Chamber and committees

We cannot pre-judge the outcome of the ferry services procurement policy review. The Scottish Government has engaged with Audit Scotland to discuss the purpose and timing of the ferry services procurement policy review and their review of Scotland’s ferry services.

The governance review of biodiversity and land use was completed but not considered by Ministers before the Scottish Parliament election in May 2016. The review concluded that the previous arrangements should be replaced with arrangements under the Rural Affairs, Food and Environment (RAFE) Delivery Board, a grouping of chief executives or equivalents from public sector environmental and agricultural organisations under the joint chairmanship of the then Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment (Richard Lochhead MSP) and then Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (Dr Aileen McLeod MSP).

Since May 2016, the RAFE Delivery Board has continued to meet informally at official level to work on issues of common interest, including preparation for the Budget 2016-17, the potential impact of the EU referendum and the Scottish Government’s draft Climate Change Plan. Ministers have yet to consider what formal arrangements they wish to see in place of the RAFE Delivery Board – and also how they wish to deal with biodiversity and land use governance.

In the meantime, on biodiversity, the delivery support groups in the form of the working groups and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Co-ordination Group (which is chaired by Scottish Natural Heritage) have continued to meet regularly and to support and coordinate the delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and ‘Scotland’s Biodiversity – a Route Map to 2020’.

On stakeholder engagement, a RAFE ‘Leading Together’ stakeholder event held by Mr Lochhead in March 2016 under the auspices of the RAFE Delivery Board drew together leaders from public bodies and key stakeholders to discuss the portfolio’s outcomes and priorities. A further meeting was held on 28 July 2016 specifically to consider follow-up to the EU referendum on the range of environmental and climate change issues. The Scottish Government’s Standing Council on Europe has set up a Roundtable on Environment and Climate Change under the chairmanship of Professor Dame Anne Glover, which has met several times since October 2016.

Officials expect to arrange further stakeholder meetings on biodiversity and land use in the course of this year.

The Help to Adapt pilot was tendered under normal procurement rules as a two year contract which was awarded to the Link Group Ltd. To date the scheme has cost £892,969. Please see the response to S5W-06634 on 3 February 2017 which provides further details of the pilot.

Please see the response to S5W-06634 on 3 February 2017 which provides further details of the pilot including the total paid to the Link Group Ltd to administer the Help to Adapt scheme. It is not possible to provide a break down by local authority area.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Costs for the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016 are £545,147 including mobilisation costs. Costs for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 December 2016 are £347,822.

(a) Type of assistance provided broken down by each year of the scheme's operation

Help to Adapt provided various levels and types of support from initial advice and information about the scheme, through to specialist assessment, recommendations and support all the way through to the installation of an adaptation. The service also provides information and signposting to other services that are available. To
31 December 2016, 12 adaptations have been completed. Final figures will not be available until after the financial year end. However, due to low levels of uptake, the decision has been taken to end the pilot on 31 March 2017.

b) Assistance provided broken down by local authority pilot area.

x represents figures of five or less that have been supressed for reasons of confidentiality.

Indemnity insurance is one of a range of issues for consideration in the context of negotiating the new GP contract from 2017. These negotiations are on-going and their content must remain confidential between the negotiating parties, however we will continue to work with the Scottish General Practitioners Committee to introduce a new contract in 2017.

Terms and conditions for GPs working out of hours arrangements are an operational matter for NHS Boards to organise on a local basis. In general medical indemnity costs are significantly lower in Scotland than in England.

The details of the recommendations of the Wildlife Crime Penalties Review and the progress being made with implementation is set out below. The Scottish Government will legislate where this is required, subject to consultation, in respect of every recommendation where competence is devolved to do so.

Levels of fines and custodial sentences

Recommendation one. That maximum penalties available on summary conviction at least for the more serious offences, are raised to at least a £40,000 fine and up to
12 months imprisonment. That conviction on indictment is more commonly made available across the range of wildlife offences with a maximum term of imprisonment of up to five years.

Implementing this recommendation requires consultation and primary legislation. Further details about the consultation, which will be undertaken during this Parliamentary session, will be made available in due course. Details of the Scottish Government’s planned legislative programme are set out annually in the Programme for Government.

Use of impact statements

Recommendation two. That the use of conservation/ecological impact statements and animal welfare impact statements is put on a more systematic basis than at present. This might initially be done on an administrative basis with the prosecution seeking these as a matter of course and where appropriate, from either SNH in the former case, or a vet in the latter case.

Recommendation three. That this requirement is put on a legislative footing along the lines of the requirement for courts to consider victim statements before sentencing in other areas of criminal law where such statements are made available to the court and also providing the court with a power to order the preparation of such a statement from a relevant regulatory agency before it passes sentence.

The use of impact statements is already considered in relevant cases by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Putting this on a legislative footing requires consultation and primary legislation. Further details about the consultation, which we intend undertaking during this Parliamentary session, will be made available in due course. Details of the Scottish Government’s planned legislative programme are set out annually in the Programme for Government.

Alternative penalties

Recommendation four. That forfeiture provisions are extended and these and other alternative penalties are made consistent across the range of wildlife legislation as appropriate.

Implementing this recommendation requires consultation and primary legislation. Further details about the consultation, which will be undertaken during this Parliamentary session, will be made available in due course. Details of the Scottish Government’s planned legislative programme are set out annually in the Programme for Government.

Recommendation five. That where a firearm or shotgun is involved in the commission of a wildlife crime, the court should have the power to cancel the relevant certificate as is already the case in the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996.

Recommendation six. That consideration should be given to amending firearms legislation which is reserved to the UK Parliament to allow the Chief Constable to withdraw a shotgun certificate where such a weapon has been involved in the commission of a wildlife crime not just on grounds of public safety but also on the grounds of a threat to the safety of wildlife.

Most firearms legislation remains reserved to Westminster. We are carefully considering Recommendations five and six and exploring what scope there may be for changes to legislation to be made.

Recommendation seven. That the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service should continue to consider the use of Proceeds of Crime legislation to the maximum extent possible in appropriate wildlife cases.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service already considers the use of Proceeds of Crime legislation in wildlife crime cases where that is appropriate and will continue that approach.

Recommendation eight. That wildlife crime offenders should be required to attend retraining courses, including courses on empathy where appropriate, either through Community Payback Orders or suspended sentences. This would require establishing that such courses are available and raising awareness of such courses amongst the judiciary.

We will, in discussion with community justice partners, consider the need for specific retraining courses for individuals convicted of wildlife crime, to establish whether such courses are practicable. These discussions will be taken forward this year.

Legislative coherence

Recommendation nine. That wildlife legislation should be consolidated.

While we recognise the desirability of consolidating wildlife crime legislation, it is unlikely that there will be sufficient Scottish Government resources to undertake this during the current Parliamentary session.

Sentencing Guidelines

Recommendation ten. That with the establishment of the Scottish Sentencing Council in October 2015, sentencing guidelines are developed for wildlife offences in order to enhance the consistency and transparency of sentencing.

The Scottish Sentencing Council has included the preparation of sentencing guidelines for wildlife offences in its 2015-18 business plan.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-02307 on 15 September 2016. The then Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Dr Aileen McLeod MSP, met the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) on 25 February 2016. Officials had further discussions with SSPCA representatives in March 2016 but no formal discussions have been held since then.