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We are working at pace to develop the systems needed to effectively mitigate the two-child cap in 2026. We recently carried out an online consultation to inform policy development and are engaging with the Department for Work and Pensions to develop the necessary systems and data sharing arrangements needed to deliver the payments effectively. Impact assessments will be published in due course to inform Parliament’s consideration of the required legislation.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that finances remain on a sustainable trajectory and that we continue to reach a balanced position each year. We will continue to take forward our strategy for doing this, which will be updated in the next Medium Term Financial Strategy due to be published later this year, alongside the fiscal sustainability delivery plan.

Our strategic investment of up to £500 million over five years is expected to leverage additional private investment of up to £1.5 billion in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to growing the offshore wind sector.

We are almost tripling our capital funding in offshore wind to £150 million in 2025-26. This strategic investment is being delivered through the Scottish National Investment Bank and our enterprise agencies, with public funds leveraging additional investment.

We welcome the commitment of developers to invest an average projection of £1.5 billion in Scotland per project across the 20 ScotWind offshore wind projects through the Supply Chain Development Statement (SCDS) process. We expect developers to honour their SCDS commitments, which were a condition of their being awarded Option Agreements.

Proposals for funding via the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme are reviewed by a panel of technical experts to assess eligibility and value for money. The fund operates on a competitive basis and funding is offered only to projects that clearly meet the scheme’s objectives and have potential to progress to deployment, driving value for money from our investment.

When assessing value for money the panel consider how projects support key Scottish Government net zero priorities. Prior to receiving funding, projects must demonstrate that they have potential to deliver a significant reduction in energy consumption or meet clean heat objectives, provide savings for public bodies and show that the requested support amount is reasonable for the work being completed. In addition to this assessment process, all funding awarded is subject to public procurement regulations.

While the Scottish Government did award funding for the Edinburgh Crown Office project, it was the decision of the COPFS to take this project forward. The Scottish Government does not routinely publish panel appraisals of applications submitted to the scheme; however, a case study containing lessons learned will be published following completion of the project.

To continue to provide the vital services that people need, our public bodies need premises located in our communities. Maintaining these buildings to modern standards – including, but not limited to, climate requirements – will mean ongoing investment in the public estate.

The Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme is a demand-led scheme. Project costs will vary on a case-by-case basis depending on the project scale, measures proposed and location of the public sector building. Details of projects that have received funding to date are included in the following reports on the Scottish Government website:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-central-government-energy-efficiency-grant-scheme-form-and-guidance/pages/quarterly-reports/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/central-government-energy-efficiency-grant-scheme-progress-report/

The policy direction is that public bodies should retrofit and maintain existing buildings, rather than building new ones, wherever possible. The options of building new and exploring a private lease were therefore not considered as an alternative to retrofitting the Edinburgh Crown Office. There are challenges with availability of public sector space at the required scale and location, along with constraints on taking out new private sector leases in line with the Scottish Government’s Property Controls Guidance for Public Bodies.

An assessment of different options to reduce emissions at the site concluded that an electric variable refrigerant flow system and air source heat pump, along with building fabric upgrades, was the most suitable solution. This is due to a number of factors including cost, space, electrical infrastructure and the technology being in successful operation at other sites across Edinburgh.

The building is also listed, located in a UNESCO World Heritage Site and owned by the COPFS, within proximity to the Edinburgh Sheriff Court, High Court and the Scottish Parliament. It is the organisation’s headquarters, providing a strategic location from which its staff work to provide essential public services. It is therefore the intention for the building to remain in long-term public ownership which was part of the value for money considerations.

We recognise that staff are NHS Scotland’s greatest asset. We cannot provide the services that people need and deserve, and put in place improvements in performance without highly qualified, skilled and motivated healthcare staff. This pay offer represents an investment that recognises the value we continue to place on our NHS staff.

The £191 million quoted in the press is the estimated cost to NHS Scotland of the increase in national insurance contributions announced by the UK Government in October 2024. The estimated costs of the two year pay offer the Scottish Government recently made to Agenda for Change staff working in NHS Scotland is a £701 million investment.

It is recognised that workforce and pay costs driven by a period of prolonged high inflation are now contributing to significant budget pressures across health and social care, the wider Scottish Government budget and the whole of the public sector. This Government has been clear that the extent of challenges will not be addressed in a single year and we will continue to make the tough choices necessary to support sustainable public finances, whilst also seeking to minimise the impact on frontline services as far as possible.

Household soft plastics are not routinely recycled by Scottish Local Authorities. Data is not collected specifically on soft plastics, but Zero Waste Scotland extrapolate from SEPA annual estimates of the amount of plastic waste generated in Scotland and managed in / out with Scotland in the Waste From All Sources report: Waste (from all sources). It is not possible to break this analysis down into sub-types of plastic waste.

Transport Scotland doesn’t, as a matter of course, undertake assessments of traffic levels at Sheriffhall roundabout, or other locations on the strategic road network. Traffic data is captured on an ongoing basis for specific projects or studies.

Congestion and traffic levels were assessed as part of the transport appraisal that supported the first Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR), published in 2008, which led on to improvements to the junction being tabled under intervention 22.

Subsequently detailed consideration of traffic levels at this junction was undertaken in the SESplan A720 Cross Boundary Study, published in 2017, which recognised that the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass plays a fundamental role in providing strategic connectivity and supporting economic development within the region and noted that Sheriffhall roundabout is a well-known bottleneck for travellers using and crossing the A720.

Traffic counts were undertaken at the existing junction in 2014, 2017 and 2018 as part of the development of the A720 Sheriffhall Roundabout project. This information helped inform the projected traffic flows both with and without the proposed improvements as part of the scheme assessment process. In addition, traffic data from permanent automatic traffic counters maintained by Transport Scotland between 2008 and 2017 was also examined.

Yes, the Scottish Government is aware of recycling facilities that manage soft plastics in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to an evidence-based approach to the energy transition. In support of our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, we commissioned and published (in March 2023) a programme of independent analysis on Scotland’s energy requirements during the transition to net zero – including the role of North Sea oil and gas. This analysis includes sections on the economic footprint of Scotland’s offshore oil and gas sector, including its regional distribution. The published reports can be found here: Publication of the outputs from a programme of work to better understand our energy requirements as we transition to net zero - Energy system and Just Transition: independent analysis - gov.scot

The National Energy System Operator (NESO)’s Beyond 2030 report (published in March 2024, available here: Beyond 2030 | National Energy System Operator) itself states: “Independent analysis commissioned by us as the Electricity System Operator (ESO) suggests that by 2035, the recommendations in this report could add up to £15 billion to the UK economy and support an average of 20,000 jobs each year. A third of these benefits (£5.2 billion to 2035 and over 6,000 jobs per year) are likely to be in Scotland”