Questions and answers

Question reference: S5O-04943

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the roll-out of providing naloxone for frontline police officers to respond to suspected overdoses.

Question reference: S5W-34033

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which projects developed as part of priority project 8 in Scotland’s biodiversity route map to 2020 addressed the needs of priority wildlife species, broken down by the (a) commencement date for each project, (b) budget provided by the Scottish Government, (c) partners involved and (d) outcome in each case.

Priority Project 8 is concerned with ensuring protected nature sites are in good condition. Many protected sites focus on priority species but information about these sites is not organised as set out in the question. Priority Project 9 relates specifically to priority wildlife species and a file providing the information requested as it relates to Priority Project 9 projects has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 62139). The Scottish Government does not directly grant fund projects delivered under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and its Route map but provides funding through NatureScot’s and other public bodies’ core and supplementary funding (including the Biodiversity Challenge Fund) to support delivery by a range of partners set out in the file.

It is worth noting that, while funding is an important measure, substantial engagement and consultation with stakeholders was devoted to developing more sophisticated, outcome-focused indicators and methods for assessing the success of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, as are reported in the triennial report to Parliament.

Question reference: S5W-34151

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the independently-chaired taskforce established to consider whether the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should be given extra powers to investigate wildlife crime, which it announced on 17 June 2020.

As stated by the then Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, Mairi Gougeon, in her letter of 8 June 2020 to the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, the Scottish Government originally anticipated that a taskforce to consider the role of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in relation to the investigation of wildlife crime would be convened in summer 2020. However, the Minister also stated that this timeline may be subject to change because of the need to focus on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – a health crisis which has created an economic crisis – and preparations for EU exit.

We now expect the taskforce to be established later this year and will provide further details in due course.

Question reference: S5W-34150

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 13 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement on 17 June 2020 that an independently-chaired taskforce was to be set up to consider whether the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should be given extra powers to investigate wildlife crime, how many times the taskforce has met; who is chairing it, and who is participating in it.

Question reference: S5W-34031

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which notified Site of Special Scientific Interest features in the Cairngorms National Park and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park that are in unfavourable condition, including those where no change has been reported in between monitoring cycles, are the responsibility of (a) Forest and Land Scotland, (b) local authorities, (c) Scottish Water and (d) other government bodies, and which of these have been in unfavourable condition or unfavourable recovering for more than three years.

Question reference: S5W-34030

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the condition is of each feature on designated sites in the Cairngorms National Park and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, broken down by whether they are the responsibility of a public body.

Question reference: S5W-34035

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to replace the elements of the EU Scottish Rural Development Programme that funded (a) conservation work by land managers and (b) habitat enhancement and species conservation programmes, and when it will make an announcement on this, including the budget available.

I announced on 23 December that we will be re-opening the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) for a targeted range of options in 2021. This will focus on designated sites, organics, management supporting farmland waders, corn buntings and corncrakes, slurry stores and improving public access. This will support farmers and crofters to undertake important action for the environment, help fight climate change and will also promote public wellbeing through providing infrastructure for recreational activities such as walking and cycling.

As has happened since AECS opened in 2015, the budget available will be dependent on future Spending Reviews as approvals for the forthcoming round would usually be made in late 2021 once the draft budget for 2022/23 is known. However, the rural funding announced by the Chancellor in the Spending Review on 25 November is not sufficient to replace EU funding levels lost to Scotland. Scotland stands to lose out on £170 million of funding between now and 2024-25 and the shift from a multi-year settlement to a single year has also created significant planning uncertainties. To minimise the risk of farmers and crofters putting in effort to apply and risk there not being sufficient budget, the decision has been taken to focus on the priority areas.

Alongside this, the farmer-led groups that I recently announced are considering how to cut emissions and tackle climate change as well as wider environmental outcomes and this will contribute to our longer term consideration for agri-environment support.

Question reference: S5W-34028

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects at least 80% of designated features to be in favourable condition, as set out in priority project 8 of Scotland’s biodiversity route map to 2020.

