Chamber and committees

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) do not own or manage the land where Statkraft are proposing the development of the Craigwatch windfarm. They have therefore not been approached by Statkraft or received any payment from them for widening of roads.

There are several proposed windfarm sites in this area, and it is possible that road widening works are happening on neighbouring private land, of which FLS is not involved.

Preparatory work and engagement is underway to develop the Rural Delivery Plan. A data dashboard was published in December 2023, measurable objectives are being considered and investment mapped. The Rural Scotland Data Dashboard can be found at https://infogram.com/1pzg5qxldkwy2zf29ve97mvgdmb1dggnyrm?live .

Minutes from the Rural Delivery Plan Ministerial Working Group are publicly available and provide details of key developments of the Rural Delivery Plan. Minutes can be found online at www.gov.scot/groups/rural-delivery-plan-ministerial-working-group/ .

The Scottish Government is strongly opposed to the Illegal Migration Act that will push vulnerable people further into destitution and increase the risk of exploitation and we have raised our serious concerns with the Home Secretary.

We continue to deliver a range of interventions to support people seeking asylum living in Scotland including providing £3.6m of grant funding to Scottish Refugee Council this year for a comprehensive, nationwide Refugee Support Service.

The Service will support refugees and people seeking asylum to settle into communities through providing advice, information and resources, improving access to support services and facilitating social connections and will support the implementation of the third New Scots refugee integration strategy.

Many of the essential services which support people seeking asylum are devolved and are delivered inclusively for everyone living in Scotland, as far as possible within UK immigration legislation and rules. For example, people seeking asylum can access NHS healthcare and asylum-seeking children are entitled to school education.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27516 on 22 May 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 Scottish Government launched a public consultation on the Flood Resilience Strategy on Tuesday 21 May. The consultation will run for 12 weeks and seeks views on our approach to improving flood resilience and what actions are needed in the long term to make our places more flood resilient.

Over the consultation period officials will hold a number of public engagement workshops. The consultation will close in mid-August and a report analysing the responses will be published thereafter. The Flood Resilience Strategy is due to be published in Autumn 2024.

We remain committed to fair regulation of short-term let accommodation, which provides assurance to guests on safety and quality such as gas and electrical safety compliance and the suitability of hosts. We have listened to the sector and we have already made a number of changes to legislation and guidance, including extending the deadline for the overall scheme, and on 16 May I will lay an amending SSI, which makes further operational updates based on a range of feedback.

I have also written to the relevant lead committee to set out the monitoring we are undertaking of the new regulations, which includes ongoing engagement with stakeholders from the sector, local authorities, and residents groups. I have listened to specific feedback from Airbnb when I have met them in recent months, and I am cognisant of their desire to continue to build confidence in Scotland’s tourism offer ,which will also be achieved by stability of the scheme, which is still in a transitional phase. The global platforms I have met have said it is too early to draw conclusions on licensing more widely, and especially difficult to attribute trends to any one of multiple factors, however I would welcome any information they are willing to share as we prepare to provide a further implementation update to Parliament in the coming months.

The Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund had an annual budget of £120 million and ran from 2021-22 to 2022-23. It supported delivery of the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan Coronavirus (COVID-19): mental health - transition and recovery plan - summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and funding was allocated on an annual basis to a number of different organisations and delivery partners including the Third Sector, Local Authorities and NHS Boards. From 2023-24, the Recovery and Renewal Fund annual budget has been incorporated into the overall direct programme budget for mental health.

Going forwards, the direct programme budget for mental health published in the 2024-25 Scottish budget will be used to meet the priorities set out in our recently published Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy 2023-25 Mental health and wellbeing strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Rural Delivery Plan Ministerial Working Group is supported by officials from the Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands portfolio, and a small amount of funding will be dedicated to supporting the Rural Delivery Plan.

The Rural Delivery Plan is an opportunity to set out the actions that government is and will be taking which impact rural, island and rural coastal communities, with funding from across ministerial portfolios benefiting rural Scotland.

The Rural Delivery Plan Ministerial Working Group was established in June 2023 to oversee the development of the Rural Delivery Plan, with meetings held approximately quarterly. A date for the next meeting will be confirmed soon.

Funding was provided in the 2023-24 financial year to City of Edinburgh Council, North Ayrshire Council, South Ayrshire Council and Dundee City Council to support their work on firework control zone development. Based on discussions with officials funding has also been allocated for provision to Glasgow City Council in the 2024-25 financial year. The Scottish Government continues to be open to expressions of interest in funding from local authorities for the 2024-25 financial year.

A funded local authority may decide that firework control zones are not appropriate, for example based on further discussions with partners. The powers are discretionary and local authorities are entirely responsible for how they choose to use the powers so long as they comply with the legislation and have regard to guidance.

Local authorities do not have to make any kind of application for a firework control zone. However, before designating a place as a firework control zone or amending or revoking an existing firework control zone, a local authority must prepare and publish a proposal in relation to the designation, amendment or revocation of the zone. The local authority must also carry out a consultation on the proposal. The Scottish Government is not aware of any consultations having been published.

While not a statutory requirement, guidance says that local authorities should where possible establish a local process to give communities the ability to make the case for the designation of a firework control zone. The Scottish Government is aware that eight local authorities have introduced firework control zone community request processes and made details available on their website. These councils are Angus Council, Argyll and Bute Council, City of Edinburgh Council, Dundee City Council, East Renfrewshire Council, Falkirk Council, Glasgow City Council, Inverclyde Council and Shetland Islands Council. A number of other local authorities have advised that they aim to introduce these over the coming months.