Chamber and committees

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regulates sewage discharges to the water environment under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 and must consider protection of designated nature conservation areas when determining discharge standards.

As part of River Basin Management Planning, when setting objectives for protection and improvement of the water environment SEPA also considers impacts to the condition of areas protected for nature conservation. SEPA has identified 13 conservation areas in Scotland which are not at their target objective for nature conservation and a contributing factor identified is the status of the water environment. However, none of the 13 areas are failing to meet good ecological condition due to sewage discharges.

Scotland’s River Basin Management Plan sets out measures for these areas to improve the status of the water environment, which will also contribute to improving the condition of the protected nature conservation area.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-15158 on 13 March 2023 for further information on Scottish Water’s approach to identifying locations for new CSO monitors.

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

I last met Scottish Water on 7 June 2023.

Teachers require a broad professional knowledge of early reading as a complex interplay of skills and background factors in order to improve children's literacy.

Phonics approaches form one aspect of an overall pedagogy for early reading.

Education Scotland is currently working to develop updated guidance and research-informed professional learning resources which will support teachers to develop children’s early reading. The resources will include guidance and advice on phonics as part of an overall reading pedagogy. In line with other items of guidance relating to Scotland’s curriculum, the resources are being developed within a broader context which seeks to empower teachers and schools to adapt their approach to meet the needs of individual learners.

In accordance with the Scotland Act 1998, fines received by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency are returned to the Scottish Consolidated Fund.

The accounts for the Scottish Consolidated Fund are published annually by the Scottish Government and the most recent is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-consolidated-fund-accounts-year-ended-31-march-2022/ .

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked its Chief Executive to respond. His response is as follows:

Scottish Water does not collate and report annual figures for the number of contacts received about discharges from combined sewer overflows separate from other sewage-related issues reported to them, such as blockages and sewer flooding, and these figures would not be available by area. However, Scottish Water publishes all reportable pollution events each year to SEPA and this information is available in their annual reports, which can be found at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Annual-Reports .

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked its Chief Executive to respond. His response is as follows:

The data provided in the following table is an extract from the Annual Returns, publicly available on the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) website. The data is contained in the D tables lines D6.3 for New Sewers added during the year and D6.6 for Sewers replaced. Further detail can be found in the commentary to the Annual Returns which are also published on the WICS website. Data is only available from 2015-16 as before this period Scottish Water did not report length of new sewers or length of sewers replaced in the tables.

As previously explained in my answer to S6W-15158 on 13 March 2023, Scottish Water has identified priority locations for 1,000 spill monitors, with installation programmed over 2023 and 2024. Decisions about the locations of these monitors are not based on local authority boundary; locations were identified based on amenity levels and predicted spill frequencies, and agreed with SEPA.

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

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked its Chief Executive to respond. His response is as follows:

Scottish Water intends to install 29 monitors in the Almond Valley, and 67 monitors along the Water of Leith.

As the Pathways report acknowledges, delivery of its recommendation and closing the gender gap in entrepreneurial participation is a long-term undertaking. In addition to the activity outlines in the answer to S6W-21604 on 2 October 2023:

• We are addressing the issue of data to improve our collection and reporting of data, developing a dashboard of measures that show how women are supported by our business support systems and how our actions are closing the gender gap and widening participation in entrepreneurship.