Chamber and committees

The integration of FES Specialist Environmental advisors into the land management planning activity will allow for the creation of more comprehensive plans and give FES the opportunity to deliver, at a landscape scale, more environmental outcomes which will have a positive implication for the delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.

There are 38 staff who are members of the dedicated Environment team in Forest Enterprise Scotland currently. Work is ongoing, including consultation with Forestry Commission Trade Unions, to determine the details of the staffing structures in the new administrative arrangements.

This information is not currently available. We are working with local authorities, who administer the Council Tax Reduction scheme, to establish more robust data on the status of Council Tax Reduction scheme recipients.

Anyone who transports animal by-products (ABPs) needs to be approved or registered by the Scottish Government under the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (ABPR). The key control when transporting ABPs is to do so in vehicles and containers that are covered and leak-proof. The Animal and Plant Health Agency carry out risk based inspections on transporters of ABPs to ensure vehicles and containers are compliant with the ABPR.

Minor spillages or leaks should be dealt with through the transporters own contingency planning. More serious spillages would result in the local authority and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency taking action to resolve the situation and where appropriate, take relevant enforcement action.

I can confirm that income from Carer’s Allowance Supplement will be disregarded within the Council Tax Reduction scheme. We will be laying Regulations later in the year to achieve this.

Scottish Natural Heritage’s Scientific Advisory Committee will review at the end of May of how the licence that was granted to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders fits with the wider work on adaptive action to save waders.

The Committee will consider the scientific evidence available on potential impacts of raven predation on wader populations in Strathbraan, and the methodologies proposed in this particular case. The Committee will also review the proposed monitoring to maximise what will be learned from this project. The Committee is not being asked to consider repealing the licence, but their advice will help inform ongoing discussions with the licence holder. The licence was granted initially for one year as part of a proposed five year project.

Scottish Natural Heritage usually does not consult stakeholders when considering a licence application and did not do so prior to granting the control of ravens licence to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders.

Scottish Natural Heritage considered whether the quality and management of the habitat in the licence area for waders should be improved and whether other predator control should be extended as potential alternatives to the action proposed in the licence application.

The licence permits the control of ravens by shooting and the use of crow cage traps.

Scottish Natural Heritage will monitor work undertaken under the licence to cull ravens granted to the Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders throughout the year, including carrying out inspections on the ground.