Chamber and committees

All bidders have been required to sign an undertaking that they have not been convicted for any offences, including that of revenue fraud. There is no evidence to suggest bidder’s failure to pay the required UK tax on their business.

The contract for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and Balmedie to Tipperty attracted strong interest from major UK and European companies. Of the 29 different companies in four consortia invited to bid 16 are headquartered in the UK, another eight have offices in the UK, and 15 have offices in Scotland.

The Trust is not expected to have a direct effect on planning obligations but the Trust will instead when approached, be expected to prioritise and facilitate action on restoration.

The determination of planning applications by Scottish Coal for opencast coal extraction is a matter for discussion between the individual planning authorities and Scottish Coals’ liquidators.

The Scottish Mines Restoration Trust (SMRT) is an independent body and not part of the Scottish Government. Therefore, the funding sources are a matter for the board of SMRT.

Coal operators are responsible for the restoration of their respective open cast sites. However, we recognise that these tasks are complex, and the Trust will work with the Scottish Government and its agencies, coal operators, local councils, landowners, communities, and environmental bodies to facilitate the responsible restoration of open cast sites.

The Scottish Mines Restoration Trust is an independent body and not part of the Scottish Government. We understand, however, that the Trust will ensure that a permanent community representative is appointed to their board. As each site is unique, bespoke solutions will be required and each site the Trust considers will need local knowledge, input and agreement from local community representatives as part of the working groups set up for each site.

Scotland needs a balanced energy policy. We believe that through our strong promotion of Carbon Capture and Storage and the continued potential of our onshore and offshore renewables sector, the Scottish Government is taking the necessary steps to meet our ambitious climate change targets in our continuing transition to a low carbon economy.

The committee on climate change has stated that a minimum Scottish contribution to the required global effort is broadly characterised by our meeting Scotland's statutory greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

The draft second Report on Proposals and Policies (RPP2) clearly shows that together all of the policies and proposals described would allow us to exceed each annual target from 2013 -2027.

The First Minister has confirmed that, as part of the detailed consideration of a replacement to the UK Government's Air Passenger Duty, the Scottish Government will conduct analysis on the environmental impact of proposals. That will be undertaken and the results will be made available in due course

The Scottish Government have had no discussions with the UK Government on these matters.

Section 11 of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 requires Scottish Ministers, after having consulted such persons as they consider appropriate, to lay a report before Parliament on the operation of the offences at Sections 1 and 6 of the Act covering the period from 1 March 2012 until 1 August 2014. The Act requires the report to be laid no later than 12 months after the end of that period and the Government will bring forward a report in time to meet those statutory requirements.