Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has agreed a package of support for people whose homes and businesses were affected by Storm Babet.

Funding is being provided to eligible local authorities to allow them to issue flat rate grants to all households and businesses suffering from the impacts of Storm Babet. The grants will comprise a £1,500 community recovery grant for those whose properties have been flooded, and a £3,000 business recovery grant for businesses, community groups and organisations impacted by flooding. Grants will be administered by eligible local authorities which are those that had an exceptional red warning for rain during October’s storm. Letters offering funding have been issued to Dundee City Council, Angus Council, Aberdeenshire Council and Perth and Kinross Council to enable them to make the grant payments.

We are also providing Angus Council with additional funding of up to £100,000 to help those families who have lost everything to resettle and rebuild their lives. We have also announced funding to help farmers repair floodbanks damaged by the extreme rainfall during October.

The models and approaches that could be considered for delivering a public interest test for land reform were originally set out by the Scottish Land Commission in their discussion paper, Legislative proposals to address the impact of Scotland’s concentration of land ownership (published February 2021).

Based on the Scottish Land Commission’s recommendations, we put forward our proposals for a Public Interest Test on land transfers in our consultation document, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation (published July 2022).

The consultation opened on 4 July 2022 and closed on 30 October 2022, asking a total of 51 questions. It also invited respondents to give us views on other ideas and proposals. Our proposals for the criteria which would determine the types of landholdings that would be in scope for the Public Interest Test, and how the Test would be applied, were set out in Parts 4 and 7.

Since the consultation we have commissioned analysis of the responses to it. The responses included a range of views on models for/approaches to a Public Interest Test. We have considered these carefully as we take forward development of our proposals. We have also engaged, and will continue to engage, with a range of internal and external stakeholders over the Test, along with the other measures proposed for the Bill.

I can advise Parliament that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has today published its response to its recent consultation on ‘Managing interactions between sea lice from finfish farms and wild salmonids in Scotland’ .

Our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture values the role of aquaculture in producing world-renowned healthy and quality seafood, whilst recognising that its delivery and development must be sustainable.

SEPA’s finalised sea lice framework follows an extensive period of consultation. The framework will support sustainable development of fish farming worth over £1 billion to our economy, ensuring our communities continue to realise the benefits of aquaculture, by guiding development to the least-sensitive locations and protecting the environment, whilst making the development process more efficient and effective.

The framework will be implemented in phases and will adopt a proportionate, evidenced and risk-based approach to management. From February 2024, the framework will be used to assess all new and expanding fish farm developments.

The consultation paper Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation sought views on several proposals for inclusion in a new Land Reform Bill. It included proposals for a Public Interest Test on certain land transfers, and set out the criteria for the type of landholdings that would be in scope for such a test. The consultation opened on 4 July 2022 and closed on 30 October 2022, asking a total of 51 questions. It also invited respondents to give us views on other ideas and proposals. Our proposals for the Public Interest Test were set out in Parts 4 and 7.

The consultation sought to gather views from a range of stakeholders and from members of the public across Scotland. As part of this we also undertook five in-person engagement events across Scotland with a further event taking place online.

Further information about the analysis of responses to the consultation, and the responses themselves, may be found here: Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space

The proposals for the Public Interest Test were developed in the light of a series of reports on the scale and concentration of land ownership in Scotland published by the Scottish Land Commission, which led to their discussion paper, Legislative proposals to address the impact of Scotland’s concentration of land ownership (February 2021).

Since the consultation we have commissioned analysis of the responses to it: these included a range of views and suggestions for the parameters of the Test. We have considered these responses carefully as we develop our proposals. We have also engaged, and will continue to engage, with a range of internal and external stakeholders over the Test, along with the other measures proposed for the Bill.

There is no Scottish Government definition of the seasons beyond those commonly understood. The Scottish Government is committed to meeting publication dates that have been indicated whenever possible.

Members will be aware that we have been gathering views and evidence from a range of stakeholders around the minimum age of marriage and considering next steps following the recent concluding observation of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child that we prohibit all marriages of under 18s in Scotland.

Whilst very few 16- and 17-year-olds marry or register a civil partnership in Scotland each year (in 2022 out of over 30,000 marriages, only 18 involved a party or parties under 18), we are cognisant of the concluding observations. Therefore I have now decided that the Scottish Government should consult formally in this area in 2024.

Reaching a view on reform of the age of marriage is a potentially cross-cutting area given the other rights that we permit 16- and 17-year-olds to exercise whether with or without additional protections. Consequently, we need to carefully consider the full implications of any change in the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership and whether any change may be needed to the existing criminal law on forced marriage.

I also intend to include a number of other areas of family and succession law as part of this consultation.

We will consult on the Scottish Law Commission’s draft Bill to reform the law on a cohabitant’s financial rights against their former partner when they separate.

We committed in the Family Justice Modernisation Strategy in 2018 to consulting on whether the simplified forms-based divorce and dissolution procedure should include cases where a couple have children under 16 and they are not in dispute about their welfare, and this will also be included in the consultation.

Following on from a previous consultation on succession law and from views raised during the passage of the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Bill, our consultation will also explore a cohabitant’s entitlement to financial provision from their deceased partner’s estate where that partner has died without a will.

In addition, we have not yet implemented a provision in the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 on creating qualifying requirements for religious and belief bodies with celebrants who solemnise marriage and register civil partnerships. The aims of this provision include ensuring the continuing dignity and solemnity of ceremonies and tackling forced marriages and civil partnerships. We are planning therefore to also consult formally on the options here.

We will aim to publish the consultation on this substantial range of issues by summer 2024.

The current e-Rostering Implementation plan is scheduled to complete in December 2024, which will deliver the capability for the majority of NHS Boards to prioritise and progress the necessary local roll-out of eRostering across all of their rosters over time. The system that has been procured will be able to record time for staff in line with local implementation plans.

There is currently no end date where all Boards will be required to have all rosters live on the e-Rostering system. However, a prospective plan to facilitate and accelerate adoption across all roster locations in each board is under consideration and Boards will be expected to demonstrate progress through their Annual Delivery Plans.

The Scottish Government is working with all public sector partners to understand the extent of, and risks associated with, RAAC across all public bodies. In respect of issues concerning RAAC outside of schools and housing, Scottish Government officials are working closely with the Scottish Heads of Property Services (SHOPS) which is co-ordinating an information gathering exercise on our behalf in respect of the prevalence of RAAC in the non school/non housing estate. Information is also sought on planned actions and mitigations. Scottish Government officials will continue to attend SHOPS meetings to support information sharing, help facilitate wider engagement with other sectors and ensure awareness of best industry practice in mitigating RAAC impacts.

Infrastructure on the UK rail network, including level crossings on the West Coast Mainline, is a matter for Network Rail, therefore Network Rail would be best placed to provide this information.

Network Rail advises that all level crossings fully meet the operational and safety requirements and regularly undergo the required risk assessment programme.

The Material Flow Accounts model is being reworked so that its new trade data will be aligned with EU material flow accounting practices. Zero Waste Scotland is also exploring the scope for mapping material flows to economic sectors.

As a result of the UK’s departure from the EU, the Material Flow Account model can no longer source its trade data from Eurostat and the model needs to be significantly reworked as its new trade data will not be in alignment with EU material flow accounting practices. Zero Waste Scotland has therefore decided to make these methodological changes before reporting results to ensure clear communication of Scotland’s current material consumption.

Zero Waste Scotland will confirm a publication date once the review is complete.