Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s contract with First Marine International (FMI), a subsidiary of HaskoningDHV, sets out deliverables around timing and the quality of the work done on the report that the Scottish Government has commissioned. These are being used to determine performance and are linked to milestone payments to the supplier. The use of milestone payments is a common mechanism in Scottish Government contracts.

Any decisions around potential investment at the yard will be subject to value for money considerations and to subsidy control rules.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The UK Technical Advisory Group (UKTAG) published their Environmental Quality Standards recommendation for emamectin benzoate on 30 June 2022. The Scottish Government will now respond and consult on the implementation of the recent UKTAG environmental standard recommendation. In the meantime the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) updated its interim regulatory position on emamectin benzoate, to apply the new standard when determining new applications to discharge emamectin benzoate.

SEPA is also progressing work to update its framework for regulating bath treatment medicines. This has included introducing a new computer model of the dispersion of the medicines in the environment and taking account of the latest evidence on the persistence of the medicines in the environment. It is also working to support innovation in the capture and removal of bath treatment medicine residues to reduce discharges to the environment. SEPA is looking at the suite of bath medicines to understand if the latest scientific evidence suggests that the existing environmental standards need to be updated.

In response to the priorities set out by the parliamentary inquiries in 2018 and the Salmon Interactions Working Group report, an adaptive spatially-based risk assessment framework to manage sea lice interactions between wild and farmed fish was developed.

SEPA published its response to a consultation on the proposed framework on 25 August and will begin implementation later in 2023. The framework will assess the siting of salmon farms and the risk posed to wild fish.

The recent Programme for Government starts the process of developing a new National Marine Plan (NMP) and commits to supporting local authorities to guide development to the right places. We will consider options to undertake further spatial planning for aquaculture.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07063 on 4 May 2022. 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 is not clear what is meant by peatlands being ‘lost’.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many hectares of peatland have been ‘lost’ in each of the last 15 years but we have committed £250 million to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030.

The Scottish Government committed in the Programme for Government, to explore how to ensure the interests of future generations are taken into account in decisions made today.

Ministers and officials have been engaging with a wide range of organisations who have an interest in embedding sustainable development, wellbeing and the interests of future generations in policy. I have held a series of meetings with key stakeholders in this area.

The Scottish Government is also considering the case for a Future Generations Commission alongside other ways of embedding the interests of future generations in policy, such as placing duties on public authorities to take account of the impact of their decisions on wellbeing and sustainable development and future generations.

The Scottish Government will take this into account as part of the development of a proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill.

We intend to set out more detailed proposals later this year.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in the provision of student accommodation nor any capacity within the private rental market. However, we are aware of the ongoing difficulties faced by students in accessing accommodation this academic year.

We are currently undertaking a review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) which will look at a number of issues, including affordability and supply and the findings from this report, along with findings from the New Deal for Tenants Report which considered similar issues in the private rented sector, will inform a student accommodation strategy for Scotland.

There have been nearly 300 applications to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) from Ukrainian nationals, undertaking a first year of study in Higher Education (HE), for financial support (including tuition fees) in the 2022-23 Academic Year (AY). There have been a further 35 applications from Ukrainian nationals for financial support for postgraduate studies – this package attracts a tuition fee loan.

These figures may continue to rise with applications still being accepted.

It is not possible to confirm how many of these students have applied to the Super Sponsor scheme.

Data in respect of applications for support for courses of Further Education (FE) is not available. At the end of the 2022-23 AY, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will be able to confirm the number of Ukrainian nationals who enrolled on college courses.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any Scotland-wide surveying or monitoring of rat populations over the last five years.