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The Scottish Government has set out instructions for developers to follow regarding pre-application consultation in our Good Practice Guidance document, which is available online, alongside other guidance documents: https://www.gov.scot/policies/energy-infrastructure/energy-consents/.

In addition, the Scottish Government have been working with the UK Government on strengthening community consultation for electricity infrastructure consenting in Scotland as part of the UK Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill. The proposed reforms will make pre-application consultation for electricity infrastructure projects a statutory requirement. It will also introduce an Acceptance Stage where Scottish Ministers can decline to accept applications which have not fulfilled the necessary requirements, thereby increasing local input into project proposals.

The Scottish Government will invest over a billion pounds (£1,148 million) in 2025-26 in the Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands (RALRI) budget to support Scottish farmers, crofters, land managers, islands and rural communities.

We continue to directly support Scottish farmers, crofters and land managers by providing over £660 million, including by maintaining our direct payments to the sector and in ensuring support for those farming and crofting in our upland and most challenging areas of Scotland through the £65.5 million Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS). The 2025-26 budget includes returning £20 million to support transformation and reform in Scotland’s farming and food production industry, as pledged to the sector.

Our Vision for Scottish Agriculture states that farming, crofting and land management will continue to play an important role in maintaining thriving rural and island communities and this is further reaffirmed in the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 objective of enabling rural communities to thrive.

The number of applications that the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) has received from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) over the last ten years, including those which have been referred to the Planning & Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) for a public inquiry, and instances in which Scottish Ministers have agreed with the DPEA’s recommendations, are as follows:

The Scottish Government is committed to improving connectivity in rural areas and are considering alternative models of public transport delivery.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review recommends that pilot schemes, involving demand responsive transport and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) draw on innovative solutions, international best practice, and smart technologies. Following the successful completion and evaluation of our £2 million MaaS Investment Fund - of which the evaluation report can be found on the Transport Scotland website. Transport Scotland continues to work with MaaS Scotland and the Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) to build on this work to develop innovative, digital data driven solutions to provide better access to flexible transport options.

The 2025-26 Scottish Budget includes £188.7 million for a range of active and sustainable travel measures to make it easier for people to walk, wheel or cycle on everyday journeys and access resilient and efficient bus services. Funding of £167,000 is being provided in 2024-25 to enable CTA Scotland to provide support for community transport groups that already exist, renew those that have lapsed and support the formation of others where there are currently none.

There are Scottish Government funds available which Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) and Local Authorities can use to tailor their approach to sustainable travel provision in rural areas. These include the People and Place Programme and the Bus Infrastructure Fund. Through the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, we have given local authorities powers on partnership working, franchising and to run their own bus services. We want all local transport authorities to be able to improve all of the bus services within their areas.

The Scottish Government have no plans to review the criteria for trunk roads. The extents of trunk road network was last considered in 2008 by the first Strategic Transport Projects Review with no changes noted.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review, published in 2022, considered local roads to be “out of scope” unless they provided direct access to a major port or airport; linked to a nationally significant National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) development site; or where a local road intersected a trunk road where bus priority or active travel measures where proposed. None of these criteria applied to the A890.

A number of incentives and programmes are in place and have been prior to 2018 to encourage healthcare professionals to work in remote and island healthcare settings. These include the Scottish Government funded ‘Golden Hello’ scheme, administered by Health Boards, which provides up to £10,000 to every GP taking up an eligible post in a rural and island area.

Where new energy developments come forward, applications are subject to site-specific assessments by the decision maker. Our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) policy 11 (energy) requires that project design and mitigation demonstrate how impacts to communities, landscape, biodiversity and other receptors, including cumulative impacts, are addressed. It also encourages development to maximise net economic impact, including local and community socio-economic benefits. We have no current plans to introduce guidelines in addition to NPF4.

The requested information is not held by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Whether VAT applies to a visitor levy is a decision for the UK Government.

The Scottish Government is clear that any local authority thinking of introducing a Visitor Levy needs to consider the potential VAT implications that it would have for relevant businesses in their area.

The delivery of round-the-clock urgent care at Portree Hospital is the responsibility of NHS Highland. However, the Scottish Government is assured that 24/7 urgent care was restored at Portree Hospital on 16 August 2024.