The Scottish Government is committed to doing all we can, with our limited economic powers, to mitigate the impact of ExxonMobil’s decision to close the Fife Ethylene Plant. The Minister for Public Finance attended a meeting with Fife Council, UK Government, local employers, and trade union representatives on 24 November. I also convened a summit on 25 November which included Fife Council, key industry stakeholders, union representatives, colleges and MSPs to establish what targeted action can be taken to secure a prosperous future for the site and its workforce.

Going forward, the Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with all stakeholders with the aim of securing a long-term and sustainable future for Mossmorran. Fife Council have confirmed that they will lead the proposed taskforce; and the Scottish Government has committed to fully participating in this.

The Scottish Government has been clear: the UK Government must take further action to mitigate the impact of ExxonMobil’s regrettable decision to close the Fife Ethylene Plant. The First Minister has written to the Prime Minister expressing his dissatisfaction with the complete lack of action from the UK Government, and reiterated the need to act now when they met on 5 December.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42335 on 16 December 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42331 on 16 December 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42335 on 16 December 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.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water currently has around 1,400 overflow monitors in place (covering over one third of all intermittent discharges). Scottish Water has plans to increase monitor coverage to around 2,000 locations in total (nearly 50% of intermittent discharges) and will look to determine an approach to establish how many more monitors should be installed in 2026 and beyond.

A significant number of overflow locations are predicted never to spill and monitoring these locations would generate limited value beyond proving that overflow events do not occur. Monitors are relatively expensive to install and deploying these without generating any environmental benefit is unlikely to represent good value for customers.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-42335 on 16 December 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 Scottish Government is clear that corridor care should not be normalised. Any care out with standard care areas should be avoided where possible and if required, all actions to mitigate the risks of this should be undertaken, and the length of time in which patients are in these areas should be a short as possible.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

"Environmental Standards Scotland has recently welcomed that Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are working to develop an approach to identify overflows where action is needed to prevent dry weather spills from happening.

In the first instance, Scottish Water responds to and carries out any operational interventions to check for blockages, misconnections or other potential faults where any overflow events appear to be happening in dry weather. Scottish Water has also proposed a definition for dry day overflow events and is working in the background to investigate overflows using data from Event Duration Monitors installed as part of commitments made in its ‘Improving Urban Waters Route map’. Where overflow events are confirmed to be occurring in dry weather because of insufficient capacity in the sewerage system, a process is being developed whereby these will be identified as Unsatisfactory Intermittent Discharges (UIDs) and will be agreed with SEPA as a priority for improvement."

Deployment of resources is a matter for the Chief Constable based on operational priorities. This is very clearly set out in the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 which received cross party support in this chamber.

Police Scotland already work very closely with local communities, including local authority representatives and the Act requires Police Scotland to involve individual local authorities in setting of priorities and objectives for the policing of its area.

Furthermore, a local policing plan which sets out the main priorities and objectives for their area must be approved by local authorities.

The importance of community policing is recognised in the Scottish Government’s Strategic Police Priorities which were revised in 2023.

Police Scotland’s three year business plan also includes a number of measures aimed at enhancing local policing to help keep our communities safe.

Asylum is the process by which someone applies to the UK Government to have their refugee status recognised. Asylum is reserved to the UK Government, this includes the provision of asylum accommodation and support to those who would otherwise be destitute while waiting for a decision on their asylum application.

The Scottish Government supports widening of asylum dispersal in principle and expects the UK Government to effectively engage with local authorities and COSLA on operational planning.

The Home Office must work constructively with local authorities in Scotland to ensure any asylum dispersal plans developed do not adversely impact services and enable people seeking asylum to be supported within communities.

The Scottish Government has repeatedly raised the impact of reserved decisions on local authorities and services, particularly increased asylum decision making without provision of resources or adequate planning and urge the UK Government to avoid placing a greater strain on councils, especially in Glasgow where the situation is already unsustainable.