Chamber and committees

There has been a significant and welcome interest in the Future Farming Investment Scheme. Applications received are currently being considered and applicants will be informed of the outcome as soon as practicably possible after assessment has been undertaken.

Once a grant offer has been made, successful applicants will have 14 days to accept the terms and conditions of their offer. After acceptance, payments will be issued within 30 days. Applicants will have nine months from being made the Offer of Grant to purchase all items listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Offer of Grant letter and provide evidence of the investment to the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division (SGRPID).

There has been significant interest from the agriculture sector in the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS). 7,584 applications have been received, demonstrating the strong commitment of Scotland’s farmers and crofters to support key outcomes, from reducing emissions to supporting nature restoration.

The SPCB has a Flag flying policy.

The Flag flying policy is managed on behalf of the SPCB by the Facilities Management Office and they are guided by the SPCB on the appropriateness of any flags, which have been requested to be flown, on a case-by-case basis.

The SPCB last reviewed the Flag flying policy on 2May 2024 and confirmed it remained content with the current Policy, which includes flags which are to be flown annually.  The flag policy will be reviewed again by SPCB prior to dissolution and this request will be considered at this time.  Ad hoc requests can also be made to the SPCB to be considered each year, it is helpful to have these requests at least a month in advance to accommodate SPCB meeting dates.

Since taking up this role in June I have not had a meeting with the Interim Chief Executive of NHS Grampian. I attended the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group on 11 August 2025 which the Chief Officer of Health and Social Care Moray attended.

I last met with the Interim Chief Executive of NHS Grampian on 7 February 2025 and met with the Chief Officer of Health and Social Care Moray on 8th January 2025.

We provided £750,000 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s Flash Appeal for Gaza in November 2023. The funding was spent on food and non-food items, shelters, primary health care, fuel for water and health services, and mental health and psychosocial support.

As is standard practice for UN Appeals, UNRWA is not required to submit tailored financial information to each contributor. Instead, they publish an Annual Operational Report which provides details on all funding raised and dispersed by the appeal. The 2023 Annual Report which the covers the £750k contribution from Scottish Government can be found on the UNRWA website.

NatureScot consulted on and produced an Environmental Report on the principle of beaver translocation to the river Beauly catchment in 2022. A copy of the report can be found on NatureScot’s website at

https://www.nature.scot/doc/beaver-translocation-consultation-river-beauly-catchment-environmental-report

NatureScot also carried out a Habitats Regulations Assessment for the River Beauly catchment area. A copy of the assessment can be found on NatureScot’s website at

https://www.nature.scot/doc/beaver-translocation-consultation-river-beauly-catchment-habitats-regulation-appraisal-hra-possible

The licence application was assessed against the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations which also assesses environmental benefits and risks. NatureScot’s decision documents on Glen Affric and Abriachan sets out how the licence applications were assessed. Copies of these documents can be found on Naturescot's website at

https://www.nature.scot/doc/beaver-decision-document-licence-application-283801 and

https://www.nature.scot/doc/beaver-decision-document-licence-application-296282

I last met with the Interim Chief Executive of NHS Grampian on 3 September 2025. I attended the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group on 2 June 2025 which the Chief Officer of Health and Social Care Moray attended.

The Scottish Government recognises the increasing impact of water scarcity on producers and is implementing Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan with SEPA and Scottish Water to support those affected.

Scotland has seen several areas reach Significant Scarcity this year. SEPA is working closely with affected abstractors, the National Farmers Union Scotland, Scotch Whisky Association, and others to minimise impacts on producers where possible.

Research through our Strategic Research Programme is modelling future drought risks and Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) is conducting a project to produce guidance for farmers to increase their resilience to water scarcity.

Support for producers is also available through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme, which funds water-efficient infrastructure like irrigation lagoons. Resilience remains central to our climate strategy, and we continue to encourage responsible water use across all sectors.

The Scottish Government does not have records relating to breaches of the Marine Scotland Act earlier than 2017.

There were 21 Marine Licensing offences detected under the 2010 Act, these were by year, 2017 X1, 2018 X5, 2019 X1, 2020 X2, 2021 X2, 2022 X5, 2024 X5.

Additionally, there were 50 breaches of Nature Conservation Orders which are enabled by the 2010 Act. These were by year, 2017 X3, 2018 X4, 2019 X7, 2020 X5, 2021 X11, 2022 X9, 2023 X5, 2024 X6, 2025 none as yet.