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The Scottish Government does not routinely provide financial support to SSE plc or its subsidiaries. Electricity networks are a regulated industry, with Ofgem, the GB energy regulator, responsible for regulation.

The Inquiry is currently in its early set-up phase, and the detailed Terms of Reference for the Inquiry will be developed over the coming months with Professor Jay. I need to be clear that it is not for Ministers to direct an independent inquiry chair on costs and duration.

Through my discussions with Professor Jay so far, she has said she wants to ensure the Inquiry delivered at pace while ensuring it has the flexibility to investigate any areas it deems necessary. My officials continue to work at pace on the initial set-up of the inquiry.

Mr Findlay was amongst cross-party MSPs invited to a briefing session which I chaired on 16 March to engage with Professor Jay and the Inspectorates leading the National Review into group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation to hear more about progress on these matters.

Post-election, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills will provide an update to the Scottish Parliament as work to formally establish the Inquiry advances.

The Scottish Government has spent £234,285.95 in setting up the Deposit Return Scheme since 2018. This includes the costs associated with consultation, publication of regulations and associated documents, evaluations, independent reviews and assurance.

In addition, as of January 2026, the costs incurred by the Scottish Government in the legal challenge from BIFFA Waste Services Ltd in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme is £447,092.

Civil Servants operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of their work at any given time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time spent working on particular matters. It is therefore not possible to provide an expenditure figure regarding how much the Scottish Government has spent on work by Civil Servants involved with the Deposit Return Scheme.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) publishes ‘Renewable electricity – number of sites by region’ on an annual basis as part of the Accredited Official Statistics publication Energy Trends. The latest statistics were published on 30 September 2025 and show that as at the end of 2024, there were a total of 3,721 onshore and offshore wind sites based in Scotland.

Site specific information is not published and would be needed to provide the requested breakdowns. This is held by DESNZ.

The Energy Consents Unit(ECU)does not grant consent to renewable energy applications that were previously refused by local authorities.

The ECU administers applications made directly to the Scottish Ministers under Sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989.

When a local authority refuses an application made under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, the applicant is able to make an appeal to the Scottish Ministers.

The appeal process is administered by the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA), and the ECU has no role in this process.

As matters relating to the setting and management of constraint payments are reserved, the Scottish Government has not made its own assessment of expected future changes in curtailment costs.

All regulation and legislation relating to electricity networks is reserved to the UK Government. The responsibility for the balancing the grid lies with the National Energy System Operator (NESO). More information including data on balancing costs can be found here: Balancing costs | National Energy System Operator.

Since 1 January 2024, the Energy Consents Unit has received 57 applications for consent to construct, extend and/or operate wind farms under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

Two of these applications have been approved in this time, with the remaining 55 currently being processed by the Energy Consents Unit and awaiting determination by Scottish Ministers.

The public consultation on the draft Climate Change Plan (CCP) closed on 29 January 2026. The final CCP was published on Tuesday 24th March.

The Scottish Government maintains regular contact with the UK Government regarding energy matters, including issues of supply. These engagements forma critical part of our approach to issues of resilience.

The following table sets out how many licence applications were made to NatureScot for the purposes of controlling ravens in each year since 2021. The information also sets out how many licences were subsequently issued, amended before being issued, refused and cancelled by the applicant.