Chamber and committees

Agricultural Transformation now reflects the roll-out of the National Test Programme which will be worth £51m over the next three years; significantly increasing the expenditure on ‘low carbon’ activities. Work on the Programme is being driven by the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB) which was established in August 2021 as part of the 100 Days’ commitment. The Programme will have a twin-track approach; Track 1 will be open to all to provide farmers with the tools to start or continue baselining the environmental impact on their land; and Track 2 will develop Conditionality Tests working with a cross section of around 1500 farmers and crofters to learn from them how it can work effectively and appropriately. As part of the overall Agricultural Transformation budget for 2022-2023, £5 million has been allocated to the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) 2022 which will be will be focussed on the provision of support for low emission slurry spreading equipment and slurry store covers that are proven to reduce harmful ammonia emissions and reduce adverse impacts on water quality resulting from the storage and spreading of livestock slurry and digestate.

The Scottish Government will publish its vision shortly.

The vision outlines our aim to transform how we support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

The Scottish Government is required by statute to publish progress on our proposals for rural support no later than 31 December 2024 and we will do so well ahead of that deadline.

The draft of the next Climate Change Plan will set out how we will continue to reduce emissions from agriculture and include policies and proposals to ensure the agriculture sector plays its part in meeting our ambitious net zero national target.

This government has also committed to maintaining basic payments at their current level for the lifetime of this Parliament, to provide farmers and crofters with financial stability and certainty.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that robust child protection measures are in place across Scotland. To fulfil this commitment the Scottish Government has ongoing engagement through a variety of fora with statutory public bodies, Commissioners and other key stakeholders to identify any issues in relation to child protection policies, processes and procedures and resolved collaboratively.

The following issues have been raised in the last 12 months:

• Bairns’ Hoose and the Scottish Child Interview Model for Joint Investigative Interviews: Partnership working on the development of these initiatives including collaboratively resolving issues as they arise.
•  Coronavirus: The operation and continued need for Coronavirus (Scotland) 2020 Act provisions relating to Child Protection Orders, Child Assessment Orders and other aspects of Children’s Hearings processes. The use of other flexibilities and streamlining of certain requirements detailed in the Coronavirus (COVID-19): supplementary national child protection guidance Adaptations to local child protection responses and learning from earlier stages of the pandemic which informed the updating of this guidance.
• Domestic abuse: Support and protection for children experiencing domestic abuse, with a focussed discussion at the Children and Families Collective Leadership Group and follow up cross-Government engagement and action.
• Education: The role of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) in sharing information about child protection concerns, with follow up engagement with GTCS planned.
• Human trafficking and exploitation: Reviewing the application of Lord Advocate’s Instructions for Prosecutors when considering Prosecution of Victims of Human Trafficking and Exploitation . The Scottish Government worked closely with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Office of the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, Police Scotland and Scottish Prison Service to assess the application of the instructions in cases where individuals may have been victims of trafficking or exploitation.
• Implementation of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 : National resources and action to support local implementation with discussion and decisions on next steps taken by the National Child Protection Guidance Implementation Steering Group.
• Online safety: Developing a Scottish response to the UK Government’s draft Online Safety Bill, working closely with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Ofcom, the Office of the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland and Police Scotland on the devolved implications and agreeing where the legislation needs to go further to ensure children are as safe as possible when using the internet.
• Orkney: Progress in addressing areas for improvement identified during the 2019 joint inspection of services for children and young people in need of care and protection in Orkney, with follow up engagement with the Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Orkney Partnership.
• Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children: Working closely with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Office of the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland and Social Work Scotland on the UK Government’s decision to mandate the National Transfer Scheme; and the child welfare implications arising from the Nationality and Borders Bill, particularly changes to how Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children have their ages assessed. This work has underpinned the decision of the Social Justice Cabinet Secretary to lodge a Legislative Consent Memorandum recommending that consent be withheld in relation to two clauses Bill.

Dr Colin Church was appointed as independent Chair of the review into the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy in Scotland in November 2021.

SEPA, as with other stakeholders, has the opportunity to submit a response to the ongoing call for evidence and to participate in the review process led by Dr Church . I do not expect Mr A’Hearn’s resignation to have an impact on SEPA’s participation in the review process but this is a matter for SEPA and Dr Church to determine.

SEPA have started the process of recruitment and expect a Chief Executive to be in post later this year.

Scottish Government have increased the annual native woodland creation target from a minimum of 3000 to at least 4000 hectares and have committed to setting evidence-based targets for both native woodlands and natural regeneration as part of the 2022 Biodiversity Strategy.

Scottish Government have committed to a Natural Environment Bill aiming to introduce it in year three of this parliamentary session, which will follow on from the new biodiversity strategy. This will put in place key legislative changes to restore and protect nature, including an effective, statutory, target-setting monitoring, enforcing and reporting framework.

The Nature Restoration Fund, established this year following an agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party, will be expanded over the duration of this parliamentary session and encompass multi-year funding. It will make an important contribution to meeting our targets and restoring Scotland’s terrestrial and marine environments through, for example, restoring and expanding our Atlantic rainforests, and the establishment of nature networks across Scotland.

All woodland management will continue to be underpinned by the internationally recognised principles of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), as defined in The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) the technical standard for sustainable forest management in the UK. The Scottish Government supports tree planting and woodland management through the Forestry Grant Scheme. This support is only provided where UKFS requirements are met, and where we are confident this helps to ensure our natural environment is both protected and enhanced.

By focusing investment on sustainable transport options for individuals, families, communities and businesses, the STPR2 draft recommendations will make it easier for those in the Stirling area and beyond to access the transport networks and systems that Scotland will need to meet the challenges and changes over the next 20 years.

Strategic active travel recommendations are a focus, not only connecting urban communities but rural towns and villages as well. We are already providing funding through the Sustrans Places For Everyone Programme and have also committed £7m for Regional Active Travel improvements through the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal.

In line with the STPR2 recommendation on bus priority, £500,000 has been awarded to the Forth Valley Bus Alliance for improvements on key bus corridors, £230,000 of which will look at those in Stirling.

The focus for Rail in STPR is on strategic connections and decarbonisation. Given its central location in Scotland’s rail network, the Stirling area will benefit from these.

Taken together the Review’s recommendations represent a repositioning of our transport investment priorities which firmly focus on how transport can help us protect our climate and improve lives, including for residents of Stirling and surrounds.

Both prior to and throughout the pandemic, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service have prioritised domestic abuse trials. During the pandemic this has included supporting the running of a Specialist virtual Domestic Abuse trial pilot Courts in Inverness and Aberdeen which allowed the re-commencement of trials taking advantage of technological advances. As part of the recovery programming generally to manage the backlog of cases created by the pandemic, 10 additional Summary trials courts have been running since 6 September 2021. Pre-covid the optimal waiting period for domestic abuse trials was eight to ten weeks, but due to the impact of the pandemic this has increased to around thirteen weeks nationally at this time.

The latest statistics published by the Sottish Courts and Tribunals Service on 2 December 2021 indicate that in Q2 (between July to September 2021), domestic abuse cases accounted for 34% of Sheriff Summary trials called and 43% of those Sheriff Summary trials in which evidence was led. Three in every ten, of the 14,286 complaints concluded in court were domestic abuse cases, an increase of 24% compared with Q1 2021-22.

This is a matter for Stirling Council. However, for the 2018-19 academic year, Stirling Council reported they had purchased 22,752 period products in total. The number of period products purchased and distributed since Sept 2019 is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05833 on 4 February 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 .