Chamber and committees

Local Authorities have a duty to investigate light pollution complaints under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA). The Scottish Government engages with local authorities through the Environmental Health Officers network and relevant working groups, where any emerging issues on light pollution could be raised.

I recognise the unavailability of the Corran Ferry is causing major disruption for communities, businesses and visitors to the area.

While the operation of transport links across the Corran Narrows is the responsibility of the Highland Council and any decisions on maintenance, upgrades, or options to replace ferries is for them, I recently met with the Highland Council to hear more about their plans for the route. I would be happy to visit Lochaber to learn further about The Highland Council’s plans and to meet the local community.

The Scottish Government now mandates the real Living Wage in its contracts and those contractors will now pay the real Living Wage either through a change of supplier during a re-let or via contract management processes. As such, we are not aware of any suppliers who do not pay the real Living Wage to employees directly involved in services to the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government recognise the valuable role that sport and physical activity can play to the overall health of the nation.

Encouraging people to take part in sport at all levels, including in newer sports such as pickleball, is key to getting more people more active more often, and can create wider benefits in areas such as health, education, communities and the economy.

In the last 20 years, sportscotland has invested over £235 million of Scottish Government and National Lottery funding in clubs, communities, and leisure trusts across Scotland to improve the places where people take part in sport and physical activity. As a sport that’s primarily played on a badminton court, we already have fantastic facilities across the country where pickleball can be played.

Through sportscotland’s Community Sport Hubs’ programmes, local community organisations are beginning to explore opportunities to develop links with pickleball clubs and to promote the sport. There are now five pickleball clubs across three local authorities that are part of the Community Sport Hub programme and these numbers are expected to grow as the sport continues to develop.

The Active Travel budget for 2023-24 is £189 million to deliver a range of infrastructure, behaviour change and access to bikes programmes. Local authorities are the predominant recipients of active travel related funding, either directly or through delivery partners such as Sustrans and Regional Transport Partnerships.

In 2023-24, around £60m funding is committed to be invested in local authority infrastructure delivery projects through Sustrans’ Places for Everyone (PfE) programme.

The Cycling Walking Safer Routes (CWSR) grant of £35 million goes directly to local authorities on a pro rata basis. Local authorities can use this to design, develop and construct active travel infrastructure measures based on identified local priorities.

In addition to PfE and CWSR, local authorities can bid for funds via Regional Transport Partnerships with cross boundary work being prioritised, and through the Active Travel Transformation Fund introduced in 2023- 24. As part of the Active Travel Transformation Fund, Transport Scotland will assume direct responsibility for funding Local Authorities and other partners to deliver infrastructure projects at construction stage, with around £20m budget allocated this financial year.

The details of the levels of active travel capital funding for the next five years will be discussed and agreed as part of the Scottish Government annual budget setting process.

The River Basin Management Plans are the key tools for implementing the European Community (EC)’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) .The regulations cover rivers, lochs, transitional waters (estuaries), coastal waters groundwater, and groundwater dependant wetlands. This legislation became law in Scotland as the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 (WEWS Act) and covers activities such as discharges to the water environment, abstractions, and physical works in rivers and lochs that can threaten the water environment and the animals and people that rely on it.

The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 – more commonly known as the Controlled Activity Regulations (CAR) – and their further amendments of 2013 and 2017 apply regulatory controls over activities which may affect Scotland’s water environment.

Scotland’s third River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) set statutory objectives to protect and improve Scotland’s water environment by 2027. These objectives are based on ecological assessments and economic judgments. The regulations cover all types of water body, e.g. rivers, lochs, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwater.

This RBMP builds on previous RBMPs published in 2009 and 2015, setting revised objectives for the period from 2021 to the end of 2027 and providing a programme of actions for achieving the objectives. While, 66% of Scotland’s overall water environment meets ‘good’ ecological status, the RBMP objectives for the 2021-27 period, and the associated work programme aims to ensure that 81% of Scotland’s water bodies achieve a ‘good’ or better classification by 2027 and continue to improve as natural conditions recover beyond that date.

This RBMP sets out a framework for protecting and improving the water environment across Scotland. The Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), responsible authorities and all of Scotland’s other public bodies are responsible for developing and implementing the RBMP. Detailed information about the RBMP can be found in the water environment hub . It provides information on each waterbody, pressures, measures and the objectives (targets) that we have set.

SEPA is responsible for monitoring, assessing and classifying Scotland’s water environment including coastal waters and Shellfish Water Protected Areas. The classification data is available to the public online at the water classification hub . The Scottish Budget has allocated nearly £3 million to improvement of the water environment in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recent Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) report on handheld remote-controlled training devices (e-collars).

We will consider all their findings carefully as part of our ongoing commitment to improve and enhance animal welfare.

SaxaVord Spaceport has the potential to have a major beneficial impact for Shetland’s economy.

An economic impact assessment produced as part of the Spaceport’s planning application, estimates that once operational the spaceport will support over 209 jobs in the Shetland Islands, and generate c.£7.5 million GVA per year. This increases to 255 jobs and £9.3 million GVA when considered at a Scottish level.

According to the Spaceport's website the company is set to invest upwards of £43m over the next 18 months, rising to £100m in the next five years as it seeks to establish three launchpads and continues to attract both domestic and international launch customers.

The Scottish Government is committed to reforming Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to ensure they drive the energy efficiency improvements we need and incentivise zero direct emissions heating. In 2021, we consulted on the introduction of a new domestic EPC metric based on a dwelling’s energy use. Following feedback received through consultation, we have undertaken further work to develop options for EPC metrics, and wider reforms. We intend to publish a consultation on our final proposals for EPC reform later this year.

EPC reform will support our intention to introduce, subject to consultation, regulations requiring Scotland’s homes (including all owner-occupied and private rented properties) to meet a minimum energy efficiency level equivalent to EPC Band C from 2025 onwards. We are proposing a backstop date of 2028 for all private rented properties to comply, and 2033 for all owner-occupied housing properties. This is in addition to a proposed requirement for all homes to have zero direct emissions heating by 2045. We committed in this year’s Programme for Government to consult on proposals for this legislation in 2023.

Natural Flood Management (NFM) is one of a range of measures available to manage flood risk, however, it is a matter for individual local authorities to work with their communities to determine which solutions would best manage flood risk in their areas. As a result, the Scottish Government does not have any specific targets for the use of NFM.

We are committed to promoting and advancing our understanding of NFM projects and as part of this commitment we are funding the long term Eddleston Water research project and the Allan Water improvement project. These projects are helping to develop an evidence base to improve our understanding of NFM and will help stakeholders to understand its potential value as an alternative flood prevention measure. Evidence produced from these projects have indicated that NFM can help to delay flood peaks, deliver multiple environmental benefits and help mitigate the impacts of climate change.

As set out in the Programme for Government 2022-23 (A Stronger & More Resilient Scotland) the Scottish Government is committed to consulting on a new flooding strategy for Scotland, including how we can build community flood resilience and engage a broader range of delivery partners to deliver more diverse flood management actions, such as NFM, faster.