Question reference: S6W-23212
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 24 November 2023
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Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 5 December 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been granted through Peatland ACTION to cover labour costs for peatland recovery, broken down by applicants that are categorised as (a) from the (i) public (ii) private and (iii) third sector, (b) individuals and (c) "other".
Answer
- The Scottish Government funds five direct delivery partners on an annual basis, based on the government wide capital spending allocations as agreed by Cabinet. These five direct delivery partners are NatureScot, Forestry and Land Scotland, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority and Scottish Water.
- These delivery partners then sub-contract physical restoration works to organisations in the third sector and private sector contractor companies.
- Contracts for peatland restoration are issued on a composite unit cost basis. Therefore, labour costs – for example machine operator wages – are not itemised separately.
- As each individual project across delivery partner and geographic location can vary significantly, it is not possible to determine an average labour cost across or within the delivery partners.