Topical Question Time
Flooding
1. Happy new year, Presiding Officer and all colleagues.
To ask the Scottish Government how it will respond to recent flooding in Dumfriesshire and across the country. (S4T-00555)
Happy new year, Presiding Officer, Dr Murray and colleagues.
I visited Whitesands in Dumfries last week to see first hand the effects of the flooding event at its peak, when Whitesands, Friars Vennel and a number of other side streets were badly flooded.
On Friday I visited Govan communication centre to see the heart of the resilience response operations that cover local authorities in the west regional resilience partnership area. I very much sympathise with Elaine Murray, whose office was damaged, and with others in the area who were affected.
I reiterate my gratitude to the local authorities and emergency services, which reacted swiftly to minimise the impact of rising water levels and to establish welfare centres for those who were affected.
In events of that nature—which, sadly, impact on Dumfries regularly—preparation is key. I was extremely impressed by how well prepared all the authorities were, aided by the timely and accurate flood forecasts from the Scottish flood forecasting service, which is run by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Met Office.
Flood risk management is a priority for the Scottish Government. We have maintained and protected funding for SEPA and, in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, we have maintained the levels of funding that were identified for flood protection in the local authority settlement, at £42 million per annum.
On 31 December, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth announced that the Bellwin scheme is open for applications for financial support.
Next week, as was planned prior to the recent weather, I will host a summit with local authorities to look at the work that is currently under way to produce the first-ever round of flood risk management plans, which will make a significant contribution to our collective work in Scotland to reduce flood risk, and will help to target future investment. I know from my conversation with local responders in Dumfries that those maps will add value to their work.
The minister will be aware that Dumfries is the largest town in Scotland that suffers from regular flooding but has in place no flood prevention scheme. Dumfries and Galloway Council is, at long last, considering the details of a flood prevention scheme for the Whitesands area and is likely to require an estimated £9 million of additional funding for its implementation. Can the minister advise whether and when any central funding will be available?
That issue was raised when I met the leader and chief executive of Dumfries and Galloway Council at Whitesands. I am aware that the council is preparing its flood protection scheme for the Whitesands area and is looking perhaps not to eliminate all flood risk, but to try to reduce to a reasonable level the flood risk to the town centre, which is important for the regeneration of Dumfries. I certainly acknowledge that Dumfries is a major population centre and that it currently does not have protection of the type that Elaine Murray described.
As Elaine Murray may be aware, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Government have an agreement to distribute £42 million per year through the capital grant to local authorities. An application process for funding is open; it closes on 21 January. I am not sure at what stage Dumfries and Galloway Council will be at that point; I know that a number of local authorities plan to bid for that funding. A pot of money is therefore available that is allocated jointly by local government and the Scottish Government. That is the funding that local authorities such as Dumfries and Galloway Council will need to apply for.
I thank the minister for that information.
The minister referred to the flooding in my office. At least I had several hours to prepare my constituency office for the flooding on 30 December, courtesy of the SEPA flood warning system, which covers Dumfries town. Constituents in other parts of my constituency, such as those in the 21 households that were flooded in Kirkconnel, were not so lucky, because their areas are not covered by the warning scheme. Given the increased incidence of flooding events in Scotland, will the Scottish Government consider funding the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to extend its full flood warning scheme?
I certainly acknowledge the importance of flood warning schemes. The experience in Whitesands was that the authority was able to get the response in place in time, which demonstrates the value of such investment.
We have had a steady programme to extend the parts of the country that are covered, and we most recently launched the scheme at the River Carron at Stonehaven. The scheme covers that town, which has also suffered a number of flooding events, as I am sure Elaine Murray is aware.
In my discussions with the leader and chief executive of Dumfries and Galloway Council, I have asked them to come to me with suggestions about where they think flood warning enhancement in Dumfries and Galloway would have most impact. I look forward to receiving information from them.
In particular catchments, it is very challenging to put in place a flood warning scheme, but we will see what we can do to help the local authority in question, and others across Scotland.
