In February the Scottish Government published the new Pathway of Maternity Care Clinical Guidance and Schedule, which describes the core care that women and their babies should receive. The Pathway supports the Best Start ethos of maternity care, which emphasises a 'whole-person', individualised care approach which takes account of women’s specific needs and circumstances.

We have instructed NHS Health Boards to align their services with the Pathway by April 2025. NHS Boards will be asked to report the status of implementation of the Pathway in their area as part of a national maternity services monitoring framework which will be issued shortly.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water’s in-house capital project delivery team was asked to deliver a project to provide capacity for growth at Oldmeldrum Wastewater Treatment Works. The project involved cleaning of an existing aeration ditch, replacement of its mechanical rotors and installation of an innovative secondary treatment unit. The renewal of the aeration ditch was delivered successfully, but the innovative element of the project was found not to be suitable in combination with the existing treatment process at the site. The forecast cost of the project was £3.3 million and the final cost was £3.9 million.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging funding will be paid directly to local authorities by PackUK (the scheme administrator) and it will be for each local authority to decide how it manages this funding. Under the Verity House Agreement, local government funding in Scotland will not be ring-fenced or directed, unless there is a clear joint understanding to do so. Similarly, council tax is a local tax, set and administered by individual local authorities, who had full flexibility in setting rates for 2025-26. There will be no reduction in the local government finance settlement as a result of extended producer responsibility for packaging payments in the first year of the scheme (2025-26)

Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan sets out how water resources will be managed prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather ensuring the correct balance is struck between protecting the environment and providing resource for human and economic activity.

The Scottish Government are working closely with partners to provide information and guidance on emerging water scarcity issues directly to farmers and food producers. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has sent direct communications to all agricultural abstraction licence holders providing them with an early overview of the water scarcity risks for this year and where support can be found. These direct messages will continue to be used over the summer and will be targeted to specific catchments where water scarcity becomes an issue.

The Scottish Government is actively addressing water scarcity in agriculture through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS). The scheme promotes sustainable land management practices, including water management and water-use efficiency measures to reduce the impacts of water scarcity on the agricultural sector.

In the 2024 and 2025 rounds of AECS, applications for irrigation lagoons, which are a key measure for reducing water scarcity, were able to be made as a simplified standalone item or as part of a wider application, open until 12 June 2025. To support further uptake, in 2024 we increased the grant ceiling for irrigation lagoons from £30,000 to £40,000.

The Scottish Government funded Farm Advisory Service (FAS) and Farming and Water Scotland (FWS) programmes provides largely free information and resources for farms and crofts in Scotland. Both FAS and FWS develop and share sector-specific guidance with farmers and food produces in various formats, such as at agricultural shows, training events, podcasts, videos and in articles. Farmers and food producers can access resources related to water scarcity and water management on both the FAS and FWS websites.

Project Willow did not specifically examine the Aker Solutions study focussed on Equinor Refining’s Mongstad facility. However, both hydrogen for fuel switching and the development of sustainable aviation fuel (HEFA and e-fuels) are proposed pathways in Project Willow. The potential usage of hydrogen as a means of decarbonising via fuel switching is already being progressed by Ineos O&P at Grangemouth and is being supported by investment from the Scottish Government of £5 million in the form of grant funding delivered by Scottish Enterprise.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-22819 on 23 November 2023. 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, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water (Regulated) Contractor P&L expenditure for 2024-25 was £31.7m against a Budget of £30.7m. The actual costs include £4.0m unbudgeted proactive leakage recovery costs so therefore the underlying variance is favourable.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-22818 on 23 November 2023. 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

It has always been the Scottish Government’s intention that extended producer responsibility for packaging funding should support investment to improve recycling rates and reduce carbon emissions, especially during the early years of the scheme. Therefore, there will be no reduction in the local government finance settlement as a result of extended producer responsibility for packaging payments in the first year of the scheme (2025-26). The funding purpose - to pay for the cost of managing household packaging waste - is clearly set out in legislation.

The Scottish Government made clear to Project Willow partners that the outputs of initial work must align to its draft Grangemouth Just Transition Plan with workforce and community considerations as fundamental prerequisites.

Both the workforce and the wider community were fully engaged in the initial research informing Project Willow, and stakeholders have regularly been kept appraised of findings and progress through the Project Willow standing committee that had representation from Unite and through the Grangemouth Future Industry Board which has representation from both community and workforce members.

Going forward, workers and the wider Grangemouth community will be able to contribute to next steps of Project Willow through regular review points across the GFIB group, as part of the Just Transition process. And we continue to engage closely with trade unions, educational institutions, and workers to make progress.