Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42174 on 9 December 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 Onshore Wind Sector Deal includes the commitment that from 2025, we will aim to determine Section 36 applications for new sites, and for the re-powering of existing operational sites, within 12 months where there is no public inquiry, or 24 months if there is a public inquiry.

This year, in most circumstances, it has not been possible to determine applications made prior to 2025 within these timeframes. This is due to legacy issues within the applications themselves, which must be resolved to ensure that we can achieve positive outcomes in the public interest, for all relevant stakeholders.

Accordingly, it is too early to assess whether the sector deal actions have achieved the intended impact on determination timescales. We remain committed to meeting these timeframes for applications submitted from 2025 onwards.

The Energy Consents Unit has committed to publishing an Annual Report in 2026, which will set out the progress made against this commitment in more detail.

Endometriosis is a priority in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so. The ongoing action we will take to support those living with endometriosis will be set out in the next phase of the Plan, which is expected to be published in January 2026.

In schools, menstrual health and wellbeing education is a key part of relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education. RSHP education is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the Scottish curriculum, Curriculum for Excellence. Learning about RSHP education begins early on in primary school and continues right up to S4-S6.

Education Scotland have a summary of RSHP teaching resources on their website, providing age and stage appropriate learning activities on RSHP education for use in all education settings and aligned to Curriculum for Excellence. This resource includes learning activities on menstruation from second level (P5 to P7), with endometriosis introduced at third/fourth level (S1 to S3).

This online RSHP teaching resource was subject to review and refresh in 2023. Teachers continue to access the resource regularly.

As this is an operational matter, I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of SPPA, to write to you on this issue.

The Housing Emergency Action Plan delivers new and enhanced actions, including committing to deliver up to £4.9 billion of investment over the coming four-years - with homes delivered through a mixture of public and privately leveraged investment.

These interventions are supporting local authorities to deliver their housing and homelessness services. It is essential that those who are at risk of homelessness are able to access housing and support when they need it most. The plan centres on three priorities, which are closely aligned with the vision in Scotland’s homelessness strategy:

• Ending children living in unsuitable accommodation – as a vital part of the Scottish Government’s determination to eradicate child poverty;
• Supporting the housing needs of vulnerable communities, including women and children experiencing domestic abuse and people with the most acute experiences of homelessness; and
• Building our future – invest extensively in affordable homes whilst working to create the optimum conditions for wider investment to be made in our housing sector with confidence and certainty.

Housing to 2040 remains our key overarching strategy that sets out a vision and roadmap to ensuring everyone has a safe, good quality and affordable home by 2040. That has not changed, and in these challenging times, the formal governance we have established through the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board provides important critical and strategic oversight to support sector-wide delivery of the Housing to 2040 strategy and the Housing Emergency Action Plan.

The key benefits and intended outcome of investment in new vessels is continuation of ferry services, improved reliability and additional capacity for island communities and businesses over their operating life. As Procuring Authority, CMAL consider the approach to vessel and other procurement in line with legislation and guidance. This requires appropriate consideration of community benefits depending on the product or service being procured, ensuring transparency and non-discrimination.

CMAL have confirmed that the overall scoring for the NIFS Freight flex vessels is weighted 70% on quality and 30% on cost. As part of the quality element, 3% of the score relates to community benefits, while wider social value considerations, such as fair work and environmental matters, were tested at SPD stage. As Procuring Authority, CMAL consider this to be appropriate and proportionate for this contract at ITT stage which has attracted interest only from international markets.

Through regular engagement, the Scottish Government has received assurance from the SPPA that they are prioritising pension estimates where the member is retiring in the next six months, or the information is required for ill-health or divorce purposes. Decisions about administration and service delivery are made by the SPPA in consultation with the Scheme Pension Boards, which consist of representatives from both members and employers.

SPPA also advise that 2025 Annual Benefit Statements have been issued to 90.19% of all active scheme members. These statements provide a pension valuation as of 31 March and enable members to access calculators on the SPPA website, allowing them to produce a retirement estimate.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS hold our serving staff and prospective staff to the highest of standards.

In accordance with relevant legislation, including UK GDPR and UK Employment Law, SPS already undertakes a broad range of suitability and vetting checks on those who apply to work for SPS. These include right to work in the UK, criminal conviction checks and a range of vetting procedures which are undertaken against SPS systems and information sources to assess suitability for employment.

SPS’s pre-employment checks exceed the minimum requirements under the UK Government Baseline Personnel Security Standards, which set the standards for employment within the UK Civil Service.

SPS continually assesses the suitability of its recruitment practices to identify and respond to emerging risks. Where necessary, steps are taken to mitigate these as part of our commitment to maintaining the safety and security of our prisons.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The SPS Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody protects the rights and welfare of transgender people living in Scotland’s prisons in a way which promotes the safety of all people in custody.

When placing a transgender person within our estate, we adopt an individualised approach to ensure the safety of everyone in our care by assessing and managing identified known risk.

There is a total of 21 transgender people in custody representing 0.3% of the total prison population. As a public body we must uphold our statutory obligation to ensure everyone in our care has their personal information protected. Given these small numbers, we are unable to provide any further disaggregation of this data due to potential risk of identification of individuals.

SPS also aim to publish prison numbers and relevant data on a quarterly basis, the last of which can be found here.

The First Minister was approached by members of For Women Scotland while attending an International Women’s Day event on Saturday 8 March 2025. In conversation, it was proposed by a representative of For Women Scotland that a meeting take place with the First Minister after the UK Supreme Court had reached a decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers. The Supreme Court published its judgment on 16 April and I, as the Cabinet Secretary with portfolio responsibility for equality met For Women Scotland on 22 May 2025.

No meeting has taken place between the First Minister and For Women Scotland since then, and we would not consider a meeting to be appropriate due to the live legal proceedings between For Women Scotland and the Scottish Ministers.