Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises and greatly values the commitment of on-call firefighters and the flexibility of their primary employers in allowing them time off to provide the essential fire and rescue cover across Scotland. On-call firefighters are expected to obtain their employer's agreement to be released, where appropriate, for operational duties. On-call firefighters have contracts of employment with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and receive an annual retainer fee together with additional payments for incident attendance, training and other approved activities. These payments are made directly to the firefighter rather than to their primary employer. Businesses which employ on-call firefighters do not receive compensation when employees are released from their primary employment to respond to operational incidents.

Scottish Water will deliver 95 improvement projects set out in its Improving Urban Waters Routemap Annual Update 2025 by December 2027. These projects include 19 overflows impacting Water Quality and 27 with sewage-related debris issues.

For Portobello specifically, Scottish Water, in collaboration with SEPA and the council, is currently carrying out a £1m study to identify potential bathing water impacts. This includes a pollution study to determine possible misconnections between the combined sewer system and the surface water/burn network. It also includes updating an impact assessment model to identify whether routine overflow events from the combined sewer system are impacting bathing water performance.

The Scottish Government notes the contents of, and welcomes the effort that Nourish Scotland has put into better understanding public diners through their Public Diners: By The Public report.

We understand that a pilot scheme and further research is being undertaken in Dundee to better understand the real-world impacts of public diners. The Scottish Government is looking forward to seeing the findings of this project, in particular evidence on the feasibility and sustainability within a Scottish setting.

The Scottish Government is supporting local authorities to develop and deliver local Good Food Nation plans through ongoing engagement and guidance. This includes dedicated workshops, regular engagement to provide tailored support, attendance at local Good Food Nation steering groups and workshops, producing policy guidance notes and presentations at relevant events with a focus on Good Food Nation. An online collaboration space for local authorities to share good practice has also been established by the Good Food Nation Team.

Ministers regularly meet with Police Scotland to discuss a range of matters. Meetings between Ministers and Police Scotland since 1 January 2026 exclusively focused on the antisocial use of vehicles and the powers available to officers to address these issues took place on 24 February 2026, 4 March 2026, and 21 July 2026. I will write to the Member with summary notes of these meetings. A copy of that correspondence will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 66816). Separately, Scottish Government officials meet regularly with Police Scotland colleagues, including the Head of Roads Policing, to discuss a range of issues, including the antisocial and criminal use of vehicles.

Each location can present unique challenges. Given this and level of investment often required, an evidence-led, targeted and prioritised approach to managing water quality at specific locations is essential. Within the last 10 years, Scottish Water has invested £2.7bn in improving and maintaining Scotland's public drainage system and infrastructure, with the Improving Urban Waters Routemap committing an investment of up to £500m.

In preparation for the current investment period (SR21-27), comprehensive studies were carried out to prioritise actions. Investigations found that 24 overflow locations required upgrades to deliver an improvement in water quality, and these are included in Scotland's third River Basin Management Plan (211222-final-rbmp3-scotland.pdf) to be delivered by December 2027.

While there is no legislation specific to (i) rivers, (ii) lochs, (iii) coastal waters and (iv) other bodies of water, rivers, lochs and coastal waters are within the definition of surface water, in the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003, which implements the EU Water Framework Directive. We keep all applicable legislation under review.

Following the reported damage to the Parallel Roads of Lochaber Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a number of actions have been taken. This includes the arrest of alleged perpetrators of the damage and the preparation of a report for the procurator fiscal, and separate enforcement notice action by The Highland Council in relation to unconsented development.

The damaging activities at Achanbobane have caused irreparable damage to some of the protected interest of the SSSI because the processes which created them, glacial ice and meltwater deposition, cannot be replicated. Nevertheless, NatureScot is working with The Highland Council to ensure that the limited re-instatement which is possible is carried out without further damage to the site.

As a stronger deterrence to further damage to the SSSI occurring at Achnabobane, in September 2025 Scottish Ministers put in place a Nature Conservation Order. Only through the vigilance of the community, NatureScot and partners will any further damaging activity be detected and reported, allowing rapid action to be taken to stop it.

I have asked Richard Dennis, the Accountant in Bankruptcy and Agency Chief Executive, to respond. His response is as follows:

The regulation of insolvency practitioners is reserved under head C2 of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998. If Accountant in Bankruptcy had concerns that an individual was acting as trustee in a sequestration without meeting the necessary requirements, this would be reported to the trustee’s recognised professional body and the UK Insolvency Service.

The Scottish Government does not hold Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) expenditure information organised in this way. Funding is awarded to projects which deliver benefits across multiple habitats and ecosystems.

Across both the Competitive Fund and Edinburgh Process funding strands, the NRF supports projects under five strategic themes: habitat and species restoration; freshwater restoration, including restoration of natural flows in rural catchments; coastal and marine initiatives; control of invasive non-native species; and urban nature restoration.

The NRF Interim Evaluation Report (2021-24) found that around 50% of the Competitive Fund's budget in its first three years was allocated to projects primarily categorised as freshwater and wetland, or coastal and marine projects.