Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government welcomes the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology's (CEH) recent article which reported correlations between wild bee populations and neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments use in oilseed rape.

We consider this an interesting and useful piece of research, and note that the authors acknowledge that many factors are linked to pollinator decline.

We await the results from the soon to be published CEH large-scale European field trials. These results are expected to address some of the scale and replication challenges of previous field studies which investigated the potential impact of neonicotinoids on pollinators.

The results from the upcoming CEH report will also feed into the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) assessment of all the new research findings on the use of neonicotinoids. EFSA are expected to publish a report summarising their findings by the end of January 2017, which we will carefully consider.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government supports Europe's precautionary approach and the continuation of the current restrictions on the use of the three neonicotinoids.

It is for local authorities to put forward sites they consider to be a priority for support in line with the eligibility criteria for the fund http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/supply-demand/housing-infrastructure-fund. This can include brownfield sites of high environmental quality.

Scottish planning policy makes provision for the protection of sites of high environmental quality.

We are currently working with the UK Department of Health on beginning the payment of the increased lump sums and annual payments via the existing UK support schemes (the Skipton Fund and the Macfarlane and Eileen Trust). This requires extensive amendments to the existing agreements between the schemes and the UK Government, along with amendments to income tax orders. We are progressing with this work, but it is not yet possible to indicate when it will be possible to start making increased payments. However, our aim is to ensure that payments can commence this year.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides estimates of the number of households within the coverage of the gas distribution network. The most recent statistics relating to council areas for the period 2012-2014 were published in January 2016 http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/SHCS/keyanalyses/LAtables2014. The SCHS is not designed to produce estimates for Parliamentary constituencies.

According to the SHCS, between 2012 and 2014 there were around 10,000 households in the Falkirk Council area which were off the gas grid, which is equivalent to 14% of all households. Allowing for the margin of error, the number of households estimated to be off the gas grid is between 6,000 and 13,000.

In the SHCS, gas grid coverage is determined on the basis of the distance of dwellings from low/medium pressure gas distribution pipes. Dwellings within 63 meters of the gas distribution network are considered within the coverage of the gas grid. This does not mean those dwellings are necessarily connected to the grid.

The information is not held centrally. The Crofting Commission administers the regulation of crofting on behalf of the Scottish Ministers and I have asked the chief executive of that organisation to supply the information requested.

This information is not available at a constituency level.

As at the end of quarter 3 2015-16, 36 employers in the Falkirk local authority area have used the Adopt an Apprentice initiative since it commenced in 2009.

A total of 48 modern apprentices have been adopted by these employers.

Scotland’s Land Use Strategy 2016-2021 will be laid before the Parliament today (22 March 2016) setting out our priorities for the next five years. The accompanying consultation report sets out how the strategy benefitted from stakeholder input during the consultation and how the requirements of Section 57 (4) and (5) of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 are met.

The national framework of local incentives will look at a range of possible measures that have the potential to make plug-in vehicles more cost effective, convenient and desirable to use.

These measures include the potential to introduce priority parking for electric vehicles (EVs) at preferential spaces located closer to amenities and also discounted parking fees. We’re also looking at the opportunities and challenges associated with allowing EVs to access bus lanes.

The majority of the levers required to introduce such measures are held at a local level and we are consulting with local authorities as we develop the framework. The framework is not intended to mandate the introduction of incentives, rather it will offer guidance and support to local authorities wishing to introduce measures in their local areas.

On 15 March 2016, the Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism updated Parliament on the Scottish Government’s plans to develop a new energy strategy for Scotland.

As part of the new approach, the Scottish Government will take a whole system view of the challenge of achieving our long-term climate change targets while ensuring Scottish consumers have secure and affordable energy supplies, building an integrated approach to power, heat and transport.

In doing so, the Scottish Government will consider the role of ultra-low emission vehicles in supporting the development of a cleaner and smarter energy system. For example, matching the recharging of electric vehicles to fluctuating levels of generation from renewable sources can help balance energy systems and use green energy that might not otherwise be used.