Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is preparing a Voluntary Code of Practice on dismissing and replacing land-owning land maintenance companies.

I acknowledge that there has been a considerable time elapsed since the decision to bring forward a voluntary code of practice on dismissing and replacing land-owning maintenance companies.

Unfortunately, due to other pressures, work has not progressed on the voluntary code of practice as anticipated.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26394 on 22 March 2024. 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 transportation of defence nuclear material in Scotland is a reserved matter for the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The Scottish Government expects any such transportation to be carried out safely and securely and has made this expectation clear to the UK Government.

Our emergency services have plans in place for responding to the consequences of any major incident regardless of the cause. There are well established resilience structures in Scotland to manage the consequences of any emergency, and we regularly engage with key stakeholders in Scotland and where appropriate with relevant authorities across the UK.

I am pleased to confirm that refreshed Scottish Government guidance on marches, parades and static demonstrations has been published on the Scottish Government website today and can be found at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836010425.

I hope that this guidance will be a useful source of information to all key parties involved in marches, parades and static demonstrations. I am extremely grateful to the members of the working group, chaired by Dr Michael Rosie, for their contribution to the refreshed guidance. Their time, expertise and diligence has helped to shape what I hope will be useful and widely used guidance.

Today the Scottish Government published its International Culture Strategy. The Strategy sets out a series of ambitions and actions to support the culture and creative sector in pursuing international opportunities and ensure that such activity plays a central role in the sector’s long term development. It builds on existing activity, but explores additional opportunities and sets out a policy rationale for why the Scottish Government considers international cultural activity to be important. The International Culture Strategy is available here https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836010876 .

Timescales for the legislative process are set out in the Scottish Parliament’s Standing Orders (for example in relation to Scottish Statutory Instruments) or are determined by Parliament on the advice of the Parliamentary Bureau (for example in relation to target dates for the completion of stages of Bills).

When the Scottish Government contributes its perspective to timetabling discussions it seeks to balance the need to make progress in delivering its legislative programme with the need for Parliament to be able to appropriately scrutinise that legislation, whilst also recognising the role of parliamentary authorities and the time they need in supporting members ahead of amending stages of Bills.

Home Energy Scotland (HES) energy efficiency support is not restricted by property size. The HES advice service is available to all householders in Scotland and the HES Grant and Loan scheme is open to all owner-occupiers. Neither has any limitation or eligibility criteria relating to the size of property.

The Single Building Assessment (SBA) is a risk-based approach to assess and culminate in a report on the risk to human life (directly or indirectly) created or exacerbated by the External Wall System (EWS) in multi-residential domestic buildings which may include a commercial premises, constructed or refurbished between 1 June 1992 and 1 June 2022, 11 metres and over in height and incorporating a form of external wall cladding system. The SBA includes a FRAEW (Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls) which requires that a building is assessed holistically, and for that reason, the SBA will also include a Fire Risk Assessment of the common parts of the building to the level of detail deemed required by the Fire Engineer / Assessor. The level of risk acceptance for any building in scope is tolerable risk. The recommendations identified by the Fire Engineer or Assessor within the SBA report which are deemed necessary to eliminate or mitigate risk to human life (directly or indirectly) created or exacerbated by the EWS will form the remediation scope.

There is no register of people in Scotland qualified to draft legislation, neither is there a defined category of person qualified to provide these services. Therefore, the Scottish Government can only answer this question in relation to its own drafters.

The Parliamentary Counsel Office drafts all Scottish Government Bills. The Scottish Government currently has 23 parliamentary counsel (21.5 FTE). All parliamentary counsel are qualified lawyers. There are no additional special qualifications needed to be appointed as parliamentary counsel but the Scottish Government does invest heavily in training counsel in the specialist skills needed to draft primary legislation.

Lawyers within the Scottish Government Legal Directorate (SGLD) draft most Scottish Government secondary legislation, including Scottish Statutory Instruments. As of April 2024 there were 192 qualified solicitors in SGLD who may be asked to draft legislation as part of their duties.

We have no current plans to regulate for the provision of swift nest bricks in planning applications for new buildings.

All planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Following the publication and adoption of our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) in February 2023, this forms part of the development plan and so influences planning decisions across Scotland. Improving biodiversity is a cross-cutting theme which runs throughout NPF4 and our strategy and policies support development that helps to secure positive effects for biodiversity. It will be a matter for the relevant planning authority to determine what conditions, if relevant, to apply to individual planning application based on the circumstances of the individual case.