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The Scottish Building Standards Hub (SBSH) is an independent unit hosted by Fife Council, providing support to all building standards services across Scotland in both verification and enforcement. Responsibility for decisions regarding the professional qualifications of staff lies with SBSH.

A dedicated structural engineering hub is currently being established within SBSH to enhance technical support. However, there are no current plans to incorporate conservation-accredited structural engineering expertise within this unit. Local authorities will continue to engage structural engineers with appropriate conservation experience on a case-by-case basis, ensuring that specialist input is available when required.

We welcome the UK Government’s announcement to expand the Armed Forces Covenant into further areas of Government activity including criminal justice. We note it is planned by the UK Government to provide for the necessary legislative detail for this approach in their next Armed Forces Bill in 2026. This Bill is not yet published and we will consider carefully the full details once they are available. This further detail will help inform engagement with justice partners including Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Prison Service.

We have already engaged with criminal justice agencies on how best to meet the need of veterans within custody following the ‘Veterans and Law’ report, which was published in October 2024. This included recommendations relating to identifying and supporting veterans as they move through the criminal justice system, with a coordinated, easy to access approach to support them alongside third sector organisations to help prevent offending and support rehabilitation.

We remain committed to working with criminal justice partners to further explore opportunities to help support veterans in the future, including as part of the forthcoming expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant.

Responsibility for private water supplies rests with those who own or operate them, with statutory duties set out in the relevant regulations. Local authorities have duties to monitor supplies, provide advice where standards are not met, and take enforcement action where necessary to ensure owners and users meet their statutory responsibilities.

Where a private supply is consistently failing, it is for the owner or operator to decide whether to apply for a connection to the public water mains. Applications are made through Scottish Water’s standard process and are subject to technical feasibility. There is no separate prioritisation for these cases, and applicants for all connections applications are liable for the associated costs.

Initial meetings with stakeholders took place between 20 November 2024 and 16 January 2025 including with local authorities, farmer representatives, farm employers and regulatory bodies.

Further meetings will be held with the wider sector when officials are in a position to begin consultation. We will be able to offer an update on when these meetings will take place when dates have been agreed.

The sites in the pilot scheme, including which local authority they are located in, are listed in the following table. This list can also be found on the Scottish Government website: Sharing the gains of clean energy - gov.scot.

It is not possible for the Scottish Government to provide the cost of some of the advice it receives, such as internal legal advice, as this is work which would be taken forward by civil servants as part of their normal duties, and in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants are not routinely recorded, as there is no business need to do this. Additionally, it is a long-established convention that the Scottish Government does not disclose information which could reveal the source of legal advice other than in the most exceptional circumstances.

This new pilot scheme is a unique chance for communities to take ownership of renewable energy projects which need upgrading and extend their operational life, bringing long-term benefits to the local area.

The 50-megawatt cap reflects the current size of community energy projects in Scotland – offering significant scope for larger-scale projects to be developed on the FLS sites. This cap will be kept under review throughout the pilot, as part of ensuring successful delivery.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41655 on 18 November 2025. 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.

Ministers regularly meet with local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships where a spectrum of issues are discussed. However, there have been no specific meetings at this stage to discuss the expansion of the Armed Forces Covenant into social care.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41655 on 18 November 2025. 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.