Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29198 on 5 September 2024. 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.

Scottish Water states the annual leakage level in its annual report and accounts, laid before Parliament and published online at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/about-us/who-we-are/annual-report

The 2024-25 Programme for Government set out the Scottish Government’s commitment to strengthening the implementation of human rights and advancing proposals around extended rights protection. This includes continuing to work to develop a new Human Rights Bill that will incorporate international treaties into Scots law.

Lessons from the implementation of the public sector equality duty and associated Scottish regulations will continue to shape development of the Human Rights Bill in the period ahead, including reflections on the alignment of existing and upcoming reporting requirements on listed public bodies and work on guidance, toolkits and wider capability and capacity building. The Scottish Government will do this through regular dialogue with duty bearers, sectoral groups of duty bearers, civil society and through close and regular communication between officials.

No policy development work on this subject was undertaken by these bodies prior to the 2024 General Election. Subsequent to the General Election, the Scottish Government has engaged with the new UK Government and has made clear that GB Energy should deliver clear benefits for the people of Scotland.

The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential. We expect developers to honour their commitments set out in the Supply Chain Development Statements (SCDS). The SCDS process has been carefully designed and is managed by Crown Estate Scotland (CES). Failure by developers to deliver on their commitments can trigger remedies ranging from financial penalties to an inability to progress to a seabed lease.

The Scottish Government set out in June 2021 our plan for implementing the recommendations of James Hamilton’s report, alongside the recommendations of the reports by Laura Dunlop QC and the Scottish Parliament Committee on the Handling of Harassment Complaints. Implementation was delivered through the Continuous Improvement Programme, which was reported regularly to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee. The final report on the Continuous Improvement Programme was provided in January 2023, and with the agreement of the Committee the programme was then concluded and activities absorbed into ongoing work.

Following the general election, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray MP, requesting renewal of the agreement to the devolution of the necessary powers for a Building Safety Levy in Scotland that was in place with the previous UK Government.

An affirmative response to this letter was received on 27 August 2024 and arrangements are now being made for the necessary legislative procedures to take place in the Scottish and UK Parliaments to progress the devolution.

The Scottish Government’s 2024-25 Programme for Government announced that, subject to the devolution of powers, the Scottish Government proposes to bring forward a Bill to establish a Building Safety Levy in Scotland.

A consultation will be launched later this month to inform policy development for the proposed Bill. The levy is not expected to come into effect until April 2026 at the earliest.

The Scottish Government is having to make very difficult decisions to deliver balanced and sustainable spending plans for the 2024-25 financial year, therefore it is unaffordable to progress our plans to pilot free bus travel for all people seeking asylum in Scotland.

I am grateful to the stakeholders involved in the working group set up to develop the free bus travel for asylum seekers pilot. My officials informed them directly of the difficult decision to cancel the proposed pilot scheme to provide free bus travel for asylum seekers on 16 August 2024.

The Scottish Governments approach to supporting the integration of refugees, people seeking asylum and other forced migrants within Scotland’s communities is set out in the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy published in March 2024.

The Scottish Government does not provide direct funding to third sector organisations or local authorities specifically for the purpose of providing travel support for people seeking asylum.

However, people seeking asylum who are aged 60 or over or under 22 years old, or meet the disability eligibility criteria are eligible for concessionary travel in the same way as all other Scottish residents. I would encourage all those eligible to apply.

Community benefits from our abundant energy resources, and the potential for communities to own a share of renewable energy projects, are important components in empowering people and communities to help shape and benefit from the energy transition. We are currently reviewing our Good Practice Principles for Offshore Renewables ahead of public consultation. Further details are included in the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.