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It continues to be critical that statutory consultees need to be adequately resourced and have a skilled workforce to carry out their responsibilities. The Scottish Government will engage and work closely with these bodies as it develops proposals for secondary legislation.

The proposed reforms are about making the determination process more efficient – not making it easier for projects to get consent or undermining thorough scrutiny of environmental impacts. Decisions will continue to be taken by Scottish Ministers on a case-by-case basis, weighing the impacts and benefits of each development.

Information is not held centrally. Students apply directly to colleges, as such only colleges would hold this information.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information which is a matter for NHS heath boards locally.

We are committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Whilst our role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, it is NHS Boards locally who are responsible for service delivery. We expect all Boards to follow best practice and adhere to current guidelines and standards for people with suspected IBD and a national IBD pathway for NHS Scotland was published in January 2025: inflammatory-bowel-disease-ibd-pathway.pdf. This pathway is intended to be used for primary and secondary care health care professionals who are concerned that a patient may have undiagnosed IBD.

The pathway includes the use of faecal calprotectin tests which is supported by current clinical evidence for distinguishing between IBD and non-inflammatory bowel diseases (such as irritable bowel syndrome).

The proposed reforms will make pre-application consultation for electricity infrastructure projects a statutory requirement and also introduce an Acceptance Stage when Scottish Ministers can decline to accept applications which have not fulfilled the necessary requirements. These reforms will reduce timescales for processing applications and increase local input into project proposals.

The Scottish Government will publish detailed guidance on the Acceptance Stage and what happens if the relevant planning authority objects or if an application is not accepted.

The proposed reforms will apply to applications for consent under section 36 and section 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 made to Scottish Ministers. Section 36 applications made to Scottish Ministers have a capacity of over 50MW. Therefore, it is not anticipated that the reforms to introduce new fees for pre-application functions will reduce application numbers.

The proposed reforms will make pre-application consultation for electricity infrastructure projects a statutory requirement. This will increase opportunities for meaningful community input.

Whilst all questions about Strategic Investment Model (SIM) proposals should be directed towards the SIM Project Management team in the first instance (simpm@offshorewindscotland.org.uk), the Scottish Government is happy to encourage collaboration between the SIM crew transfer and service operation projects and the analysis being taken forward by Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and others.

The leadership framework provided the Scottish Assembly with significant investment over three years from 2022-23 to 2024-25 totalling £430,000. Funding was provided for a time limited project which has reached its natural conclusion.

The funding was provided to aid with the expansion of the Scottish Assembly and the delivery of the project aims of the leadership and engagement framework. The funding was not recurring and the expectation that the Scottish Assembly would explore alternative funding and income streams to ensure long term sustainability of the organisation was made clear in the terms and conditions of funding.

All applications for trapping or lethal control of beavers require that satisfactory alternatives are considered.

The beaver licence application form asks what alternative mitigations have been attempted. NatureScot specialists can advise whether there are other satisfactory alternatives that could be put in place and can require that these should be attempted first, before determining an application for a licence.