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The determination of an FAI will set out the Sheriff's recommendations, which will be aimed at the relevant public body. The Scottish Government would expect any public body to take cognisance of any recommendations.

Legislation does not currently allow for variations to section 37 consents. Therefore, it has not been possible for the Scottish Government to receive such requests.

The proposed reforms mirror section 36C of the Electricity Act 1989 which makes provision for the Scottish Ministers to vary section 36 consents for construction, operation and extension of generating stations.

The statutory grounds for a Fatal Accident Inquiry were carefully considered by Parliament in 2016 following a review of the law conducted by Lord Cullen. There are no plans to look at this aspect of FAI legislation, although the member will be aware than in January I announced a focussed review of FAIs looking specifically at deaths in custody.

Where a planning authority objects to an application made under the Electricity Act 1989 and that objection is not withdrawn, the Scottish Ministers must appoint a reporter to examine the application. Before determining whether to give consent, the Scottish Ministers must consider the objection and the reporter’s report.

The proposed reforms will instead introduce a more proportionate approach, tailored to individual development proposals and the circumstances relating to objections. This would align with established planning appeals processes in Scotland, and reduce the time taken to determine applications.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35885 on 1 April 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

Determinations, recommendations and the response(s) to those recommendations from the body at which they were aimed are published on the website of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and are publicly available. The Scottish Government expects that the individual policy area or public body at which the recommendations were aimed would take action in light of any repeated recommendations.

The proposed reforms will make pre-application consultation for electricity infrastructure projects a statutory requirement. This will increase opportunities for meaningful community input.

The scope of the proposed reforms to vary consents without an application will be limited to variations and will not include suspension or revocation of consents. Interested parties will be notified of the proposal and given the opportunity to make representations. Where the variation proposed by the Scottish Government is to amend the consent or its conditions or both due to a change in environmental circumstances or relevant technological changes, the agreement of the consent-holder will be required.

Separately, the proposed reforms intend that the Scottish Government will be enabled to correct errors or omissions made in a consent, where the consent-holder would be notified of the proposed variation and given the opportunity to make representations to the Scottish Government.

The proposed reforms will apply to applications for consent under section 36 and section 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 made to Scottish Ministers. Section 36 applications made to Scottish Ministers have a capacity of over 50MW. Therefore, it is not anticipated that the reforms will disadvantage smaller developers or community-led projects.

The costs of providing pre-application services and processing necessary wayleaves are currently paid for through the Scottish Budget. These new powers will allow the Scottish Government to set fees to recover these costs from service users. The standard approach to setting fee levels will be full cost recovery in accordance with guidance set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and the introduction of these new fees will all be subject to consultation.

At permission stage of the statutory appeals process, it will continue to be the case that any applicant who demonstrates sufficient interest and that their claim has a reasonable prospect of success can bring a challenge on decisions for onshore electricity consents.