Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not undertaken an analysis of the impact of the SEPA not publishing Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR) licence compliance data since 2019. However, there is no evidence of any significant increase in non-compliance with respect to CAR authorisations in recent years.

SEPA historically published annual compliance data under its Compliance Assessment Scheme (CAS), which rated licences under CAR and other regimes. This publication stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic but SEPA has continued to check compliance and tackle non-compliance where necessary, and some authorisation information is available on request.

SEPA has consulted on a new Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme (EPAS) for reporting on performance against regulatory requirements. Reporting under EPAS is expected to start during 2027. More information is available on SEPA’s website at Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

In parallel, SEPA transitioned from CAR licencing to Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 on 1 November 2025. This will create a more streamlined and integrated system for environmental authorisations in Scotland by bringing together the processes for authorising, enforcing and managing activities that may impact the environment.

Deployment of resources is a matter for the Chief Constable based on operational priorities. This is very clearly set out in the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 which received cross party support in this chamber.

Police Scotland already work very closely with local communities, including local authority representatives and the Act requires Police Scotland to involve individual local authorities in setting of priorities and objectives for the policing of its area.

Furthermore, a local policing plan which sets out the main priorities and objectives for their area must be approved by local authorities.

The importance of community policing is recognised in the Scottish Government’s Strategic Police Priorities which were revised in 2023.

Police Scotland’s three year business plan also includes a number of measures aimed at enhancing local policing to help keep our communities safe.

Asylum is the process by which someone applies to the UK Government to have their refugee status recognised. Asylum is reserved to the UK Government, this includes the provision of asylum accommodation and support to those who would otherwise be destitute while waiting for a decision on their asylum application.

The Scottish Government supports widening of asylum dispersal in principle and expects the UK Government to effectively engage with local authorities and COSLA on operational planning.

The Home Office must work constructively with local authorities in Scotland to ensure any asylum dispersal plans developed do not adversely impact services and enable people seeking asylum to be supported within communities.

The Scottish Government has repeatedly raised the impact of reserved decisions on local authorities and services, particularly increased asylum decision making without provision of resources or adequate planning and urge the UK Government to avoid placing a greater strain on councils, especially in Glasgow where the situation is already unsustainable.

The Scottish Government was informed of ExxonMobil’s plans to market the Fife Ethylene Plant in November. On 4 November, Scottish Government officials met with representatives of the business who initially informed them and subsequently, on 11 November, I met with the Chairman of ExxonMobil, who confirmed the company’s position. The Scottish Government was notified of the businesses’ decision to close the plant on 17 November. I have engaged closely with ExxonMobil on a number of occasions since 17 November, including on her visit to the site on 25 November.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

"The near real-time overflow map was launched on the Scottish water website on 16 December 2024 to fulfil commitments in the ‘Improving Urban Waters Route map’ to improve data available to the public about overflows and overflow events. The map updates automatically every 60 minutes, providing near real-time information about overflows with Event Duration Monitors (EDMs) and can be searched using a postcode, water body or local authority area. There are more than 1,400 overflows represented on the map. The map does not currently show unmonitored overflows, but development is currently underway to include these at a later date.

In terms of assessments, Scottish Water tracks usage on Google Analytics, which is showing that, in its first year, the Overflow Map has been visited more than 40,600 times and has almost 32,000 active users over this period, with usage consistent throughout the year. Since the launch of the map, Scottish Water has also engaged further with stakeholders and identified features for enhancement. As a result, a public Application Programme Interface (API) was made available for the 2025 Bathing Water season that allows stakeholders, organisations and the public to access the data for their own applications and several groups already use this data to populate their own services. Additional features have also recently been introduced, including:

• Adding rainfall data over a 48-hour period which helps show if an overflow is working as it should and shows a direct correlation between rainfall levels and overflow activity
• Showing Bathing Water locations to allow users to search for official SEPA designated Bathing Waters
• Improved icons to better explain when and why an overflow status may say ‘no data available’
• Enhanced FAQs to explain key facts about storm overflows and the information available in the near real-time map

Scottish Water also includes a feedback form on the Overflow Map page on its website, which allows users to give input on their user experience and make suggestions for future improvements.

Scottish Water believes this new service provides greater transparency on overflow event performance and it is widely believed that the current overflow map service is industry leading."

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42331 on 16 December 2025. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42335 on 16 December 2025. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42335 on 16 December 2025. 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.

The Scottish Government is committed to doing all we can, with our limited economic powers, to mitigate the impact of ExxonMobil’s decision to close the Fife Ethylene Plant. The Minister for Public Finance attended a meeting with Fife Council, UK Government, local employers, and trade union representatives on 24 November. I also convened a summit on 25 November which included Fife Council, key industry stakeholders, union representatives, colleges and MSPs to establish what targeted action can be taken to secure a prosperous future for the site and its workforce.

Going forward, the Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with all stakeholders with the aim of securing a long-term and sustainable future for Mossmorran. Fife Council have confirmed that they will lead the proposed taskforce; and the Scottish Government has committed to fully participating in this.

The Scottish Government has been clear: the UK Government must take further action to mitigate the impact of ExxonMobil’s regrettable decision to close the Fife Ethylene Plant. The First Minister has written to the Prime Minister expressing his dissatisfaction with the complete lack of action from the UK Government, and reiterated the need to act now when they met on 5 December.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

"Environmental Standards Scotland has recently welcomed that Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are working to develop an approach to identify overflows where action is needed to prevent dry weather spills from happening.

In the first instance, Scottish Water responds to and carries out any operational interventions to check for blockages, misconnections or other potential faults where any overflow events appear to be happening in dry weather. Scottish Water has also proposed a definition for dry day overflow events and is working in the background to investigate overflows using data from Event Duration Monitors installed as part of commitments made in its ‘Improving Urban Waters Route map’. Where overflow events are confirmed to be occurring in dry weather because of insufficient capacity in the sewerage system, a process is being developed whereby these will be identified as Unsatisfactory Intermittent Discharges (UIDs) and will be agreed with SEPA as a priority for improvement."