similar actions where appropriate.

One of the ways in which irretrievable breakdown of a marriage is taken to be established in divorce actions is if since the date of the marriage the defender has behaved in such a way that the pursuer cannot reasonably be expected to cohabit with the defender. This can include sexual infidelity, both same sex and mixed sex.

Another way in which irretrievable breakdown can be established is if since the date of the marriage, the defender has committed adultery. The Scottish Government’s understanding is that adultery is defined in common law as meaning heterosexual sexual intercourse outside of marriage.

Issues on adultery in divorce law were considered when what became the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 was being prepared. As the last bullet point of paragraph 138 of the Policy Memorandum for the Bill which became the 2014 Act notes, it appears that for a small number of spouses it may be important to have the civil court find that the other spouse was adulterous.

The consultation planned for 2024 will, in relation to divorce and dissolution, cover court procedures rather than the grounds of divorce and dissolution.

The 2021-22 Programme for Government included a commitment to invest £4 million until March 2024 to support public services to consistently uphold children's rights. The financial memorandum that accompanied the original UNCRC Bill set out how that would be spent and included commitments to invest in: accessible guidance and training; awareness-raising to support children and young people to be human rights defenders; a sustainable approach to the strategic participation of children and young people in decision-making; a social marketing campaign to raise the profile and support for children’s rights across Scottish society; and support for public services and senior leaders to progressively realise the rights of children.

While the social media campaign could not be progressed due to the delay to the UNCRC Bill, all of the other support is either in place or in development.

Our investment in supporting the implementation of a children’s human rights approach has been £4,117,974 in 2021-22, £5,022,545 in 2022-23 and is currently forecast to be £5,121,064 in 2023-24. This includes the cost of:

• work to progress the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill and develop supporting guidance;
• grant funding of organisations that are supporting public authorities to take a children’s human rights approach (Scottish Youth Parliament, Children’s Parliament, Together, Young Scot and the Improvement Service)
• grant funding of organisation that help children and young people to seek redress for rights issues (Clan Childlaw and Scottish Child Law Centre);
• grant funding of organisations delivering on children’s rights through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund
• national funding of Unicef’s Rights Respecting School Award;
• the development of a child-friendly complaints process in partnership with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman;
• the UNCRC innovation fund that is funding 8 local authorities and their partners to embed children’s rights; and
• the development of a national children’s rights skills and knowledge framework.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to the founding principles of the NHS. As is the case across the UK, hospitals in the independent sector were contracted to provide additional capacity for NHS priority patients throughout the pandemic. NHS Scotland makes limited use of the independent sector, in contrast to the position in NHS England.

Our National Treatment Centres (NTCs) Programme is the single biggest increase in planned care capacity ever created in NHS Scotland; these centres are planning to deliver over 20,000 additional planned care procedures by 2024-25.

NHS Scotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is also playing a central role in working with Health Boards to ensure that they are able to continually identify new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign.

CfSD’s clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG) have supported several new and innovative pathway developments, many of which are now being successfully scaled up across Scotland, including Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT), Patient Initiated Review (PIR) and Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS). These improvement programmes will support delivery of the targets and provide sustainable solutions for the future.

I was invited to attend the November meeting of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme Board. I did attend, and met with Programme Board members, commending the work they have undertaken to date and reiterating that there is no place for discrimination or prejudice in our schools.

The selection of a site and the configuration of wind turbines is a matter for the wind farm developer. This process involves comprehensive analysis to ensure the most suitable placement and design for wind turbines. Developers may have to balance the benefits of a compact site, which can minimise construction cost, and the gains from maximising energy capture from greater separation distances.

The Hagshaw Energy Cluster provides an example of how industry stakeholders can work collaboratively to promote and adopt a coordinated approach to future renewable energy development.

Policy 11: Energy of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) states that potential cumulative impacts are important considerations in the decision-making process. All applications are subject to site-specific assessments.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23719 on 20 December 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