Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38932 on 22 July 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.

The UK Government has recently launched a consultation on proposed updates to the guidance for assessing and rating wind turbine noise. These updates aim to reflect the latest evidence on turbine noise emissions, advances in turbine technology, and evolving assessment methodologies, while aligning with broader government policies on noise and Net Zero.

The consultation provides an opportunity for members of the public and stakeholders to engage with and comment on proposed updates to ETSU-R-97. Feedback received during the consultation will help finalise the guidance.

The consultation and the Draft Assessment and Rating of Wind Turbine Noise Guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/assessment-and-rating-of-wind-turbine-noise-guidance-proposed-updates

I encourage anyone with an interest in this area to respond to the consultation.

The Scottish Government remains committed to making free school meals available for all children in primary schools, saving families taking those meals approximately £450 per child, per year.

Currently all primary school pupils in primaries one to five, all children in special schools, and eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to Secondary 6 can already benefit from free school meals during term-time in Scotland. This policy saves families taking those meals approximately £450 per child, per year.

We are focused on delivering the latest phase of our free school meal expansion programme, taking a targeted approach to support those children most in need in Primary 6 and 7 whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment. This phase began in February of this year. In addition, our test of change policy offering free school meals to pupils in secondaries 1 to 3 whose families receive the Scottish Child Payment will run at selected schools across 8 local authority areas from August 2025 to July 2026.

In order to maximise uptake of free school meals, we have established data sharing arrangements between local authorities and Social Security Scotland. The Social Security Information-sharing (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 were approved unanimously by the Scottish Parliament on 30 April 2025 and the legislation came in effect on 19 May 2025. This arrangement enables those eligible pupils to be identified more quickly, therefore allowing them to benefit from the offer of free school meals.

Whilst the Independent Review of the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) made 22 main recommendations, some of these recommendations included further separate recommendations, for example, recommendation 8 involved nine separate recommendations.

In our response to the review we set out our position on each of the review’s recommendations:

• Agree in principle: 14 recommendations (or parts thereof)
• Agree: 18 recommendations (or parts thereof)
• To note: three recommendations

In our response to the review, the Scottish Government committed to a programme of work that would bring about transformational change to the VNS. We are delivering that programme of work through legislative and non legislative routes.

We have prioritised those recommendations which required changes to primary legislation through the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill (VWJR Bill) as outlined in our letter to the Criminal Justice Committee on 4 March 2025. The Stage 2 amendments were passed by that Committee and we will lodge the amendments at Stage 3 of the Bill. Together these amendments relate to 11 of the recommendations of the review. We will only be able to take forward these recommendations if the VWJR Bill is passed by Parliament.

We have made £3 million available this year for Police Scotland specifically to work alongside retailers to tackle crime affecting their sector, which costs businesses millions each year and has a knock-on effect on the prices we pay in the shops. This forms part of a record investment of £1.64 billion for policing this year – an increase of £90 million on 2024-25.

Police Scotland’s action plan aims to tackle retail crime through a number of specific actions on how to prevent such incidents and pursue those responsible. The newly-established Retail Crime Taskforce will target repeat offenders of retail crime by using analytical data and intelligence to carry out proactive enforcement activities in areas most heavily impacted.

The team will also engage with retailers to identify ways in which they can enhance security and crime prevention measures in place and reduce incidents occurring.

The Scottish Government’s investment will also be used to develop diversionary programmes aimed at reducing reoffending and youth offending, with a focus on the role of organised crime.

We have also provided over £6 million to implement actions within the Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, since 2023, which specifically seeks to prevent violence from happening and if and when it does occur, to reduce the harm.

The independent review of the VNS ran from spring 2022 to spring 2023. Its report which can be found at: Victim Notification Scheme (VNS): independent review - gov.scot, made 22 main recommendations for change, some of which contained multiple individual recommendations. The Scottish Government published its response to the review in October 2024, in which it accepted, or accepted in principle, the majority of these recommendations.

The complex multi-agency nature of the VNS was recognised in the approach that Scottish Government adopted in responding to the review. We therefore worked with the partners who administer the scheme: the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (which identifies relevant victims and send registration packs to them), the Scottish Prison Service (which registers victims and provides information), the Parole Board for Scotland (which considers victim representations), and victim support organisations, to properly inform our response found here: Victim Notification Scheme - Independent Review: SG response - gov.scot, to each recommendation.

We continue to take this partnership approach as we progress reform of the VNS, ensuring delivery of a more person-centred and trauma-informed VNS.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39643 on 15 August 2025. In relation to the number of recommendations and those that we have taken forward through legislation. 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.

We highlighted in our response to the Review that along with the legislation the other priority for Scottish Government was the setting up of the Victim Contact Team (VCT) which was the key innovation from the review.

Not all the recommendations were for Scottish Government to take forward, but we are working closely with criminal justice partners and stakeholders to take forward the reform of the victim notification scheme and establish the VCT. This is so we can take a holistic view of the changes and put the victim at the heart of them.

As outlined in the review response we will produce an annual report to review progress of these key reforms, later this year.

The responsibility for energy security is reserved to the UK Government and as is any contingency planning. However, the Scottish Government works closely with the UK Government on a range of issues to ensure Scotland’s needs are met.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the UK Government on a range of issues regarding Scotland’s fuel security and sites of national significance for Scotland such as Mossmorran. We are committed to ensuring that we support businesses as they seek to decarbonise and working collaboratively with the UK Government on these issues.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39497 on 15 August 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.