Chamber and committees

The Crofting Commission is a public body which operates at arm’s length from the Scottish Ministers. The commission operates on a day-to-day basis independently of the government, and the Scottish Government does not comment on individual regulatory decisions taken by the commission.

In addition to the commission’s own procedure in relation to complaints, there is a prescribed legal route in respect of challenges to any of its decisions.

The Scottish Government engages productively with the commission and other crofting stakeholders on crofting policy and regulation, particularly through the Crofting Stakeholder Forum, where a range of bodies with an interest in crofting, including the Crofting Commission, are represented.

Subject to the particular circumstances, local authorities, Scottish Natural Heritage and Scottish Ministers are empowered to take steps to protect the interests of designated sites. In the case of Scottish Ministers, such powers would include those provided by section 23 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 and regulation 19 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994 relating to nature conservation orders. The Scottish Government is not aware of any circumstances requiring the use of such powers at the current time.

The requested information is available on Scottish Natural Heritage’s website via the following links:

(a) http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/local-designations/lnr/ (local nature reserves)

http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/national-designations/nnr/ (national nature reserves)

(b) http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/national-designations/sssis/sssi-management/

(c) http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/international-designations/ramsar-sites/

(d) http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/international-designations/spa/

(e) http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/international-designations/sac/

The Environmental Protection (Restrictions on Use of Lead Shot) (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 prohibit the use of lead shot over wetlands in Scotland. Enforcement is the responsibility of Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government has no such plans and is not aware of any circumstances requiring such consideration. Section 12 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 provides for local authorities to create byelaws (subject to confirmation by Scottish Ministers) to prohibit or regulate activities on areas of land on which access rights are exercisable. This may be done for a number of reasons including the protection of order and safety, preventing public nuisance or damage, or for conservation purposes.

The Scottish Government is using all of the levers under our control to support the oil and gas industry. We launched an enhanced Adopt an Apprentice scheme in February 2015 -which enables firms to re-employ any modern apprentice in the industry who faces redundancy. In February 2016, the First Minister announced a £12 million Transition Training Fund to support individuals and help the sector retain talent. The fund will provide support by offering grants to individuals to support redeployment through retraining and upskilling. It will also aim to help people with the costs of maintaining any licences needed to work in the sector, and develop options to enable individuals to bring their skills and expertise into teaching.

The Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is the Scottish Government’s initiative dedicated to helping individuals and employers with the advice and support they need when faced with redundancy. Delivery of the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is led by Skills Development Scotland with partners including Highlands and Islands Enterprise. In addition to the National PACE Team, there are 18 local PACE Teams across Scotland. The Highland PACE Partnership covers Caithness and Sutherland, Moray and Lochaber, and there is a separate team for the Western Isles, this ensures a speedy and effective responses to redundancy situations.

The high-speed trains are owned by Angel Trains and they have a contractual agreement to lease them to Abellio ScotRail from autumn 2017 onwards. These trains are currently operated by First Great Western whose leases expire in late 2017 to early 2018 with Angel Trains.

There are a number of engineering, constructability, access and environmental challenges which Network Rail would have to address to introduce more double track on the Highland Main Line. There are a total of 312 structures, including underbridges, overbridges and viaducts.

Phase two of the Highland Main Line Improvement project is on schedule to deliver, by March 2019, journey time improvements averaging around 10 minutes, an hourly service between Perth and Inverness, extended to either Glasgow or Edinburgh, and increased opportunities for freight. Full details of the services will be published in late autumn 2018 as part of the December 2018 ScotRail timetable.

ScotRail are on target to introduce these iconic trains into service commencing summer 2018 and will shortly announce its plans to fully refurbish this fleet.