I, too, wish the Presiding Officer and all my colleagues a very happy new year.
I thank the minister for his efforts across the country over the festive period and for visiting the Whitesands area in Dumfries, in particular.
Dumfries and Galloway Council’s strategic flood risk assessment ranked Newton Stewart and Minnigaff highly in respect of flood risk on all factors. Will the minister consider those areas and any other high-risk areas in the region being designated as SEPA target areas for specific early flood warnings?
Indeed. I recognise that places such as Newton Stewart have been very badly affected in previous flooding incidents. Thankfully, this time round we knew the circumstances that had previously affected Newton Stewart, which helped to inform responders’ actions. However, we still lacked a warning system for the River Cree. That lack affects a number of communities along that river.
SEPA has published its flood warning strategy to 2016, which, I am pleased to say, sets out a programme of work to enhance its network across Scotland. It includes a coastal flood warning scheme for the Solway Firth, which is planned for 2015. As I say, I am happy to ask SEPA to consider what more can be done across Scotland. I also recognise Aileen McLeod’s direction to look at the River Cree and the importance of providing as much information as we can to residents of Newton Stewart and other communities in the area.
I suggest that anyone who is affected by flooding in the region, for example in Newton Stewart, will benefit from signing up to the flood line because they will at least get a flood alert on general risks to the local authority area. We are doing as much as we can to enhance the network of warning systems in order to give as detailed and timely information as possible to residents in Dumfries and Galloway, and in other regions.
Wildlife Crime
2. I declare an interest as chair of the cross-party group on animal welfare.
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent discovery of six badger carcases near Peebles, whether it is content with Police Scotland’s resource allocation for detecting and preventing wildlife crimes. (S4T-00552)
The allocation of police resources in line with national and local priorities is a matter for Police Scotland. However, Police Scotland has demonstrated its commitment to tackling wildlife crime at a national level. Wildlife crime co-ordination sits within the specialist crime division of Police Scotland. There is a national portfolio lead at superintendent level, supported by a lead senior officer and a wildlife crime liaison officer in each of the 14 divisions and a network of wildlife crime officers who operate across the country. That approach ensures better co-ordination, greater consistency and improved communication with partner agencies to tackle wildlife crime and to make links between wildlife crime and other serious and organised crime.
In addition, the Scottish Government provides dedicated funding for the national wildlife crime unit based in Livingston. The wildlife crime unit operates with partners across the United Kingdom to assist in the prevention and detection of crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, as well as supporting law enforcement with specialist advice.
I am sure that the cabinet secretary shares my and my constituents’ shock and disgust at the horrendous discovery on their doorstep. Notwithstanding the additional resources allocated by Police Scotland, recent evidence shows that badger baiting is on the increase, with 40 incidents in 2013. However, in 2012, there were only two prosecutions—one was a fine; the other was then an on-going prosecution.
When badgers are slowly savaged to death, the dogs also sustain horrific injuries. Given that and the partnerships that the cabinet secretary mentioned, is he aware of any liaison between Police Scotland and the veterinary community to assist in tracing the criminals if dogs are taken there?
Detecting and prosecuting wildlife crime is always difficult: the crimes usually take place in remote parts of the country where there are few if any witnesses; crimes may not be discovered until days or often weeks after they have taken place; and the evidence is usually exposed to the elements and deteriorates fast. That is not to say that prosecutions are impossible. For example, badger baiting has seen a number of successful prosecutions in recent years. Indeed, for the five-year period from 2007-08 to 2011-12, 15 offences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 were proceeded against, with 13 guilty outcomes. The Scottish Government’s “Wildlife Crime in Scotland - 2012 Annual Report” published in September 2013 contains details of other court proceedings.
