- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on developing a register of ancient woodlands.
Answer
NatureScot and Scottish Forestry are currently putting together a project plan to build on the existing Ancient Woodland Inventory to develop the new National Register of Ancient Woodlands. The new National Register of Ancient Woodlands will be an important element of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and associated Delivery plan, which was recently published.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2024
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent reaffirmation of its commitment to increase culture funding by at least an additional £100 million a year by 2028-29, how much of this extra investment will be directed towards community arts and placemaking.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2024
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 22 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported shortage
of environmental health officers and the impact that this is having on local
authorities (a) nationally and (b) that serve island areas, such as Orkney.
Answer
Environmental Health Officers are a core part of the public health workforce in Scotland and the Environmental Health function is key to protecting and improving the health of the Scottish population.
The Scottish Government set up the Environmental Health Policy Co-ordination Group in 2022. The group works collaboratively with the Society of Chief Officers in Environmental Health, COSLA and other relevant stakeholders, including the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) to seek solutions in issues affecting the sector, such as the difficulties in filling vacancies and improving the route into the profession.
Since 2023, REHIS have offered an alternative route into the Diploma in Environmental Health for people who have a science related degree. This has helped attract more people into the profession from different backgrounds.
The wider impact that the shortages in Environmental Health Officers is having nationally and in island communities varies across the country and should be advised by the relevant local authority.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Planning Hub, announced by the Minister for Public Finance in a statement on 12 November 2024, will provide funding for the deployment of empty homes officers wherever needed, and how much funding it will allocate for (a) these officers and (b) the Planning Hub in total.
Answer
We are establishing a Housing Planning Hub as a priority to help unblock stalled sites. We are now working with public and private sector partners to consider the reasons why specific sites are not progressing to development, and to confirm details around the role, scope and operation of the Hub.
We recognise that there are complex reasons why homes remain empty and dedicated empty homes officers are essential in building relationships with owners to help resolve these. Our recently updated guidance to councils makes clear that they can utilise the ring-fenced revenue they derive from council tax on second and empty homes to fund more officers. This is not, however, the purpose of the Housing Planning Hub which I announced on 12 November. Nevertheless, the work I announced on the potential for further permitted development rights could support efforts to bring some empty properties into residential use.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 20 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action has been taken to meet the commitment for Transport Scotland to explore freight issues in more detail by revisiting the Freight Fares Review, as set out in the Islands Connectivity Plan - Strategic Approach, published in January 2024.
Answer
The draft Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) Strategic Approach was published for public consultation from 1 February 2024 to 6 May 2024. The draft proposed that we would revisit the Freight Fares Review in the medium to longer term.
The purpose of the consultation was to gather feedback on our proposals and test our understanding of the priority issues facing island transport connectivity and ferry services in particular.
The outputs from the consultation and engagement will support the finalisation of the ICP which will set out our plans for taking forward ferry fares policy.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is engaging with the UK Government to ensure that a fair share of the (a) £400 million allocated in loans for community energy and (b) £600 million for community development via local authorities proposed as part of the Local Power Plan will be available for communities in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to working with partners to continue to grow the community and local energy sector and ensure the delivery of renewable energy comes with benefits for people in Scotland.
On 17 October the Scottish Government signed a Joint Vision Statement with the UK Government which set out a commitment to work together to explore opportunities for GB Energy to support community & local energy in Scotland. This includes considering the role of the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).
In line with this Vision Statement, the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government to explore opportunities, including for community energy and community developments via local authorities, offered by the Local Power Plan.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its letter of 13 December 2023 to the UK energy minister urging the UK Government to explore mandating community
benefits for all onshore energy developments, whether it has discussed this
with the current UK administration and, if so, what the response was.
Answer
The Scottish Government has long recognised the need for our communities to benefit from our just energy transition to net zero. This is why we continue to engage with the UK Government to encourage them to explore mandating community benefits for all onshore energy developments, along with plans for transmission infrastructure.
Despite the powers to mandate community benefits being reserved to the UK Government, Scotland has made significant progress with a voluntary approach to community benefits. Supported by our Good Practice Principles, our Community Benefits Register shows that in the past year, over £26m of community benefits have been offered to Scottish communities.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 25 October 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any work that it has been undertaking to treat prescription pharmaceuticals in wastewater.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of emerging chemicals of concern, such as prescription pharmaceuticals and works closely with Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to develop further understanding and take appropriate action in this area.
Scottish Water have a number of activities either ongoing or in development including a sampling programme at selected treatment works to quantify the impact of real time control on treatment of substances of emerging concern, including pharmaceuticals and a process optimisation trial to see whether better removal of steroids can be achieved at Activated Sludge Treatment Plants.
Scottish Water also directly funds research in this area including two PhD projects at Glasgow Caledonian and Robert Gordon Universities which look at reducing anti-microbial resistance and the treatment potential of septic tanks for pharmaceuticals. A further study is also underway to investigate how different pharmaceuticals degrade and change during wastewater transport to enable more accurate prediction of pharmaceutical concentrations in waters around Scotland.
Scottish Water is also a member of the One Health Breakthrough Partnership, which is funded by the Scottish Government and brings together key stakeholders across the water, environment and healthcare sectors who are committed to addressing pharmaceutical pollution in the environment through source control. The project has produced the first open access interactive tool: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (sepa.org.uk) in the UK to combine national environmental and prescribing data with data for 60 medicines detected in river water, raw wastewater and treated wastewater. The tool is used to explore and develop appropriate and sustainable solutions to reduce the discharge of pharmaceuticals to the environment.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many public bodies are compliant with the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, which requires them to provide a publicly available report every three years.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of 85 public bodies who have produced a report covering the most recent reporting period, 2021-2023, in compliance with the 2011 Act. This figure is an estimate based on our most up to date analysis and the actual number may be higher.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 November 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of public bodies is compliant with the Biodiversity Duty, as required by the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer
The biodiversity duty requires public bodies to further the conservation of biodiversity in the exercise of their functions, having regard to the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. Biodiversity duty reports produced under the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 are the best measure we have for compliance, and this shows that at least 85 of 156 (54.5%) public bodies active during the most recent reporting cycle (2021-2023) are compliant with the duty. However, the actual figure is likely to be higher. A number of smaller public bodies which are technically covered by the duty have limited opportunities to further the conservation of biodiversity due to the nature of their remit. We do not consider it to be a good use of public funds to try to enforce the production of a biodiversity duty report in every case, but all the information we have suggests that where it is relevant, most public bodies take the duty very seriously.
