Chamber and committees

The Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) Stakeholder Group last met on 23 March 2023. Following that meeting, and based on feedback from some members about the effectiveness of bringing such a large group together for time limited meetings, the purpose of the Group was reframed. During the Summer period, some members of the Group took part in smaller workshops on Just Transition and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The Scottish Government will now engage with members on specific, often time sensitive, topics, utilising the Group as a network of experts, being brought together as part of a targeted engagement programme to provide written and oral evidence.

The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill will assist in realising the Vision for Agriculture, setting out a framework of support for agriculture, forestry and rural communities, though the four-tier support structure. Work is underway within the established Agriculture Reform Programme (ARP) on transitioning to a new support framework and on developing the detail of what will follow in secondary legislation.

The published Agricultural Reform Route Map provides information for farmers and crofters on when current schemes will transition or end, what they can expect to change from 2025, the support available now to help them prepare, how they can get involved in designing the new framework, and when more guidance, support and information will be available. The Scottish Government is calling on the agriculture sector to help us shape the detail of future of support and how it is delivered through a series of interviews, surveys, workshops, testing and trials and anyone can take part. Volunteers will be reimbursed with payment levels depending on the time and input required and people can register their interest here .

For further information on the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), I refer the member to the Board's Terms of Reference which is periodically reviewed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22110 on 30 October 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Safe access zones have been established by national legislation in Northern Ireland, and in some local authority areas in England using Public Spaces Protection Orders. The Scottish Government has given careful consideration to both approaches, and has engaged with officials from these administrations to learn from their experiences of implementation. Officials also continue to engage with UK Government counterparts as they work to bring national legislative provisions into force that will establish safe access zones in England and Wales, as well as with officials from the Republic of Ireland, where a bill to establish zones is currently making its way through the National Parliament (Oireachtas).

This consideration and engagement has informed the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill; however, the Bill reflects Scotland’s particular circumstances and requirements.

Women should be able to access abortion services without fear of intimidation, harassment, or unwanted influence. That is why the Scottish Government has been supporting Ms Gillian Mackay MSP to draft and develop the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) data is provided below on numbers of patients receiving abortion treatment in a Health Board other than their Board of residence.

It is not possible to distinguish how many patients had to receive treatment in another Health Board or how many chose to do so.

Number of terminations where Board of treatment is different from Board of residence, Scotland, 2019 to 2022.

The Scottish Government has engaged extensively with stakeholders to ensure as wide a range of views as possible were taken into consideration during the development of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. While there has been no engagement between Ministers and their counterparts across the United Kingdom, there has been regular contact at official level.

The Forestry Grant Scheme opened for applications in 2015 as part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) and initially had a 7 year budget of £36m per year. The Forestry Grants budget has since been reviewed on an annual basis, as part of the wider Scottish Government Budget process, to reflect the Climate Change Plan woodland creation target and on-going legal commitments.

Forestry Grant Scheme contracts are issued by Scottish Forestry, and underspends can occur where insufficient applications are received or approved schemes are delayed. Underspends occurred in 2015-16 and 2016-17 due to insufficient applications being received in the first two years of FGS. Since then underspends have occurred in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, due to combination insufficient applications and delays with approved projects being implemented.

The current Action Plan ends in December 2023. Future plans will be informed by the review mentioned in my answer to question S6W-22193 on 26 October 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy includes commitments to continue effective species recovery, reintroduction and reinforcement programmes and to introduce an agricultural future support framework which delivers for nature restoration and biodiversity.

The Scottish Government and NatureScot have agreed to undertake a review of the Sea Eagle Management Scheme and White-tailed Eagle Action Plan. Terms of reference for this work have been drafted and will be shared with the Sea Eagle National Stakeholder Panel shortly.

The review will assess progress on delivering the aims of the Sea Eagle Management Scheme to support farmers and crofters to manage their livestock alongside a growing sea eagle population.