The Route Map target of 80% of natural features in favourable or recovering condition was achieved in January 2016 and formally reported through the 2016 release of the Condition of Protected Nature Sites Official Statistic, available at the following link: https://www.nature.scot/information-hub/official-statistics/official-statistics-protected-sites .

At that time 80.4% of features were in favourable/recovering status.

Since meeting the Route Map target, the proportion of features in favourable/recovering status has seen a slow decline to its current level of 78.8% (as reported in the 2020 release of the Condition of Protected Nature Sites Official Statistic, also available at the above link). This decline is mainly due to new unfavourable assessments where no on-site action is possible to improve condition – most notably for seabirds where the key driver of population decline is climate change, rather than the nesting areas on land which are protected areas.

NatureScot continues to work with partners to improve the condition of natural features in protected areas with the aim of re-establishing in excess of 80% of features in favourable condition.

Question reference: S5W-34029

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 8 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much public funding has been made available in each of the last five years to fund the (a) management and (b) monitoring of (i) Sites of Special Scientific Interest, (ii) Special Areas of Conservation and (iii) Special Protection Areas in order to improve their ecological condition.

It is not possible to disaggregate the data for the amount of public funding for management and monitoring of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) as a majority of SACs and SPAs are also designated as SSSIs. The following figures therefore cover all of the stated designations.

(a) Management

Expenditure/ £000	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
NatureScot Management Agreements	1,044	964	794	739	674
Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP): Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS ) 1	n/a	1,926	4,765	6,861	7,440
Total	1,044	2,890	5,559	7,600	8,114

Data source: NatureScot

Note 1:

The figures show committed funds. NatureScot do not have a report on the actual spend but this should only differ slightly.

The figures relate to cost of works scheduled within each year, not the value of contracts issued each year. The total for the current AECS programme is £43.4m.

The figures use a marker at field level to identify management that benefits Sites of Special Scientific Interests (SSSIs) or Natura features. This is a reasonable proxy but cannot give totally precise figures; partly because there will be contracts where only part of the AECS management within a field is relevant to SSSI/Natura, and partly because the marker may occasionally be wrongly used.

There is also SRDP funding for woodlands under the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) but it is not possible to detail how much FGS expenditure addresses woodland SSSIs and Natura features.

The following table shows the spend on both specialist contracts and staff costs used in delivering the Site Condition Monitoring (SCM) programme, by financial year, from 2016-17.

(b) Monitoring

Expenditure/ £000	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20 1	2020-21 2
Contracts	213	231	80	0	0
Staff costs	574	411	185	Unknown	Unknown
Total	787	642	265	Unknown	Unknown

Data source: NatureScot

Note 1: There was no spend on specialist contracts during 2019/20 due to the review of protected areas monitoring undertaken by NatureScot. Time estimates and therefore staff costs are not possible due to a move away from activity specific work recording.

Note 2: No specialist contracts were let in 2020/21 due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions during the field season. Time estimates and therefore staff costs are not possible due to a move away from activity specific work recording.

Question reference: S5W-34027

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to compensate for the loss of EU funding through the LIFE programme that has supported conservation projects in Scotland, including several that are included in the Scottish biodiversity route map to 2020.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the European Commission’s LIFE programme in delivering environmental outcomes for certain areas not covered by other EU mechanisms or domestic funds. While existing Scottish LIFE projects already awarded funding (and those successful under the 2020 call) will continue to be funded by the European Commission for their agreed duration, from the 2021 call onwards Scottish bodies will no longer be eligible to apply for new funding.

We are engaging with stakeholders and the UK Government to seek to establish adequate replacements across the full range of EU funding mechanisms.

EU Exit was not Scotland’s choice and, on 23 November 2020, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to highlight our serious concerns at the lack of clarity around plans for the replacement of funding previously available to Scotland under the European Commission’s LIFE programme. Thus far, there is no evidence that the UK Government is committed to replacing EU funding in full. We have been clear and consistent in our position that we expect full replacement of EU funds from the end of December 2020 to ensure no detriment to Scotland’s finances and the outcomes which we seek to achieve. This is in line with promises made during, and following, the EU referendum campaign that Scotland would not be worse off as a result of EU Exit.

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