There is a desire and intention to ensure that criminals are brought to account. As announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change in July 2013, the police are looking to bring in all the modern investigative techniques at their disposal to bear down on such crimes. It is a matter of partnership, working with those who operate in rural areas. There is also a recognition that the crimes are not simply rural but tie into criminals and serious crime gangs who operate out of urban areas, which is why it is important to realise that the matter is not simply for police officers who operate in rural Scotland but for all police officers wherever they operate. Partnering and working with other agencies, whether the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or others, is important and my cabinet colleagues and I are intent on maintaining that.
I fully accept that serious and organised gangs are involved. To return to the difficulty of tracking them, I understand that bull lurchers, which are big, muscular, powerful dogs, are being bred to make the baiting even more savage. Are there any resources—the cabinet secretary may not know but Police Scotland may be able to tell us in due course—for a whistleblowing capacity within the Scottish wildlife crime unit, so that people can report sightings of this new dog specifically bred for the purpose of badger baiting?
I am not aware of the specifics, but I am happy to inquire and come back to the member on that issue. However, I can say that the specialist unit provides and maintains the sharing of information across the police and the constabulary, ensuring that information is disseminated downwards, so that it is not simply officers in some of the rural areas who will be viewed as taking this as an important and serious matter but all officers in all 14 divisions.
That is necessary, given the comments that Ms Grahame made. The likelihood is that the dogs will be kept in areas that are not necessarily the ones in which they are used. I have no doubt that there will be capacity, whether through Crimestoppers or other means, to ensure that information in that regard can be not only received but acted on. I will be glad to get back to the member with additional information.
I wish everyone a happy new year. I, too, declare an interest: I work with Christine Grahame as deputy convener of the cross-party group on animal welfare.
The cabinet secretary referred to modern techniques. Will he say what arrangements are in place to monitor the use of the internet by groups who are involved in wildlife crime such as badger baiting? For instance, what happens if people set up a Facebook page devoted to organising fox baiting or dog fighting? As the cabinet secretary said, what we are talking about can be an urban crime as well as a rural one.
These are challenges that the police face across the spectrum, whether we are talking about fraud or other criminality where movement is frequent or about the use of social media in the context of offensive behaviour in relation to football. The member can rest assured that the police monitor social media, to ensure that they keep abreast of what is happening and deal with unacceptable and criminal actions. I have no doubt that Police Scotland will be happy to brief the member or her group if she wants further information. She can rest assured that the police monitor social media and internet use, because that is essential if the police are to be able to deal with criminality in the modern age in which we live.
The cabinet secretary will, sadly, be well aware of the recent poisoning of a golden eagle in the Angus glens, in my constituency. Will he update me on whether the introduction of vicarious liability, whereby managers and owners of estates are made responsible for their employees’ criminal actions, has made a difference to the incidence of poisoning in the rural community?
The poisoning of the young golden eagle was a disgraceful and barbaric act, especially given that it happened at the end of the year of natural Scotland, during which the golden eagle was voted as the favourite of Scotland’s big five species.
I must be constrained in what I say about the incident, because there is a live police investigation—members would expect no less, especially given recent comments. I can say that there has been progress in reducing the number of raptor poisonings to three in 2012, although it appears that 2013 saw an increase in confirmed poisonings—the final number is yet to be confirmed, due to on-going police investigations. There were also a number of illegal shooting and trapping incidents that involved raptors.
Those incidents reinforce the need for the measures that the Minister for Environment and Climate Change announced in July, which include reviewing the penalties for wildlife crime, looking at ways to restrict the use of general licences in areas where there are good reasons to believe that wildlife crime is taking place and, most important, supporting the Lord Advocate in encouraging the police to use all the investigative tools that are at their disposal to identify and bring to book the criminals who are behind attacks on Scotland’s precious wildlife. Whether such crime is committed by people in the rural environment who should know better or by serious organised crime gangs, it is entirely unacceptable, and the full weight of the law and law enforcement will be brought to bear on those responsible.
It will perhaps be for others to comment on vicarious liability in the context of developments in recent years. Progress has been made, but we require to be ever-vigilant, because the recent incident reminds us that such crime is still going on, with tragic consequences.