The Bathing Waters (Scotland) Regulations 2008 aims to minimise the risks to public health at designated locations and during periods when a large number of people bathe. However, it remains the personal responsibility of every individual to assess the risks before entering open water, whether at a designated bathing water within the bathing season or otherwise.

The globally accepted advice is to leave at least 48 hours after heavy rain before bathing whether within or outwith the bathing season. Further general advice on the health risks of open water swimming, which is also applicable to Scotland, is available from the UK Health Security Agency at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/swim-healthy-leaflet/swim-healthy .

The Scottish Government continuously works with SEPA, Scottish Water and other stakeholders on bathing water designations and to protect and improve bathing waters classifications. This has led to the number of bathing waters increasing since last year to 87, with 98% achieving the bathing water quality standards and more rated excellent than ever before.

The Scottish Government has not given consideration to a registration service in Scotland as this is an operational matter for Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS). The question relates to functions that are the responsibility of the SCTS of which the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) is a part. The SCTS is an independent body corporate and as such it is not directly answerable to the Scottish Government. Instead, it is directly answerable to its board, chaired by the Lord President.

Mr. Burnett has asked a separate question (S6W-13059) relating to the backlog of power of attorney applications at the OPG since September last year and what support is being offered to the OPG by Scottish Government. SCTS has put a dedicated taskforce in place to reduce the time taken to process Power of Attorney applications and work has begun to introduce a new case management system. This question is being answered by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans.

The Scottish Government aims to answer all ministerial correspondence within 20 working days and regularly reviews and monitors its performance against this target.

Correspondence from MSPs; councillors; third sector organisations and other key stakeholders; or the wider public is not categorised separately, therefore, calculating the percentage of responses sent within 20 working days to MSPs specifically could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. Between December 2021 and December 2022, the response rate for all ministerial correspondence was approximately 77% (of 43,091 items of ministerial correspondence, 33,173 were responded to within 20 working days).

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of providing compassionate, person-centred support for people who have been bereaved by suicide. This is reflected in the Scottish Government and COSLA’s new suicide prevention strategy and action plan, Creating Hope Together, which published in September. The strategy is supported by the Programme for Government commitment to double funding for suicide prevention to £2.8m per annum by the end of this Parliamentary term.

The new action plan includes a commitment to roll out bereavement support across Scotland, drawing on the evaluation of the current Suicide Bereavement Support Service pilot. The Scottish Government funds this pilot in two Health Board areas; Penumbra leads delivery of the pilot in Ayrshire and Arran and Change Mental Health (formerly Support in Mind Scotland) leads delivery in Highland. The total cost of the pilot service is £255,000 per annum, and this funding, split between the two organisations, has been allocated in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

Additionally, we have allocated Cruse Scotland a total of £16,780 for 2021-22 and £33,560 in 2022-23 to provide bereavement support in workplaces which have been affected by the suicide of a colleague.

The decision to freeze the non-domestic poundage rate at 49.8p is expected to save ratepayers £308 million in 2023-24, compared to uprating the poundage in line with September’s measure of CPI which would have resulted in a poundage rate of 54.8p in 2023-24. This figure is broken down in Table 1 by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

These tables are based on an imputed Valuation Roll based on an incomplete draft Valuation Roll, as used by the Scottish Fiscal Commission in Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts December 2022, and are therefore subject to change. Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000.

Table 1: Gross savings to ratepayers of poundage freeze compared with maintaining real terms income, by property class

The Enhanced Psychology Practice (EPP) training course was established by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in 2021, with the first round of training commencing in October of that year. Training numbers so far as follows;

• 14 learners from the Adult EPP Cohort 1 have completed training. 5 learners from Cohort 1 are still to complete due to extensions. Cohort 2 commenced in April 2022, with 22 learners currently in training.
• The Children and Young People (CYP) EPP pilot cohort commenced in April 2022 with 10 learners currently in training.
• Interviews concluded for the November 2022 cohorts of EPP-A and EPP-CYP learners in August. NES HAS issued offers for 32 places across both programmes.
• When at full capacity, an annual intake of approximately 100 learners will be possible. This will form a rolling programme of recruitment over several intake cycles.

Table 1 presents the estimated gross savings to ratepayers due to the increase in the rateable value threshold for the Higher Property Rate (HPR) to £100,000. This table does not take into account any reliefs, including Transitional Relief. This is broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

These tables are based on an imputed Valuation Roll based on an incomplete draft Valuation Roll, as used by the Scottish Fiscal Commission in Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts December 2022, and are therefore subject to change.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000.

Table 1: Gross savings to properties removed from HPR in 2023-24 due to the threshold increase, by property class

The business rates incentivisation scheme is temporarily suspended as a result of the additional non domestic rates reliefs package provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. The intention is to reintroduce the scheme in 2023-24. The amount of revenue that will be able to be retained by local authorities in 2023-24 will depend on their collection performance against their 2023-24 collection targets.

On Scotland’s national forests and land, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) constructs roads for use on a multi-purpose basis e.g. timber transport, tree planting, environmental improvement works, recreational access. FLS does not hold data that ascribes a particular use to sections of forest road, nor does it hold specific data as to what lengths of road have been constructed by windfarm developers. Over the past ten years, levels of forest road construction by FLS have been as follows:

2012: 46 Miles

2013: 52 Miles

2014: 43 Miles

2015: 34 Miles

2016: 37 Miles

2017: 37 Miles

2018: 44 Miles

2019: 32 Miles

2020: 27 Miles

2021: 24 Miles

2022: 22 Miles

Scottish Ministers approved new Scottish Environment Protection Agency fish farm Controlled Activity Regulation charges in September 2022. Where an operator achieves a reduction in 80% of expected emissions, SEPA will halve the application fee.

In terms of support for emerging technologies, the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre, part funded by the Scottish Funding Council, was established in 2014 to fund and support collaborative research, applied science and innovation to reduce the environmental footprint and increase the economic impact of aquaculture.

Assistance may be available through the Marine Fund Scotland, where projects require public funding to proceed, and deliver outcomes in Scotland’s Blue Economy Vision.

The Scottish Government will consider how innovation can be further supported through the regulatory review of fish farm consenting, the Vision for sustainable aquaculture and National Marine Plan 2.