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It is not possible for the Scottish Government to introduce legislation to mandate the provision of community benefits through energy regulation because the relevant powers are reserved to the UK Government. Through our existing guidance for onshore renewable developments, we continue to promote community benefits of the value equivalent to £5,000 per installed megawatt per annum, index linked for the operational lifetime of the project.

The Scottish Government is in the process of reviewing its Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Offshore Renewable Energy Developments. We will consult on revised draft guidance in Spring 2023, and as part of this process we will gather evidence to help inform the need for further updates to our Good Practice Principles for: Community Benefits from, and Shared Ownership of Onshore Renewable Energy Developments.

The Scottish Government and its agencies are considering what further internal investigations are required. Once completed this work will be shared with Audit Scotland.

All parties will cooperate fully with any further investigation by Audit Scotland.

No discussions have taken place with Police Scotland.

Scottish Ministers were not party to the procurement process and would not have indicated support for any specific bid.

It is not for Scottish Government to determine whether or not criminality has occurred. This would be a matter for Police Scotland to consider.

In October 2014, CMAL initiated procurement of vessel 801 and 802. The Scottish Government was not party to the procurement process, which was managed by CMAL.

The Scottish Government recognises the seriousness of the allegations and we are carefully considering them.

In line with the Ministerial Code, we cannot comment on whether specific legal advice has been taken on this matter.

CMAL has confirmed that it is not aware of any contractual obligations that would at this time prohibit the successful handover and delivery of MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802. CMAL will only accept the vessels if they are fit for purpose.

In addition, the vessel will not be able to enter service until it has received all clearances required by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Class society approval from Lloyds Register.

The Scottish Government does not make assessments of those who are homeless.

The Scottish Government collects information from local authorities that is recorded as part of the of the homelessness application process. This data includes ethnicity and some limited information on nationality of the main applicant and partner (where applicable), which is self-reported by the homelessness applicant.

Information on the detailed categories of ethnicity/nationality that are collected are set out in section 10 of the homelessness data specification . These are grouped together for publication purposes (due to low numbers) as below:

White: Scottish,

White: Other British,

White: Irish,

White: Other,

White: Polish,

African,

Caribbean or Black,

Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British,

Mixed or multiple ethnic groups,

Other ethnic group,

Not known or Refused.

The most recently published data can be found in the equalities tables on the supporting documents page of our annual homelessness statistics with time series starting in 2002-2003. Data is presented for the main applicant.

In September 2022, the Scottish Government, in agreement with Local Authorities, has added the following ethnicity/nationality categories to the homelessness data collection:

Ukrainian

White: Roma

White: Showman/Showwoman

This data will be included in future publications.

I refer the member to answer to question S6W-06660 on 4 March 2022. 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 .