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The purpose of the meeting on 26 February 2025 was to update myself and the Minister for Climate Action on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, the reform options being considered by UK Government, and the potential impact of those options for Scotland.

The briefing paper for this meeting, and list of attendees, including ministers, have already been released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). It is standard procedure for names of officials to be redacted in all FOIs under Section 38(1)(b), due to protections around the sharing of Third Party Data, whereby personal data is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR and in section 34(1) of the DPA 2018.

Upon review of the FOI, section 29(1)(a) was not cited as a redaction used. Information has been redacted under 30(b)(i), however, was redacted due to it relating to the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers to have space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching a settled public position.

In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded.

Decisions on the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) are reserved to the UK Government. The UK Government has published impact assessments and is updating its analysis ahead of a final decision this summer. We are awaiting sight of this updated modelling.

In addition, a range of impact assessments have been carried out by consultancies and industry bodies.

We met with researchers, industry and consumer organisations – as well as international electricity market experts – in December 2024 to consider the evidence and have engaged extensively with stakeholders over the past two years to understand all impacts.

This is a complex area and the Scottish Government is clear that UK Government reforms must reduce costs for Scottish consumers, ensure Scotland’s communities feel the benefit of the energy transition and protect investment in our renewables industry and supporting decarbonisation.

We have had extensive engagement with stakeholders to ensure we understand all perspectives in this debate and represent this in our engagement with the UK Government. The Scottish Government has not had specific discussions with Ofgem on the interaction between zonal pricing and transmission network use-of-system charges. Officials have been, and will continue to, work with UK Government, Ofgem and other industry stakeholders to ensure we fully consider the impacts of potential market reforms.

The Young Person’s Guarantee last and final update report was published in March 2023 and outlines the outcomes and opportunities provided by the funding from the Young Person’s Guarantee.

A joint implementation evaluation of No one Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee was published in Autumn 2023 which explores how well they had been implemented, the experiences of service providers and service users, and lessons from early delivery.

Since April 2023, the Young Person’s Guarantee has been mainstreamed across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities.

The Scottish Government has been clear that it does not support the development of new nuclear under current technologies. Small modular reactors, whilst innovative in size and location, present the same environmental issues as traditional nuclear power stations.

Members of the public can access detailed data, including total applications made, on the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme for the 2023-24 financial year at https://www.gov.scot/publications/home-energy-scotland-grant-and-loan-scheme-awards/. Work is ongoing to release further scheme data, with the next publication expected shortly.

For average processing times, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36322 on 22 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.

This is not correct.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publish data relating to the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case on a quarterly basis. The latest Stage of Treatment publication, published on 4 March 2025, includes information on gynaecology new outpatient and inpatient or day-case waits up to 31 December 2024. This can be accessed here: Stage of treatment waiting times - Inpatients, day cases and new outpatients quarter ending 31 December 2024 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The next Stage of Treatment report will be published on 27 May 2025 and will include waiting times data for all planned care specialities, including gynaecology, up to the quarter ending 31 March 2025.

The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery (PNM) student financial support review is currently ongoing. This review will take time, as it is important that we clearly understand how we can support our PNM students to complete their studies. The options for consideration will be presented to the me before the end of the year. An equalities impact assessment will be published once the review has concluded.

The terms and conditions of firefighters are negotiated on a UK wide basis through the National Joint Council. The Fire Brigades Union is the largest staff representative body at those negotiations and that is the appropriate avenue to change pay and conditions for firefighters. The Scottish Government is not part of those negotiations as that is rightly a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as the employer.

This is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The information requested is not held centrally.