Chamber and committees

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.

One of our Strategic Change Objectives outlined in the SPCB Strategic Plan is ‘Adapting for a sustainable future’. This focuses on reducing our carbon emissions and embedding Sustainable Development thinking across the parliament.  

Our Sustainable Development Plan includes work under two key pillars - Climate Change, and Enhancing Scrutiny. Work in these areas is supported by a third pilar on engagement and embedding sustainable development thinking.

We are systematically using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to help us identify priorities in our sustainability work, and use this to help evolve our related training and engagement. This includes a course related to the SDGs and the role of Parliaments – developed by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which is available to MSPs, MSP staff and SPCB staff regarding the SDG and the role of Parliaments. 

Within the SPCB we are mapping Parliament’s strategic goals to the SDGs identifying the top priorities and the leadership required to embed them into the organisation. The outcome of this work will help us to shape the Session 7 Strategic Plan. We are publicly committed to being Net Zero Ready by 2038 at the latest and we have created a related Climate Change Adaptation risk assessment and action plan.  

As part of the Scrutiny pillar, we are delivering the Conveners Group Session 6 strategic priority on climate change and net zero. There are seven areas of work to strengthen scrutiny of climate change across the Scottish Parliament. These include reviewing parliamentary processes and procedures, commissioning research to illustrate how climate change impacts on policy areas across subject committees and further rolling out of the Sustainable Development Impact Assessment tool. This is part of the work to develop a model for parliamentary scrutiny of climate change. This wider work includes enhancing engagement with diverse research evidence and expertise, embedding public participation, strengthening connections with strategic partners and sharing good practice. SPICe is publishing an updated blog on this work in January 2024.  

Our Sustainable Development Performance Manager and Senior Analyst (Climate Change Scrutiny) would be delighted to meet with you to discuss more fully our work on Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Scottish Government recognizes the importance of natural flood management (NFM) measures in reducing, slowing or otherwise managing flood waters across catchments and along the coast while also delivering multiple environmental benefits. The Scottish Government provides funding to improve and restore catchment processes including hydrological processes through the Water Environment Fund, Peatland Restoration Fund, Nature Restoration Fund and Forestry Grants scheme.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information on the total number of NFM schemes currently operating across Scotland. The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 recognises the important role of, promotes and encourages the use of NFM techniques, however, the responsibility for the development and delivery of flood protection schemes rests with individual local authorities, who are best placed to respond to local resilience needs. The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities to facilitate this.

Effective catchment management requires all of Scotland's land owners and land managers to play their part. As such, individual landowners may decide to operate their own NFM schemes, and there is no requirement for them to notify Ministers of such activity. However, we encourage everyone operating a scheme and interested in this field to join the Scottish Government funded NFM Network Scotland which has been set up to share knowledge and best practice amongst those working with NFM projects, research or activities.

The Scottish Government are grateful for the efforts made by Health and Social Care Partnerships to develop plans to implement Mental Health and Wellbeing in Primary Care services. This planning activity was supported by £1.5 million of funding in December 2021.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-23303 on 11 December 2023 and S6W-16651 on 21 April 2023 outlining the reasons for the decision to pause the recruitment to Mental Health and Wellbeing in Primary Care services. 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 refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23817 on‎ 8 January 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 does not hold this information. Local authorities are responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 and accordingly they undertake inspections and issue licences.

Information on the number of inspections undertaken and licences issued related to animal welfare establishments and organisations engaged in rehoming activities may be requested from individual councils.

At its heart, AI is the leveraging of advanced digital technology using large data sets, and we are treating AI with the same rigour as any other new technology or innovation. As such, its use comes under existing digital and data governance mechanisms. At a national level, the Scottish Government, with its partners COSLA, have established a new Strategic Leadership Board for Digital and Data Transformation.

This Leadership Board is supported by a number of sub-boards, including a dedicated Data Board for Health & Social Care. Through this new national governance, we will continue to work towards embedding greater use of digital and data driven innovations across health and social care (including ensuring necessary support is in place for skills and training), consider what capabilities, processes and procedures are required at a local level to support adoption and therefore assess what additional mechanisms may be required nationally.

It is primarily for the respective NHS Boards, including NHS Western Isles and NHS Highland who have a rolling arrangement based on associated financial projections, to negotiate and agree Service Level Agreements in the best interests of local people. Health Boards also regularly discuss and manage any associated issues in relation to service provision in visiting specialties, such as workforce and transport challenges.

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.