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The application, claim and repayment processes for the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme are currently administered by Energy Saving Trust (EST) via a competitively tendered contract. EST report their performance to the Scottish Government monthly against set Key Performance Indicators, which is monitored closely.

The Scottish Government is working to collate new data which will provide more detailed analysis of average application and claim processing timescales to assess the impact of recent and future streamlining improvements. This will be published in the longer term once it has been assured for accuracy.

Applicants to the scheme are able to track their journey and progress at any point through the application and claims portal.

We are making good progress delivering across the 23 actions outlined in our Planning and the Housing Emergency Delivery Plan. Our National Planning Hub is now operational and on 22 May a Chief Planner letter was issued inviting authorities to identify areas for surge capacity, particularly on priority areas including housing.

Our work with key partners to overcome barriers and accelerate delivery of new homes continues at pace, and our blog of 9 June provides further details on progress. We are committed to providing stakeholders regular updates on the Delivery Plan and on 30 April, myself and Chief Planner issued a letter detailing progress across all four themes of policy, delivery, capacity and efficiency.

The Scottish Government provides regular progress updates on all workstreams via it’s e-alerts, on X @ScotGovPlanning and on LinkedIn.

The only current operations by external organisations are standing sale harvesting operations, conducted under the FLS Red Squirrel license with the prior permission of FLS. There is a total of twenty-three sites across the landholding.

The Scottish Government has not conducted a formal assessment of the economic and cultural impacts disaggregated to the sub-level of grassroots music venues.

However in August 2024 the Scottish Government Industry Statistics Database estimated the overall Creative Industries sector GVA in 2022 (including digital) as £5,724 million.

Considering cultural attendance at a general level, the latest data from the 2023 Scottish Household Survey shows us that cultural attendance in Scotland is high and has increased since 2022. Attendance at a live music event (at 36 per cent) was the second most common type of event for adults to attend. Within that, attendance at live music events (in venues of all sizes across Scotland) was over four in ten for 16 to 24 year olds (46 per cent), compared with 11 per cent of those aged 75 or over.

As with other sectors in Scotland’s Creative Industries, the Scottish Government also pays careful attention to external, illustrative research undertaken by partners and stakeholders, such as the April 2025 report from the Music Venues Trust.

The Scottish Government committed in July 2024 to provide £2 million of support for the National Gas Transmission SCO2T Connect project feasibility study, which successfully concluded in March 2025. The conclusions are commercially sensitive and will not be published.

The national Good Food Nation Plan must be published and laid in Parliament before the end of the period of 3 months, beginning with the expiry of the 60 day period of parliamentary scrutiny. For example, if the proposed plan is laid on Friday 27 June, the 3 month period would begin on 30 September, meaning that the final plan would need to be published and laid within the period of 3 months from that date.

The Scottish Government is supportive of the introduction of shipping services that remove freight from Scotland's roads.

The Scottish Government and Transport Scotland have engaged with port and haulage stakeholders to explore options to increase trade moved through Scottish ports and we continue to work with Scotland’s main ports to explore the possibility of new services.

The Scottish Government set out its response to the Just Transition Commission Report A Just Transition for Aberdeen and the North East in a statement to parliament on 3 June. This confirmed that we accept the headline recommendations in principle and will take time to consider the report in detail before providing a full response.

Before we can undertake some of the planning that the sector needs, we need clarity from the UK Government in several key reserved areas, including the future regulatory and fiscal regimes for North Sea oil and gas.

The Scottish Government will also continue to provide support to the region and energy workforces within our devolved competence. This support includes the new £8.5 million round of the Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray and our £125 million investment in the Aberdeen City Region Deal.

I have asked Alison Byrne, Chief Executive of NRS to respond. Her response is:

As of mid-2023 (30 June 2023), the population of Glasgow City council area was estimated at 631,970. National Records of Scotland (NRS) has produced mid-year population estimates for Scotland’s 32 council areas on a consistent basis dating back to 1981. During this period, Glasgow City’s population was highest in mid-1981 at 712,370.

According to the 2018-based subnational population projections, which project the population of council areas up to mid-2043, the population of Glasgow City is projected to rise, reaching 662,740 by mid-2043. New, 2022-based sub-national population projections are due to be published later this year.

Population estimates are also produced for settlements. Scotland’s Census 2022 estimated the population of the Greater Glasgow settlement at 1,023,870 as of March 2022. Settlements are defined as groups of adjacent, high-density postcodes. For example, the Greater Glasgow settlement is larger than Glasgow City and includes areas like Paisley and Cambuslang.

Employment and taxation, including false and deceptive declarations by self-employed workers, are reserved matters.

The Scottish Government introduced eLearning in December 2024 which complements existing practical guidance to support the application of Fair Work First in procurement and to discourage ‘disguised employment’, including bogus self-employment.