- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 10 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what partnerships it has established between the video game industry and education providers to support training and upskilling.
Answer
The Scottish Government and Education Scotland have provided funding in 2022 and 2023 to support Scottish Games Week, which included an Education Symposium. This event brings together video game industry and education providers with an aim to share learning and establish partnerships.
Education Scotland has also supported (through attendance and delivery) the Scottish Games Education Symposium in 2024 and inaugural Scottish Esports Education Conference in 2024.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the previous announcement by the former First Minister, Humza Yousaf, whether it still plans to issue bonds to finance key infrastructure in Scotland in the current parliamentary session.
Answer
The Scottish Government published a further update to the work on Scottish Government bonds alongside the 2025-26 Scottish Budget https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836910558.
This explains the outcome of the initial phase of due diligence and the work required in the next stage in the due diligence process. This phase will include timing considerations for an inaugural issuance given market conditions and related events.
The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring Parliament is updated on this work as it progresses.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the previous announcement by the former First Minister, Humza Yousaf, in October 2023, how much has been spent to date on preparation work for it issuing bonds.
Answer
The Scottish Government spent £20,000 (excluding VAT) in 2024-25 for advice on a specification for a financial advisor to provide expertise and guidance to support an inaugural issuance. This remains the only external fees incurred to date. The civil service resource for this work is met through the DG Scottish Exchequer budget allocation.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of referrals to audiology services at NHS Grampian are seen within the 18-week target.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2025
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is implementing or considering to support homeowners in the North East Scotland region who are experiencing property value depreciation due to new energy infrastructure projects in their vicinity.
Answer
Compensation provisions do exist where land, or rights over land, are acquired by compulsion for the development of energy infrastructure under the Electricity Act 1989. However, there is no statutory provision or process set out in the Act to financially compensate those who consider their property value may be affected.
More generally, the Scottish Government continues to use all levers available to deliver sustainable, meaningful and impactful outcomes from the energy transition, informed by the voices of our diverse communities. Voluntary community benefits schemes from renewable energy developments are well-established in Scotland, enabling communities to benefit from their local resources, as well as helping to foster better relationships with the renewables sector. Despite the powers to mandate community benefits being reserved to the UK Government, over £30 million worth of benefits has been offered to communities in the last 12 months supported by our Good Practice Principles. We continue to press the UK Government for mandatory action in this area.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure a fair consulting process for electricity infrastructure, in light of reports that it could benefit financially by £4 million per year for each GW of power from ScotWind that is installed and has a grid connection agreement.
Answer
The consulting process provided for under sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 and the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 ensures that public bodies, communities and members of the public are consulted on proposals for electricity infrastructure. The decision whether to grant consent is taken only after careful and fair consideration of environmental information, consultee responses and public representations. The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening the pre-application consultation process by working with the UK Government on their proposed reforms to electricity infrastructure consenting in Scotland.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it has given to the Aberdeen Energy Transition Zone in each of the last three financial years.
Answer
A breakdown of the funding support provided by the Scottish Government to the Energy Transition Zone project over the past three financial years is provided in the following table.
| | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | Total |
Energy Transition Fund | £9,000,000 | £5,541,000 | £2,505,000 | £17,046,000 |
Just Transition Fund - National Energy Skills Accelerator | £39,960 | £960,040 | Nil | £1,000,000 |
Just Transition Fund - Energy Transition Skills Hub | £1,180,000 | £470,000 | £2,850,000 | £4,500,000 |
Just Transition Fund - Supply Chain Pathway and Energy Transition Challenge Fund | £1,280,000 | £2,840,000 | £2,840,000 | £6,960,000 |
Total | £11,499,960 | £9,811,040 | £8,195,000 | £29,506,000 |
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on any legal advice sought from external counsel in each year since 2018, broken down by (a) its department and (b) the legal firm or provider.
Answer
As Scottish Government functions have increased and matured, the volume and complexity of outsourced work has also evolved. This work is procured and we are now utilising the third iteration of a framework providing Legal Services to the Scottish Government and the wider public sector. The figures provided in the table set out how much the Scottish Government has spent through those frameworks and the breakdown of costs to each legal firm. We do not centrally gather information on the department spend as there is no business requirement to do. We have interpreted the question as legal costs incurred for outsourced legal work.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on external legal advice in relation to judicial reviews, broken down by case since 2018.
Answer
The Scottish Government has spent the following amount in relation to judicial reviews. We are unable to provide a breakdown by case name due to GDPR considerations. Some case names will be in the public domain because the judgments have been published with the full name. However, some cases have been name anonymised and others will not be in the public domain due to being disposed of without a judgment.
We have therefore provided a breakdown by the number of cases.
Prior to the introduction of a new Case Management system on 1 March 2024 the information was not recorded in way that would enable us to answer the full timeframe covered by the question. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Therefore, we have provided the information on judicial reviews from 1 March 2024.
Please note that the figures contained in the following table are the total case costs and the expenditure has been incurred over multiple financial years.
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for approving and authorising legal costs for current or former ministers, and how this is monitored to ensure value for money.
Answer
As with all decisions on the use of public funding the authorisation to meet costs would be cleared at the appropriate level within the organisation.
Accountable Officers are in place to ensure that public money is used efficiently and effectively in line with guidance published in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). The SPFM provides guidance on the proper handling and reporting of public funds.
