Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government protected SEPA’s budget as far as possible given the settlement imposed on us by the UK Government. We are working with SEPA as part of our joint better environmental regulation programme so that their delivery of environmental protection is targeted according to risk and ensures Scotland’s environment receives the protection it deserves.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are a central part of the Scottish Government's commitment to achieving almost total decarbonisation of road transport by 2050. We welcome the comprehensive report by WWF Scotland, which will help inform our work with stakeholders to advance the adoption of EVs in Scotland.

(a) On 28 March we launched the E-cosse partnership, a collaboration jointly initiated by Transport Scotland and WWF Scotland which brings together car manufacturers, power companies, local authorities and other key stakeholders to maximise the opportunities for EVs to become an integral part of Scotland’s sustainable transport system and a smart energy grid.

A key output from E-Cosse will be an EV roadmap, a structured analysis of the key opportunities and necessary interventions to achieve an increase in the take up of EVs. This roadmap will be developed following a number of stakeholder workshops which will integrate the necessary expertise from across the EV sector. It will be published by early 2013.

(b) Over the past two years, the Scottish Government has invested over £8 million in electric vehicles and infrastructure for Scottish public sector. This has enabled Scotland’s public services to purchase around 270 low carbon vehicles and install around 240 charging points across the country, with a further 170 charging points planned to be installed during 2012-13.

Charging infrastructure has been installed via the UK Government’s Plugged in Places (PiP) scheme, which has brought £2.25 million of additional funding into Scotland. The first round in 2011-12 focussed on locating electric vehicle charging points to support the developing fleet of public-sector electric vehicles, in 2012-13 we are continuing to work with the public sector and others to expand the network of charging infrastructure to include more publicly available locations such as workplaces, park-and-ride sites, leisure centre car parks and on-street locations.

(c) A key focus of E-cosse will be to consider the future requirements for recharging infrastructure in Scotland to support growth in markets for EVs. As part of the roadmap development process, an infrastructure workshop will consider the entire EV recharging ecosystem, paying particular attention to the enabling technologies, operating models and future user requirements.

(d) In 2012-13 Transport Scotland will continue to work with the public sector and others to expand the network of Scottish Plugged in Places charging infrastructure, one area of which will be to increase the uptake of charging points installed by businesses.

The assessment of the population trends of cormorants in Scotland includes: the monitoring of designated sites in Scotland which have breeding or wintering cormorants as a qualifying feature, carried out through Scottish Natural Heritage’s Site Condition Monitoring Programme (SCM), and the results of national programmes such as the Seabird Monitoring Programme for breeding cormorants and the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) for wintering cormorants. Where the monitoring in both cycles (i.e. breeding and wintering) of SCM has been undertaken it can be considered together with the results from the national programmes to enable basic trends in the population levels of cormorants in Scotland to be identified.

In general, the factors which influence these trends are not clear, although a study in Caithness identified the decline in breeding cormorants was likely to be the result of an increased death rate in adult birds over the winter. However, the cause of this increased mortality is not known.

Licences may be issued under Section 16(1)(k) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) by Scottish Ministers, for the purpose of preventing serious damage to fisheries or inland waters. The Scottish Government transferred the licensing function to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in July 2011.

SNH has still to receive the report returns for the number of cormorants and other piscivorous birds shot in 2011. However, the following table lists the number of licences and corresponding bag limits which have been granted for the killing of cormorants and other piscivorous birds between 2009 and 2012. The table also lists the number of cormorants and other piscivorous birds shot under licence in 2009 and 2010.

Piscivorous Bird Licences

No assessment has been made regarding any impacts which the cormorant licensing system in England may have on the population trends of the species at designated sites in Scotland.

Studies undertaken by Scottish Natural Heritage in Caithness and at Loch Leven, and information gathered from other ringing recoveries, have allowed an assessment of the wintering habits of cormorants breeding on designated sites. These studies have concluded that most cormorants will winter within 300 kilometre of the breeding colony.

Scottish Ministers wrote to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 9 February making the case for Scotland to have a place on the UK Delegation to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). The Secretary of State replied on 3 March saying she is happy to consider the request and will write again when she is in a position to give a clear answer.

Scottish Ministers strategic aim for Rio+20 is to share the evidence from Scotland on the growth potential of the green economy. Scotland has a very good story to tell on this key themes. We have put sustainable, low carbon growth at the centre of our economic strategy.

In advance of the summit, the First Minister has urged world leaders to make 2012 a year of climate justice: human rights should be at the heart of global policy on economic and social development and energy. Scotland has been acting as a model of international best practice on climate change and has set world-leading emissions reduction targets backed by a comprehensive climate change programme. We are operating at the forefront of technological innovation in green energy. Scotland also has world-class expertise in water resources, waste management, and environmental and clean technologies, as well as an ambitious forestry programme. We are also moving ahead with the smart cities concept.

Rio+20 is focused on the green economy and sustainable development in the context of poverty eradication and in Scotland we are employing our experience on green development to strengthen our support for developing countries. In addition to the First Minister’s championing of climate justice, and our manifesto commitment to a climate justice fund we have supported a number of important projects: a partnership with the Maldives on renewable energy; funding for Strathclyde University in piloting community solar energy in Malawi; at the time of the UNFCCC summit in Durban we announced a £1.3 million International Development Fund round for renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa; we very recently announced a further £1.7 million for a Strathclyde University project to accelerate community renewables in Malawi; we have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Inter-American Development Bank to share Scottish know-how on clean energy; we are collaborating with the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, and co-operating with South Africa on exploring the feasibility of a carbon capture and storage pilot project.