Chamber and committees

The consideration of qualifying land and the active farmer eligibility rules is part of the agricultural reform programme. We will look at how we best support farmers and crofters to deliver the vision for agriculture including the right balance of incentives and conditions to ensure the protection of existing features such as marsh, trees, ponds and scrub.

In accordance with the Reimbursement of Members’ Expenses Scheme the SPCB is responsible for setting and maintaining minimum terms and conditions for the employment of staff by MSPs and for the terms and conditions of parliamentary service staff. I can confirm that the SPCB plans to review the terms and conditions of staff employed by MSPs early in the New Year. The SPCB regularly benchmarks its terms and conditions with other employers to ensure that they continue to support the objective of attracting and retaining staff.

We welcome the Asthma + Lung UK Scotland report and make the following comments in response to the recommendations on air quality and transport:

• WHO guidelines - the review of Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 will consider the current air quality objectives. The 2021 WHO guideline values will be a factor in our considerations.
• Monitoring - air pollution hotspots will generally be where high levels of traffic coincide with locations where large numbers of people are regularly present. The monitoring network and the supporting methodologies are sufficiently robust to ensure that any areas of concern will be picked up.
• Alert system - Know & Respond is a free service to subscribers in Scotland sending registered users an alert message if air pollution in their area is forecast to be moderate, high or very high. Air pollution episodes are rare in Scotland, but this early warning service allows people with medical conditions that may be affected by pollution, to take action to protect their health during periods of higher air pollution.
• Scrap peak rail fares - the final evaluation of the pilot clearly shows that the ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot has not achieved its aim of encouraging a significant shift from car to rail, and therefore it ended on 27 September 2024.
• Accelerate the roll out of electric trains and buses and reduce the proportion of routes using diesel vehicles – we are committed to decarbonising the passenger rail network. Details of how this is to be achieved are set out in the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan. The Decarbonisation Action Plan commits to all passenger diesel trains being replaced; the order and programme in which that is done will depend on business cases and available budgets.
• Utilise the powers of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 to support bus travel - we have delivered all the bus powers within the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 to enable local transport authorities to consider all the powers available to them, including partnership working, franchising and local authority run services which sit alongside their ability to subsidise services.
• Greater incentives to purchase new ultra-low emissions vehicles - since 2011 we have provided over 8,000 interest free loans worth £223,178,275 million which has funded 8,514 ultra-low emission vehicles.
• Audit the electric vehicle charging network annually - we recognise how important a reliable public EV charging network is for instilling confidence in drivers. While we cannot comment on the reliability of commercial charging networks, reliability across the Charge Place Scotland CPOS network is typically very good with charge points on the network available for around 95-98% of the time each month. Where faults do occur they are usually rectified remotely and swiftly with minimal impact on EV drivers.
• Implement Low Emission Zones (LEZ) in further cities and large towns - local authorities have been given the powers to introduce and administer Low Emission Zones as appropriate through the Transport Scot Act 2019. To date four local authorities have used this power, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Local authorities can apply to amend their LEZ if so required following due process and according to legislative requirements. Any other local authority can submit an application for a LEZ to Scottish Ministers following the due process and according to legislative requirements.
• Vehicle idling - we are undertaking a review of the current guidance on vehicle idling with local authorities.

The Scottish Government is committed to land reform and improving transparency of those who own and control land in Scotland is at the heart of our land reform objectives.

The Scottish Government will continue to review any evidence – including that arising from the Scottish Land Commission’s report on land and property taxation – and assess this as part of our wider approach to tax policy

Registers of Scotland are currently working to deliver the benefits of a completed land register through their Unlocking Sasines project. This uses spatial data to help ‘unlock’ the historic information in the Sasine register, which means that they can link Sasine property search sheets to a map for the first time, making it visually more helpful and accessible. Additionally, the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will improve transparency and help ensure that large scale land holdings deliver in the public interest. The Bill will place legal responsibilities on the owners of the very largest landholdings to set out – through Land Management Plans - how they use their land and how that contributes to key public policy priorities, like addressing climate change and protecting and restoring nature.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30299 on 15 October 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 provides local authorities with a discretionary power to set up workplace parking licensing (WPL) schemes. Section 71 of the 2019 Act defines what constitutes a workplace parking place.

The liability for licences and associated charges is the responsibility of the occupier of the premises providing workplace parking spaces, and not employees or workers. There is no licence charge payable by workers and therefore no scope to vary such charges.

Local authorities do, however, have the discretion to make local exemptions beyond the fixed national exemptions to support their local objectives and circumstances. For example, a local authority could apply WPL to only certain parts of the local authority boundary, exempt premises with fewer than a specified number of parking places, exempt parking places for use by certain types of vehicles or for specified uses, or specific premises or premises of a specified description. A WPL scheme may also provide for descriptions of persons or motor vehicles to be exempt from the scheme or from paying charges under the scheme.

In addition to providing for exemptions, a WPL scheme may make provision for different charges (or no charge) to apply in different cases. This can include provision for different charges to apply on different days, at different times of day, to different part of a licensing area and to different descriptions of persons. Different charges could also be applied to different descriptions of premises and to different classes of motor vehicles.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29617 on 17 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

In the period 2021-22 to 2023-24, individual Local Authorities across the Mid Scotland and Fife region have received around £2.89 million from the Nature Restoration Fund Edinburgh Process strand, to support a range of nature restoration projects. The competitive strand of the NRF, which is unaffected by this funding announcement, continues to support projects across Scotland, including in the Mid Scotland and Fife Region. Further details can be found at https://www.nature.scot/funding-and-projects/nature-restoration-fund/nature-restoration-fund-supported-projects.