Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government held a public consultation on its proposals to prohibit the use of snares and other cable restraints which concluded in October 2023.

The consultation highlighted that some individuals and businesses may see cost changes associated with changes to the way that they undertake control of foxes, brown hares and/or rabbits. Snares are a relatively resource un-intensive method of wildlife control compared to other methods such as shooting. The majority of land managers use shooting as their only or main method of control and this will remain a viable alternative.

The Scottish Government will work together with relevant stakeholders to minimise any impacts when a ban on snaring comes into force.

We also invited the Rural and Environment Land Management Group to submit a report on the use of snares by Scottish land management businesses. We considered this report alongside a report from the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission. We concluded that other, more humane, methods of wildlife control are available to land managers in most circumstances and that a ban on the use of snares would have a significant benefit for wildlife welfare with only a minor impact on some rural businesses.

Scotland is committed to a just transition to net-zero and decarbonisation of industry is ‘mission critical’. Scottish Government is continuing to deliver the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, which leverages private sector investment from energy intensive industries to deliver energy efficiency improvements to decarbonise industrial processes.

Scottish Government is also strengthening engagement with research networks and energy intensive industries to build evidence-based policy to support industrial decarbonisation. Scottish Government continues to liaise with UK Government on the many reserved policy, fiscal or regulatory levers that influence current incentives for industry to invest in decarbonisation.

The Scottish Government works closely with NatureScot on its development of corporate and annual operating plans and Ministers meet regularly to discuss progress. This assessment process is therefore continual and NatureScot is ultimately accountable to the Scottish Parliament.

We continue to work with all of our public bodies to drive out efficiencies, finding new and better ways of working, creating best value for the Scottish taxpayer.

NatureScot, along with other environment bodies, has taken a leading role in recent years in leading Scotland’s response to the nature and climate emergencies. As a result, the organisation has managed significant additional project funding for peatlands, nature restoration, visitor management and more.

The budget settlement for 2024-25 announced on 19 December recognises the increasing level and quality of work being delivered by NatureScot which is why despite such challenging financial circumstances, NatureScot will benefit from an 8% uplift to its core funding, bringing its core budget to £63.2m in 2024-25.

More information on the budget announcement can be found here: Scottish Budget: 2024 to 2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We continue to work towards delivery of the commitment that at least 10% of frontline health spending will be dedicated to mental health by the end of this parliamentary session.

The NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 Annual Progress Update published in December 2023 confirmed that NHS expenditure on mental health rose from £1.25bn in 2020-21 to £1.3bn in 2021-22, an increase of £51.5m or 4.1% - representing 8.8% of total NHS expenditure.

Scottish Government values the NHS workforce and is committed to investing in Scotland’s NHS workforce. Official NHS Scotland workforce statistics show record high staffing levels across all professional groups as at September 2023, including Medical and Dental and Nursing and Midwifery staff.

On 23 November 2023 we announced an additional 153 training posts for junior doctors to be created across a wide range of medical specialties: the largest annual expansion on record. This brings the total number of extra training places created since 2014 to 880. These additional posts are supported by £42m of Scottish Government funding over the next four years and will be recruited to from 2024, with successful applicants taking up post in August 2024. We have also increased nursing student numbers every year for the last decade. In addition to this we are working closely with the RCN and the RCM as part of the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce to develop alternative career pathways and working to widen access to nursing programmes.

Since autumn 2021 Scottish Government have invested £18m since autumn of 2021 to recruit 1,250 new registered nurses, midwives and allied health professionals from overseas by the end of this financial year. Over 1,000 staff have been successfully recruited to such posts so far. Scottish Government continues to encourage and support employers to prioritise wellbeing for their workforce and has launched a number of wellbeing resources. This includes the National Wellbeing Hub, the National Wellbeing Helpline and confidential mental health treatment through Workforce Specialist Service. We will continue to work with leaders across health, social care and social work as well as hearing directly from staff, to understand where the current pressures are, and what further actions can be taken to mitigate their impact on staff.

Scottish Government remains committed to reducing long waits, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic, to ensure all people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible. We’ve opened two National Treatment Centres this year, with two further centres opening in the near future. These Centres provide additional capacity for patients across Scotland and are an integral part of the wider waiting times improvement programme.

The Scottish Government microplastics monitoring programme began in the winter of 2013, and has undertaken annual surveys since that time. 479 locations have been sampled between 2013 and 2022. These sample sites are distributed throughout the 11 Scottish Marine Regions and the Offshore Marine Regions. Not all Regions were sampled in every year and the number of sampling sites visited also varied between years.

The microplastics in surface water assessment in Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020 gives the number of sample sites visited in each year from 2013-14 to 2019-20. This can be viewed at https://marine.gov.scot/sma/assessment/microplastics-surface-water In addition, the sites sampled each year up to and including 2021-22 can be viewed in the dataset published at https://data.marine.gov.scot/dataset/dataset-sources-sinks-and-hazards-micro-plastics-scotland%E2%80%99s-seas-2013-present/resource#{query:{from:400},view-grid:{columnsWidth:[{column:!season,width:157},{column:!date_deploy,width:149}]}} Data for 2022-23, and the current sampling year of 2023-24 have not yet been published.

In line with international reporting practice and independent advice from the UK Climate Change Committee, Scotland’s statutory climate change targets are set on the basis of long-term reductions in total net territorial emissions, and also include a share of emissions from international aviation and shipping. As set out in the answer to S6W-23278 on 11 December 2023 the Scottish Government has no plans to set per capita carbon budgets. There have not been any discussions or review of what a 'vehicle kms travelled' budget may look like for Scotland. 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/questions-and-answers

A breakdown of lead Directorates is available in the most recent Climate Change Committee progress report on adaptation (CCC, November 2023).The Committee’s recommendations for the highest priority climate risks to be addressed in the next Scottish National Adaptation Plan are broken down by Directorate on pages 18 and 19. Furthermore, each chapter ends with lead Directorates identified against specific policy recommendations relevant to the chapter.

There are a range of strongly-held views on wildlife management in Scotland. The Scottish Government takes the view that field sports are an important component of the rural economy. We accept that control of predators is sometimes necessary for the management of field sports businesses, as it is for other land management purposes. Our aim is to ensure that all legal predator control is carried out in a way that is consistent with best practice in animal welfare standards.

There are strict regulations governing the setting of traps in Scotland which must be undertaken in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Spring Traps Approval (Scotland) Order 2011. We are strengthening this legal framework through the wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill, which includes provisions for mandatory training and licensing for trap operators. We also intend to bring proposals forward for a complete ban on the use of snares in Scotland during Stage 2 of the Bill, as we believe the use of these devices poses an unacceptable welfare risk to wildlife and domestic pets.

We also increased the penalties for illegal use of traps and snares alongside other wildlife offences in the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020.