Chamber and committees

Given the varied nature of Scotland's urban road network and the number of factors which need to be considered when setting appropriate speed limits, the Scottish Government believes decisions on 20 mph speed limits on local roads are best taken at Local Authority level, with Scottish Ministers deciding for the Trunk Road Network.

Local Authorities are empowered to implement 20 mph limits on local roads where appropriate and any promotion of such limits would be carried out by them. The Scottish Government is not currently allocating any spend on promotional campaigns in relation to such limits.

For the Trunk Road Network, Scottish Ministers identified five 20mph pilots. The A77 at Maybole and the A702 at Biggar have been implemented and the costs associated with publishing the orders for these pilots are in the order of £800 and £5293 respectively. The 20mph pilots on the A85 through Oban and the A7 through Langholm remain at pre-consultation stage and no promotional costs have yet been incurred. The 20mph pilot on the A78 through Largs was not taken forward following public consultation.

The introduction of any system of recording of speeding warnings issued by Police Scotland officers is a matter for Police Scotland, not for the Lord Advocate. The Lord Advocate has invited Police Scotland to contact Mr Ruskell’s office directly to address the question. Police Scotland has confirmed that they will do so.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

Once beavers become a European Protected Species, the controls and conditions set by Scottish Natural Heritage, including those applying to the exercise of any lethal control, will apply throughout the year and on a case-by-case basis.

The Scottish Government recognises that beaver dams may mitigate downstream flooding in some circumstances and that these dams can also trap silt and other materials from watercourses. Discussions are currently taking place between farming representatives and Scottish Government officials on managing beaver impacts.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) issued Scottish Beavers (a partnership between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust) with a licence on 18 September 2017 to reinforce the existing population of beavers at Knapdale with up to 28 animals by 2020. The donor animals will come from captive collections in the United Kingdom and wild-trapped beavers from Tayside. SNH is currently working with Scottish Beavers to finalise plans to relocate wild-trapped beavers from Tayside as part of this conservation translocation project.

While this translocation approach is important in the context of reinforcing the beaver population in Knapdale, it is not considered to be a standard option for dealing with beaver impacts on Tayside, given the costs and other resource implications, the risks to the welfare of the animals and the limited number of receptor sites.

The Scottish Government has not received any reports in the past year that beavers are being deliberately killed in Tayside. A survey which will report on changes to the distribution and density of the wild beaver population in Scotland between 2012 and 2018 will be published later this year by Scottish Natural Heritage.

The Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) which will provide protection to beavers will be laid before the Scottish Parliament when actions required by the Strategic Environmental Assessment process are satisfactorily completed. We are currently analysing the responses received to the Consultation on the Beavers in Scotland, Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental Report (2017). The SSI will add beavers to Schedule 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994. Following Scottish Parliamentary approval, beavers would be classified as a European Protected Species. The Scottish Government aims to have this work completed by the autumn of this year.

ScotRail provides my officials at Transport Scotland with statistical information on the public performance measurement (PPM), which is used in the railway system in Great Britain to provide a consistent and comparable assessment of performance. The PPM measure counts all trains planned to run, which run and arrive within five minutes of their scheduled arrival time. Trains which are cancelled, either in full or in part, or which do not stop at stations at which they are meant to stop, are counted against this measure.

There are occasions when train services need to allow more time to allow those with disabilities or impairments, or parents with prams, to board the trains. With this in mind, the PPM measure offers a balanced and sensible view of train performance.

ScotRail also provides information on full and part cancellations and all of these aspects are then compared against the benchmarks embedded in the franchise agreement and discussed with ScotRail to ensure compliance with the franchise agreement.

The introduction of the new faster, greener, longer trains for passengers across Central Scotland, planned for December 2018, will allow a significant improvement in both journey times and performance against the timetable.

I am pleased that, along with the Welsh Cabinet Secretary, I have been able to encourage discussions between the four UK administrations on future environmental ambitions. My own ambition, that Scotland should maintain and where possible enhance our current environmental standards, and should continue to play a leading role in furthering environmental protection is well known. No conclusion has been reached on publishing a joint statement.

There is no Partnership Against Wildlife Crime Scotland protocol on the conduct of police searches for missing raptors. The conduct of such searches is entirely an operational decision for, and the responsibility of, Police Scotland.