Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is investing at least £100m more annually in culture and the arts by the financial year 2028-29. Through this increased investment we want to drive up opportunities for participation in creative pursuits, support the production of new works, and ensure that Scotland’s cultural output has platforms at home and abroad.

We are committed to publishing an International Culture Strategy in March 2024. This will set out a number of actions to support the international objectives and ambitions of Scotland’s culture sector.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling plastic waste by focusing on a wide range of initiatives aimed at reducing its use, improving recycling and reducing plastic waste going to landfill. The Recycling Improvement Fund (RIF), while not specifically focused on plastics, is supporting a number of projects that include a plastic waste element and 23 such projects have received a total of £59,301,849 to date saving an estimated 9099 tCO2e per annum. A full breakdown of RIF projects available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 64895).

In addition, Zero Waste Scotland has supported a range of initiatives addressing the issues around plastics. For example, the Circular Economy Investment Fund has provided grant support to 13 SMEs that were involved in partially or fully in the collection, processing and management of a variety of waste polymers. The fund has invested £8,918,010, is supporting 21 FTE jobs, and has saved 36,939 tCO2eq.

The UK Autumn Statement was a worst-case scenario for Scotland and confirmed that the Scottish Government Capital Block Grant is forecast to contract by almost 10% in real terms over 5 years (2023-24 to 2027-28). Capital spending pressures across the Scottish Government far exceed available funding. This means that it will take longer to deliver all our capital commitments. Difficult decisions, including reducing the ‘Travel Strategy and Innovation’ line, were also required in order to achieve a fiscally sustainable capital budget. As such, we targeted the limited capital funding available towards supporting employment and the economy, achieving our net zero ambitions and maintaining high-quality public services across Scotland.

A significant proportion of the expenditure in the portfolio is legally and contractually committed, and the budget ensures that those commitments are met in full in this budget as well as allocating funding to support critical maintenance and renewal expenditure to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to a safe and reliable transport system.

The budget process also considered equalities and fairer Scotland duties and progress towards our statutory targets for climate change and child poverty in prioritising the budget available to me. I refer to the Equalities and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement and Carbon Assessment published alongside this budget.

Alternatives West Dunbartonshire CDS has received funding from the Scottish Government’s Prison to Rehab Protocol since 2022. The pathway supports individuals leaving prison who would benefit from accessing abstinence based treatment on release, based on an individual needs based assessment.

Alternatives West Dunbartonshire CDS is a recipient of the National Drugs Mission fund. Whilst Scottish Government do not directly set the objectives, the Corra Foundation has administered the National Drugs Mission Funds on our behalf, since 2021, to third sector and grassroots organisations and details of the projects are available at : Grant holder data - Corra Foundation .

The Scottish Government welcomed the Climate Emergency Response Group’s (CERG) annual report, which set out their four key areas of proposed action.

We are already taking action to address many of the issues highlighted by CERG, including: undertaking a pilot this year to introduce a net zero assessment of Scottish Government policies; publishing the final route map to reduce car kilometres; and through our commitment of £1.8 billion of funding over this Parliament towards heat and energy efficiency measures.

The Scottish Government looks forward to continuing our engagement with the CERG on tackling the climate crisis.

Clean Air Day (CAD) is an important opportunity to raise awareness of the impacts of poor air quality on human health and the environment and the actions to address it. CAD 2023 saw a variety of events taking place across the country such as poster competitions for schools, presentations about air quality, health walks, fuel efficient driving, green travel surveys to vehicle idling campaigns, alongside activity on social media platforms.

The Scottish Government supported the delivery of CAD 2023 in Scotland through funding to Environmental Protection Scotland and Global Action Plan. SEPA and the Scottish Government also run a range of air quality activities throughout the year.

Since 2019 Scottish Government has provided £750k to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). This funding was transferred on 1 December 2023 in response to UNRWA’s flash appeal for those caught up in the conflict between Hamas and Israel. This funding was a one-off contribution in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We have no plans for further contributions at this point in time.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25418 on 22 February 2024, applicants are not required to submit any supporting fire safety documentation when seeking consent for a development under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

There is also no legal requirement for any application documents to be published by the Scottish Government however we endeavour to publish section 36 application documents, where possible, at https://www.energyconsents.scot .

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 .

An application was made to Scottish Ministers under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 by FlexibleGridPower2 Ltd for the electricity generating station known as Hunterston Grid Services Complex at Campbelton Farm on 17 August 2021.

As a matter of routine, the Scottish Government will consult the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and Health and Safety Executive on any new battery storage applications received.

With reference to the application in question, Scottish Ministers consulted SFRS, who did not respond to the consultation. This detail was indicated on page 5 of the decision letter for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

The decision letter including all conditions may be viewed at https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00003319 under ‘Documents / Determinations’.