Chamber and committees

As part of the reporting requirements of the Sea Eagle Management Scheme, participating holdings are required to submit annual Flock Management Log returns which collect data on flock performance in individual years and provide an opportunity for farmers and crofters to provide feedback on the efficacy of the support they have received and detail any ongoing challenges with predation.

Following the launch of Enhanced Measures support in 2020, NatureScot expanded this exercise and sought additional feedback from those in receipt of this support level, to inform stakeholder discussions and measure efficacy.

NatureScot staff are also in regular contact with participating holdings in the Scheme on the efficacy of support in mitigating any ongoing predation challenges.

Further information can be found at the following links: https://www.nature.scot/doc/sea-eagle-management-scheme-sems-review-scheme-delivery-2020-2023

https://www.nature.scot/doc/sea-eagle-management-scheme-2024-report-stakeholders.

The total funding support, through NatureScot Management Agreements, awarded to participating holdings in the Sea Eagle Management Scheme in each year since 2021 are as follows:

No bridges on the trunk road network have been placed into managed decline. All trunk road bridges and structures are subject to thorough inspection and maintenance programmes. Maintenance works are prioritised to ensure public safety, network availability and value for money.

Following the Stakeholder review of the Sea Eagle Management Scheme in 2024, the Scheme was revised for 2025 with an uplift of £300 for all holdings in receipt of Standard Measures support, meaning a new minimum payment in this support tier of £800 per annum and maximum payment of £1800, with a sliding scale based on holding size.

The previous Enhanced Measures annual support cap of £5,000 was doubled to £10,000 per annum. The rates used to inform Enhanced Measures support calculations were also updated with Farm Management Handbook 2024-2025 costings used for 2025 Enhanced Measures Management Agreements.

The Sea Eagle Management Scheme was the focus of review work in 2024-2025. In 2026 the White-Tailed Eagle Action Plan review will be one of the priority areas of work for the National Sea Eagle Stakeholder Panel, which is chaired by NatureScot.

Powers to mandate community benefits and shared equity ownership are reserved to the UK Government. We continue to press the UK Government to use its reserved powers to mandate community benefits and shared ownership for mature onshore technologies, so communities share in Scotland’s natural wealth through locally shaped, lasting arrangements.

In order to maintain a robust, impartial process in which people can object to proposals while still discussing any benefits on offer, financial arrangements such as community benefits and shared ownership schemes sit independently from our planning and consenting systems.

Consequently, the Scottish Government has no plans to make community benefits or shared ownership a mandatory consideration in planning applications.

We remain committed to a just energy transition that delivers real benefits for communities: around £30 million was offered last year under our voluntary Good Practice Principles, which we are refreshing following consultation analysis published on 22 October.

Following the publication of pelagic TAC advice for 2026 a period of intensive engagement and consultation with key stakeholders across the pelagic supply chain was undertaken by Marine Directorate officials.

International negotiations between relevant Coastal states (including the UK) agreed specific significant quota reductions for key pelagic species on 16 December, which then allowed the Scottish Government to finalise the detail and scope of its planned emergency intervention for 2026.

In order to be effective the revised licence condition had to be implemented from 1 January 2026 given it is crucial to business planning for the January mackerel fishery.

Marine Directorate officials held 26 individual meetings with pelagic catching businesses, processors, and port authorities as well as other round table meetings with representative bodies.

Industry consultations were concluded by mid-December 2025.

NatureScot have adopted a range of rainforest-specific metrics for both the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) and other funding for rainforest restoration. These include: areas of existing rainforest under appropriate herbivore management; the number of jobs created; and the area cleared of Rhododendron ponticum.

An interim evaluation of the NRF (to March 2024) was published in August 2025. A number of important early actions to restore rainforest restoration were included in that evaluation, and these continue to be measured across the fund. There is also a suite of landscape scale rainforest restoration projects underway as part of the NRF including projects that have been ongoing for a number of years, such as the Arkaig Landscape Restoration project, the Saving Morvern Rainforest project and the Saving Argyll’s Rainforest projects.

Our strategic investment of up to £500 million over five years is supporting supply chain and ports across Scotland including at Nigg, Lerwick, Stornoway, Montrose and Kishorn – and creating jobs in our offshore wind sector across the country. Due to commercially sensitive negotiations, the full pipeline of projects cannot be made public at this stage. We are working across public sector delivery partners to ensure that funding is delivered to projects as quickly as possible.

Grant funding of £5.3 million for the financial year 2025-26 was awarded to Upside, a partnership of eight third-sector organisations, to deliver national voluntary throughcare support to individuals leaving short-term prison sentences and periods of remand.