Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-36010

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 March 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 4 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on continuing the treatment of people who move to Scotland from abroad with an existing diagnosis and treatment plan, where such treatment is approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, as opposed to requiring their condition to be investigated and diagnosed anew in line with NHS Scotland pathways.

Question reference: S6O-04454

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is sufficiently resourced to provide appropriate planning guidance or able to respond to planning consultations when required.

Question reference: S6O-04431

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its reported positive impact on educational attainment, how it ensures that the education system provides pupils with a wide range of opportunities to participate in sport.

Question reference: S6O-04405

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the process for approving renewable energy developments above 50MW encourages developers to carry out high-quality consultations and gives communities sufficient information and opportunity to engage meaningfully.

Question reference: S6F-03839

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 February 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2025

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to support farmers responding to threats to livestock from disease.

Question reference: S6W-33999

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support local authorities dealing with specialist planning applications, such as those involving quarrying or mining where no identifiable expertise exists within the local authority planning department.

The Scottish Government is working with stakeholders, on a package of actions to strengthen a range of planning skills across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has established the Hydrogen Planning Hub and the Housing Emergency Hub in response to concerns about capacity and skills. We are currently considering the further role that Hubs can play in supporting planning authorities to address the skills and capacity issues they are facing.

In our Planning and Housing Emergency Delivery Plan, published in November 2024, we have committed to the roll out of a co-ordinated skills and recruitment drive through a coherent National Planning Skills Campaign. We will announce this work soon and deliver it over the coming months.

Question reference: S6W-33998

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 February 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current capacity within local authorities to assess specialist planning applications such as minerals developments.

We are aware of concerns about the current capacity within planning authorities. The skills and capacity challenges faced by planning authorities are not unique to Scotland and are not restricted to minerals development. The Scottish Government is taking forward a programme of actions to boost planning capacity across Scotland.

Our Investing in Planning consultation last year identified a range of interventions to increase the capacity within planning authorities. In September 2024 we published a blog outlining the proposals we were intending to take forward, those which required further consideration and those which we did not intend to take forward at this time.

The Scottish Government has established the Hydrogen Planning Hub and the Housing Emergency Hub in response to concerns about capacity and skills. We are currently considering the further role that Hubs can play in supporting planning authorities to address the skills and capacity issues they are facing.

The National Planning Improvement Champion (NPIC) is working with individual planning authorities to pilot a new National Planning Improvement Framework. Planning authorities will carry out a self-assessment and work with the NPIC and others to identify areas for improvement and develop an action plan. We expect the first reports will be published shortly.

We also continue to engage with Heads of Planning Scotland to understand the pressures facing planning authorities in Scotland and how they can best be addressed.

Question reference: S6W-33339

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the date by which it plans to publish its Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

Question reference: S6O-04253

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is working to support galleries.

Question reference: S6W-33349

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 21 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26129 by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2024, whether it will provide an update on its work with the National Electricity System Operator to develop a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.

The Scottish Government is committed to working collaboratively with other governments where it can accelerate progress towards Scotland’s economic and net zero targets. On 20 October 2024, the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments jointly commissioned the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for the energy system, land and sea, across Great Britain (GB).

NESO has since consulted on a draft methodology for the SSEP, which closed on 17 January 2025. As co-commissioners of the SSEP, the Scottish Government welcomes the consultation and continued engagement with stakeholders on the plan as it develops. Key to the plan’s success will be ensuring that developer and investor confidence is maintained throughout.

The Scottish Government and its officials will continue to work closely with NESO, the UK and Welsh Governments on the plan as it develops, to ensure that it considers devolved powers and ambitions, delivers real benefits for the people and communities of Scotland and supports our ongoing efforts for a just transition.

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