Scottish Government officials are currently conducting an analysis of the newly-passed EU Nature Restoration Law to identify where it intersects with existing Scottish Government policies and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. The Scottish Government remains committed to maintaining alignment with the EU, where possible. The recent consultation on our biodiversity strategy and delivery plan set out an ambitious range of actions which aim to tackle the nature crisis. We have already invested heavily in tackling the nature crisis such as through our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund which has funded a wide range of projects across Scotland and our £250 million commitment to restore degraded peatlands.

As previously confirmed in the response to S6W-28174 on‎ 27 June 2024, information regarding the number of abandoned vehicles reported to local authorities is not centrally held.

Management information is available from Police Scotland on the number of police recorded incidents of abandoned vehicles. This is provided below, split by the local authority within which the incident occurred.

It should be noted that not all abandoned vehicles will relate to cars and an incident may relate to more than one abandoned vehicle. This information was consistently recorded across all police divisions from the calendar year of 2019 onwards and therefore the figures provided below relate to the period 1 January 2019 to 18 June 2024. As such the 2024 figures relate to only a partial year.

Recorded incidents of abandoned vehicles, 1 January 2019 to 18 June 2024.

I recently met with Housing Convenors across Scotland to discuss the challenges that have contributed to longer turnaround times for empty council properties, delays in reconnecting energy supplies was one of the key issues raised.

Although energy is a reserved matter, Scottish Ministers imminently intend to send a joint letter with COSLA to individual energy suppliers on the impacts delays in reconnecting utilities is having on void turnaround times. This will be followed by official level engagement with energy suppliers over the summer.

The declaration of a housing emergency asks all partners to play their part, therefore, I hope organisations in the energy sector heed this call to action and respond quickly and satisfactorily to the concerns local authorities have raised.

We will continue to work with local authorities and registered social landlords to help reduce turnaround times for empty homes and voids and will support efforts at a national level where we can to address this problem.

As previously stated in the responses to S6W-28174 on 27 June 2024 and S6W-28267 on 10 July 2024, information is not held centrally on the number of abandoned vehicles in local authority areas, but management information is available from Police Scotland on police-recorded incidents of abandoned vehicles.

Any assessment of abandoned vehicles specifically regarding non-compliance with Low Emission Zone (LEZ) standards is a matter for local authorities.

Financial support is available for the disposal of eligible non-compliant vehicles for lower income households and smaller businesses through the LEZ Support Fund. Households and smaller businesses are encouraged to visit the Energy Saving Trust website to apply.

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 .

Upon the request of the Scottish Government, research was conducted between March 2023 and March 2024 to model the impact of a reduction in meat and dairy intakes on the nation’s micronutrient intake. This work was led by Food Standards Scotland (FSS), in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, in response to the Climate Change Committee (CCC)’s recommendation in the publication, Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland, 2022 Report to Parliament . It revealed that Scotland could make significant progress towards the CCC targets for reduction in meat consumption by following existing dietary advice shown in the Eatwell Guide. The Scottish Government and FSS are seeking to carry out additional research dedicated to assessing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with dietary intakes as part a review of the Scottish Dietary Goals (SDG) in 2024-25. Additionally, the Scottish Government is engaging the CCC to explore the evidence base which has informed the Committee’s recommendation in the publication, Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland, 2023 Report to Parliament .

The Scottish Government is analysing landings and liaising with industry in order to understand the impact of the new economic link licence conditions and keep the policy under review.

It is our intention to produce an update on the impact of the changes later this year. However, analysis of provisional landings data for 2023 indicates that the policy change has succeeded in driving up the share of landings for pelagic stocks into Scotland and Shetland in particular.

I committed to publishing a public consultation on this issue during the passage of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill and following engagement with bereaved families and hosting a roundtable involving victims organisations, media representatives and others.

The consultation is now open and was published on 9 July 2024, will run for
‎ 12 weeks until 1 October, and will provide an opportunity to contribute to future policy approaches to this sensitive, complex and emotive issue. A link to the consultation paper is provided here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836014812

We are not actively considering the establishment of a non-departmental public body and there are no plans to consider this prior to publishing the Programme for Government. The Minister for Housing made a statement to Parliament on 20 June setting out the actions being taken to address the Housing Emergency and this can be accessed at:

https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-20-06-2024?meeting=15946&iob=136142

The planning system in Scotland has undergone significant reform in recent years with the introduction of new legislation, policy and guidance. The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 made changes to development planning and consenting regimes to strengthen decision making and enable the delivery of high-quality development. National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was published in February 2023, following extensive public and Parliamentary consultation and scrutiny. NPF4 Policy 16, Quality Homes, takes an all tenure approach to supporting more quality homes, emphasising delivery and the plan-led approach.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Planner and I published a letter to stakeholders on 27 June 2024, providing further clarification on implementation of NPF4 and policy 16 Quality Homes, and emphasising the need for positive and constructive collaboration across sectors to support delivery.

Following our recent public consultation on Investing in Planning, we are working with partners to progress a range of actions to increase the capacity and improve the performance of planning services. Key actions will be set out in due course.

There are no current plans to extend the provisions of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 to cover volunteers in the NHS. There is a staff in scope list available on the Scottish Government website which confirms the professions and services that are covered within the Health section of the Act.

Volunteers in health care services are not referred to in the Act and volunteers who do work in clinical roles in health care, for example as community first responders, while performing an important role, have no minimum contractual requirement, are not rostered on shifts and do not replace clinical employees. For these reasons they are not considered to be within the scope of the Act.

The Act commenced in April 2024 and the Scottish Government and Healthcare Improvement Scotland have been engaging extensively with Health Boards to help them prepare to meet the duties of the Act. The Act is in it’s infancy and the Scottish Government will review it only once several years of data is available to inform a coherent review.