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The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information

The Scottish Government has no powers to influence grid management in Scotland as legislation and regulations relating to gas and electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government. The independent system operator, National Energy System Operator (NESO), is responsible for strategic planning and day-to-day operation of the electricity network, working with network companies across Great Britain. Regulation of the electricity and gas networks is carried out by the independent energy regulator Ofgem.

There are at present five ongoing Scottish statutory public inquiries, and a number of UK statutory inquires which could seek evidence from ministers in Scotland. The Edinburgh Trams Inquiry reported in September 2023 following hearings in 2017-2018 and the Penrose Inquiry reported in 2015, albeit from the records available we do not believe that external legal advice was taken in connection with those inquiries which falls within the scope of this question. The amount spent by the Scottish Government on external legal advice, including representation for current and former ministers, in relation to public inquiries is as follows:

While financial challenges have caused this programme to remain paused since 2022, we remain committed to delivering increased mental health and wellbeing workforce capacity in general practice, when budgets permit.

The Scottish Government attend the National Specialist Services Committee (NSSC) who meet quarterly. Apologies were provided for the most recent meeting on 25 November 2024.

Discussions at the 25 November meeting included:

• Finance Update
• Requests for New Designations
• Approved Designations
• De-designations
• Designated Services – Assurance Reporting
• Hyperbaric Medicine
• New Commissions/ Business Cases for Prioritisation - Overview of Business Cases & Scoring Process
• National Planning and Networks Update
• Reviews update
• NSD Highlight Report
• Any Other Business:
• Planning Process
• Implications to new NSSC Governance
• New Governance process for SLAs

Since the publication of the research report, ‘Public Space CCTV in Scotland’, the Scottish Government has been engaging with COSLA and Police Scotland to consider what the next steps in relation to public space CCTV should be. This includes consideration of whether there needs to be an updated National Strategy for Public Space CCTV. This work is ongoing.

The following table sets out the total number of premises currently contracted to receive connections through the R100 North contract by 2028, the number of premises connected as of 13 January 2025 and the number of premises yet to be connected as of the same date.

Openreach are also delivering a number of additional connections to premises that were not in the contracts, but have been connected as a result of nearby R100 contract build. This is known as overspill. The number of such connections delivered are also provided in the following table.

It should also be noted that our demand-led R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) remains available for those not expected to benefit from superfast broadband through R100 contract or commercial build plans.

The Scottish Government does not maintain a central record of whistleblowing in each public service organisation.

As referenced in the answer to S6W-34140 on 20 February 2025, the format in which locus information is recorded and in particular whether the locus for each case is a trunk road or otherwise would require a manual check of each case. This question cannot be readily answered by COPFS.

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