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The National Flood Resilience Strategy will not replace the Flood Risk Management Planning Process which is the primary delivery vehicle for flood risk management actions in Scotland.

SEPA are responsible for identifying Potentially Vulnerable Areas and producing Flood Risk Management Plans in collaboration with other Responsible Authorities.

Local Flood Risk Management Plans set out how specific actions will be delivered and local authorities work in partnership with SEPA, Scottish Water and other responsible authorities to develop these. During severe flooding, local authorities will work with the emergency services and co-ordinate shelter for people evacuated from their homes.

The Scottish Flood Forum is funded by Scottish Government and aims to reduce the impact of flooding by providing immediate support to flooded communities and establishing a network of community resilience groups in flood risk areas to equip communities to cope with the impacts and threat of flooding.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-32583 on 14 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Consultation for railway electrification projects with affected communities is undertaken by Network Rail as the infrastructure owner and operator, and by ScotRail as the provider of services.

The budget for the Scottish Government’s International Development Fund was set in the Budget (Scotland) Act 2024 at £11.5 million for financial year 2024-25. The settlement of £12.8 million, as published on 4 December in the Scottish Budget, relates to the next financial year 2025-26.

Over the course of 2024, we have continued to launch new programming following a series of competitive calls for proposals, as well as continuing to fund some existing long-term initiatives:

In Inclusive Education, we are funding: scholarships for women and girls in Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, and Pakistan; and a programme which aims to remove barriers to quality education for out-of-school children with disabilities and additional support needs in Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda. See our webpages for more detail:

In Health, our projects focus on tackling non-communicable diseases – the world’s leading cause of death – by building stronger health systems in Malawi, Zambia, and Rwanda. See our webpages for more detail:

In Equalities, in March we launched our Women and Girls Fund which will support the advancement of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in our partner countries. We have additionally continued our support for the Police Scotland Peer-to-Peer Partnership Programme with the Police Services of Malawi and Zambia. See our webpages for more detail: .

We continue to support the work of four networking organisations as part of our support for global citizenship in Scotland: the Malawi Scotland Partnership, and their sister organisation the Scotland Malawi Partnership, Scotland’s International Development Alliance, and the Scottish Fair Trade Forum. See our webpages for more detail:

Through the Humanitarian Emergency Fund, we have provided provide lifesaving assistance to vulnerable communities in the Middle East, Sudan and neighbouring countries, Kenya, Southern Africa, Libya, as well as in our partner countries of Malawi and Zambia. See our webpages for more detail: .

Finally, the Scottish Government’s Global Renewables Centre has continued to drive innovation in renewables across Scotland and our African partner countries. See our webpages for more detail:

Please also see the Scottish Government , which provides a holistic look at a wide cross-section of our international development activity during calendar years 2021-23, as well as providing (c11) details of our future programmes from 2024 onwards.

SEPA are responsible for flood forecasting and warning in Scotland and continually develop this service. They work in partnership with the Met Office to forecast for flooding and operate Floodline in Scotland to warn emergency responders, and the public, when flooding is likely.

The Scottish Government collaborates with and funds academics and research institutions through its Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Strategic Research Programme (SRP) 2022-2027. There are mechanisms within the programme used specifically for work on flood resilience. For example, the s provides the Scottish Government and its agencies access to water related (including flooding) expertise from Scottish Higher Education Institutes and Research Institutes. Recent CREW research commissions include work on is on . The SRP also funds longer term strategic research including at the James Hutton Institute.

The National Flood Resilience Strategy commits to seek new flood resilience partners across the public, private and third sector and seek to influence policy across sectors who can contribute to creating flood resilient places.

In developing the Strategy the Scottish Government undertook an extensive programme of engagement with a range of flood risk management stakeholders and communities over 2023 and 2024. This included engagement at the annual Flood Resilience Conference in February 2024 attended by a range of public and private sector organisations.

More widely in November 2024 Scottish Government launched Scotland’s Natural Capital Market Framework which outlines the steps we will take to attract greater responsible private investment into high-integrity natural capital projects – including those that improve flood resilience.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-32614 on 14 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

A principal lesson learned from international comparisons is reflected in the Scottish Government’s rolling programme of electrification works to reduce unit costs and maintain secure employment. This key difference from the approach taken by the UK Government has contributed to the more efficient electrification costs delivered in Scotland.

Building maintenance of the site is carried out through two separate contracts. Noted below is both the planned and reactive/repair maintenance costs for the last 5 years for each contract. Overall total for both contracts being £8,117,010.95 excluding VAT.

Building Maintenance

Planned                                                                                                                           Reactive/Repair

High Level Maintenance

Planned                                                                                                                           Reactive/Repair

In the last 5 years, from January 2020 – January 2025, 144 jars of honey have been received and sold in the Parliament shop, each weighing 227g. The shop was completely closed from March 2020 – April 2022 and no honey was received or sold in that period. No honey was received in 2023.

The beeswax isn’t harvested by the Parliament, it remains the property of our beekeepers, and therefore, we do not have the cost information.  The beeswax is harvested by the beekeepers who provide the wax for the Great Seal of Scotland under a separate contract.