Seòmar agus comataidhean

There is no record that Scottish Government has had any correspondence with Hampton Group International, Pitch@Palace or the UK Chinese Business Association, nor with Mr Yang Tengbo, in the last 12 years.

The consulting process provided for under sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 and the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 ensures that public bodies, communities and members of the public are consulted on proposals for electricity infrastructure. The decision whether to grant consent is taken only after careful and fair consideration of environmental information, consultee responses and public representations. The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening the pre-application consultation process by working with the UK Government on their proposed reforms to electricity infrastructure consenting in Scotland.

Compensation provisions do exist where land, or rights over land, are acquired by compulsion for the development of energy infrastructure under the Electricity Act 1989. However, there is no statutory provision or process set out in the Act to financially compensate those who consider their property value may be affected.

More generally, the Scottish Government continues to use all levers available to deliver sustainable, meaningful and impactful outcomes from the energy transition, informed by the voices of our diverse communities. Voluntary community benefits schemes from renewable energy developments are well-established in Scotland, enabling communities to benefit from their local resources, as well as helping to foster better relationships with the renewables sector. Despite the powers to mandate community benefits being reserved to the UK Government, over £30 million worth of benefits has been offered to communities in the last 12 months supported by our Good Practice Principles. We continue to press the UK Government for mandatory action in this area.

There have been two instances where groups of prisoners have been granted early release from their sentence at the order of Scottish Ministers in the last five years – firstly in May 2020, and secondly in June and July 2024.

Data was made available on the number of individuals who returned to prison custody (either held on remand or sentenced) amongst the individuals released in those processes. For the May 2020 Coronavirus specific emergency early release process, as of November 2020, 142 of the original 348 individuals who were released early had returned to custody.

For the June and July 2024 emergency early release process, as of December 2024, 61 of the 477 individuals who were released early had returned to custody before their original date of liberation.

The information requested on reoffending is not held centrally by the Scottish Government and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

A breakdown of the funding support provided by the Scottish Government to the Energy Transition Zone project over the past three financial years is provided in the following table.

In March 2024 Processed_and_Ultra-Processed_Foods_-_Board_Meeting_-_2024_March_20_-_240307.pdf the FSS Board agreed the organisational position on processed and ultra-processed foods, based on the SACN review published in July 2023 SACN statement on processed foods and health - GOV.UK. Subsequently, they published a position paper FSS_Advice_-_Processed_and_Ultra-Processed_Food_UPF_-_Position_Paper_-_FINAL_-_August_2024.pdf outlining the evidence in relation to processed and ultra-processed foods and reiterating the advice for healthy and sustainable diets. This was accompanied by consumer advice on the FSS website, summarising ‘five key facts’ Processed and ultra-processed foods | Food Standards Scotland on the topic, alongside social media posts to further raise awareness.

FSS routinely develops guidance to help support businesses and enforcement authorities with implementation and compliance. An extensive suite of guidance is provided on the FSS website in relation to new food business requirements as well as more technical aspects of food law. A recent example is guidance for food businesses on new legislative requirements on labelling of food sold prepacked for direct sale: Prepacked for direct sale allergen labelling | Food Standards Scotland | Food Standards Scotland.

The following table represents the total budget allocated to FSS for each financial year since 2015.

Food Standards Scotland have undertaken three types of inspections as detailed in the following table and only hold information from 2021 onwards.

FSS recommended legislation to restrict promotions in advice to Scottish Government in 2016.

More specifically, the role of FSS is to provide evidence and advice to Scottish Government (SG) to inform Government decisions on improving Scottish dietary intake.

FSS also support the Healthy Living Programme managed by the Scottish Grocers Federation which facilitates Scottish independent retailers increase healthy options promoted to consumers. Their role within this has included development of the technical nutrition criteria underpinning the programme and advising on the external evaluation that took place in 2023. There are numerous FSS publications that make the case for change and which retailers have access to. The FSS Board agreed its Public Health Nutrition Strategy in March 2023 02_-_Board_Meeting_-_2023_March_22_-_FSS_Public_Health_Nutrition_Strategy_-_230302.pdf clearly articulates their views on the need to change the food environment.