The rateable value of the building is not the only measure of value for money and nor is it an indication of the cost to replace with a new building. There are other relevant factors with respect to looking at alternatives for public sector buildings. For instance, the local property market and availability of alternative properties and land. It is also imperative that public bodies have good quality, efficient premises which reduce energy costs. As well as this, a key consideration for public bodies will be ensuring that they are located in areas that meet the needs of the essential services they provide.

In many cases, public bodies are not looking to unlock the value of the building through a sale and will retain buildings over the long term, necessitating their upgrade over time. Applicants to the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme must therefore evidence that all buildings included in an application will be retained over the blended useful life of all measures installed as part of the project.

As published as part of the 2025-26 Budget, the NZE portfolio received Scotwind CDEL of £179.9 million in addition to £603.7 million CDEL allocation this financial year, which is targeted towards our investment in net zero priorities.

The Scottish government does not hold information on the number of nurseries which are closed or mothballed.

Decisions relating to local ELC provision are for local authorities to make, in consultation with the local community. Mothballing should only be for a temporary period and should be subject to regular review, at least annually, against the same requirements which led to the original decision to mothball.

The Care Inspectorate publish a monthly list of all service closures which can be found here: Changes to registration, variations and cancelled services

The annual Care Inspectorate Early Learning and Childcare Statistics publication (Early learning and childcare statistics 2023) sets out information on the availability and quality of registered daycare of children and childminding services for children and families across Scotland. This also includes data on annual service cancellations across the sector.

In developing the national apology, the Scottish Government engaged with individuals and families affected by historic forced adoption, drawing on personal testimonies and findings from relevant inquiries across the UK and internationally. This included findings from the Truth Recovery Design Panel report for the Northern Ireland Executive and recommendations from campaigning groups such as the Movement for Adoption Apology Scotland on what would constitute a meaningful apology.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. More detailed information on the procedure(s) that is planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards.

I have asked Stephen Pathirana, Chief Executive of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, to respond. His response is as follows:

2,725 officers, over 50% of the retired police officers eligible for the McCloud remedy, were sent their remediable service statement by 31 March 2025. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency has published an extension to the deadlines and all officers will receive their statement by 31 July 2025. The information is available at: https://pensions.gov.scot/sites/default/files/2025-04/2025-04_Police_Circular_McCloud_Remedy_administration_%E2%80%93_Remediable_Service_Statements.pdf

The Scottish Government are contributing £9.08 million towards the cost of this project through the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are contributing the remainder. While the cost of the works exceeds the value of the property, the market value of the property does not relate to its importance either as part of the historic environment or its usefulness as a public building.

This building is used to provide a vital local service in the area and will remain in public ownership over the longer term. Therefore, we must invest in it – and our other public buildings – over time to support public bodies, and other building owners, to end their use of polluting heating to reach net zero by 2045. The Edinburgh Crown Office occupies a Category B listed building, situated in the Old Town UNESCO World Heritage Site in the city centre of Edinburgh. We recognise it will be more challenging and more expensive for some properties to achieve this, particularly where they are part of the historic environment and are therefore harder to treat.

In responding, I must advise that licence applications to lethally control mountain hare before March 2021 were required for the previous closed season, however following passage of the Animals and Wildlife Penalties, Protections and Powers Scotland Act mountain hares are now a protected species and licence applications are required year round.

Licences to lethally control mountain hare have been issued for the following purposes since 2012; “Preventing serious damage to growing timber”, “Conserving any area of natural habitat” and “Science, research and education”.

Information determining if the land applied to the application is public or private is not held centrally.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) assesses the clinical and cost effectiveness of newly licensed medicines, including medicines for advanced Parkinson’s disease, on a once for Scotland basis and publishes advice for Health Boards to consider. It is expected that Health Board Area & Drug and Therapeutics Committees (ADTCs) will consider making a SMC recommended medicine, or an equivalent, available on their local or regional formulary for routine prescribing within 90 days of SMC advice being published.

In March 2024, the SMC accepted for restricted use foslevodopa-foscarbidopa (Produodopa®) within the NHS in Scotland for treatment of advanced levodopa-responsive Parkinson’s disease with severe motor fluctuations and hyperkinesia or dyskinesia when available combinations of Parkinson medicinal products have not given satisfactory results. The SMC restriction was for use in patients not eligible for deep brain stimulation (DBS).

The Scottish Government spend with Amazon Web Services in each of the last 3 financial years is detailed in the following table:-