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Scottish Government officials had a number of informal discussions with NatureScot in advance of NatureScot introducing guidance and adding a new condition to 16AA licences. NatureScot has the authority to add conditions to grouse shooting licences without requiring approval from Scottish Government Ministers.

This is a matter of law, therefore the Scottish Government do not hold a position on these issues. Lease agreements will vary depending on the circumstances and individuals should take their own legal advice.

NatureScot held seven online conference calls to discuss the legal opinions and definition of land which should be included in a 16AA licence.

No section 16AA licences have been granted which specify the land to which the licence relates as the area immediately surrounding a line of grouse butts.

The UK Government has stated its commitment to providing an update as soon as possible, and my officials continue to engage regularly with their UK Government counterparts regarding their plans. Additionally, I recently wrote to the UK Government to request a meeting to gain further insight into the options they are considering in relation to the report.

The Scottish Government remains dedicated to keeping the Scottish Parliament informed of any significant developments.

We also reaffirm our previous apology to all those who have been directly affected by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate, as well as to their caregivers.

The Scottish Government made a written statement to Parliament on 19 November 2024 on the effectiveness of environmental governance arrangements, following an earlier report and consultation. As stated in those documents, the Scottish Government does not see any strong argument for a change in the balance of parliamentary, administrative and judicial roles in decision making on environmental matters, or for the creation of a specialist court. Therefore, there are no plans to conduct any additional analysis of any potential efficiency savings in the judicial system from the creation of an environment court.

There is no record that Scottish Government has had any correspondence with Hampton Group International, Pitch@Palace or the UK Chinese Business Association, nor with Mr Yang Tengbo, in the last 12 years.

Scotland’s strong pipeline of renewables projects and growing supply chain will be vital to achieving a secure, affordable and clean power system, and we welcome the measures in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan to make progress towards this.

In particular, we welcome the signal the Action Plan provides on support for renewable energy – such as actions to speed up grid connections for key projects, and proposed improvements to Contracts for Difference support for renewables developments.

We expect significant growth of Scotland’s offshore wind capacity to play a key role in achieving clean power by 2030. In 2020, the Scottish Government set an ambition for 8-11 GW offshore wind by 2030, which is being reviewed in light of the significant ambition demonstrated by the private sector in the ScotWind and INTOG leasing rounds, with an updated Offshore Wind Policy Statement due to be published in 2025-2026. We continue to work with the UK government, National Energy System Operator, and Ofgem to ensure Scottish offshore wind projects are developed at pace and support our plans for a just transition.

The SPS engaged the services of legal advisers, cost consultants, insurance brokers and geo-technical consultants to advise on cost controls within the contract. It would not be appropriate for SPS to publish this advice as it is commercially sensitive information, however SPS will publish a summary of their Business Case on their website.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The number of assaults on staff in HMP Inverness in the last 5 years are as follows: