Chamber and committees

The models and approaches that could be considered for delivering a public interest test for land reform were originally set out by the Scottish Land Commission in their discussion paper, Legislative proposals to address the impact of Scotland’s concentration of land ownership (published February 2021).

Based on the Scottish Land Commission’s recommendations, we put forward our proposals for a Public Interest Test on land transfers in our consultation document, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation (published July 2022).

The consultation opened on 4 July 2022 and closed on 30 October 2022, asking a total of 51 questions. It also invited respondents to give us views on other ideas and proposals. Our proposals for the criteria which would determine the types of landholdings that would be in scope for the Public Interest Test, and how the Test would be applied, were set out in Parts 4 and 7.

Since the consultation we have commissioned analysis of the responses to it. The responses included a range of views on models for/approaches to a Public Interest Test. We have considered these carefully as we take forward development of our proposals. We have also engaged, and will continue to engage, with a range of internal and external stakeholders over the Test, along with the other measures proposed for the Bill.

On call firefighters are exceptional individuals who step up to protect their communities when needed most. The Scottish Government continues to recognise the vital role they play and appreciates the cooperation and understanding of their primary employers.

Whilst the recruitment, terms of employment and retention of on call firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), the Scottish Government will carefully consider any proposal put forward by SFRS on this issue.

SFRS works closely with employers and has an Employers Recognition Scheme to fully recognise their efforts in supporting their employees to become on call firefighters. SFRS also have an On Call Guide for Employers which enables employers to learn more about what is involved and how they can support their employees to become on call firefighters.

The Scottish Government does not currently provide formal guidance to local authorities to support climate change risk assessments and adaptation plans for local roads.

The Adaptation Scotland programme is funded by the Scottish Government to support capacity building and action on adaptation by the public sector, businesses and communities in Scotland, including local authorities. This includes developing Scotland's pioneering place-based approach to climate change adaptation.

This approach has seen the emergence of place-based adaptation partnerships including Climate Ready Clyde, Edinburgh Adapts, Aberdeen Adapts and Highland Adapts. Further, in March 2023 Adaptation Scotland launched the Community Climate Adaptation Routemap, a practical guide for communities to adapt to climate change.

A robust regulatory process governs UK pesticide authorisation and use. Authorisation is granted only where data demonstrates that the proposed use of the product will not have unacceptable effects on human health or the environment. This regulatory approach is designed to be appropriately protective and precautionary to avoid detrimental impacts, which may be difficult to measure, arising from pesticide use.

This year the UK regulator, the Health and Safety Executive, considered that the use of Asulox did not meet the legislative requirements for authorisation as, based on the current data and in contrast to previous years, the risks of the proposed use were considered to outweigh the benefits. Scottish Ministers supported this position.

The Scottish Government is committed to science-led decision making, and we follow a well-established and evidence-based process for the authorisation of chemicals to ensure high standards for public health and our environment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19840 on 18 July 2023. 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

In addition, I can confirm that the Scottish Government has recently commissioned research into reusable nappies. This will involve a review of the latest evidence and collect data from focus groups with parents of young children to understand the barriers and opportunities around reusable nappies. A report will be available in the first half of 2024.

As outlined in the Scottish Government’s Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, oil extracted from the North Sea is predominantly exported to international markets. The Scottish Government anticipates that this arrangement will continue and North Sea oil will continue to be refined in a number of international locations.

On 3 March 2023, the Scottish Government published the outputs of an independence analysis of Scotland’s Energy System, which provides a detailed overview of the oil and gas sector in Scotland. A link to this publication can be found here .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23236 on 7 December 2023. 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 part of work being undertaken to develop the new palliative care strategy, we are working with Public Health Scotland to get a better understanding of population-level palliative care needs now and in the future, both nationally and locally.

We are working with local health and social care partnerships to identify how best we can support a local population based approach to palliative care, so that everyone can access specialist and general palliative care as needed by each person, whatever their illness or condition.

We are developing a new palliative care strategy to achieve the very highest standards of care right up to the end of life, and to ensure high-quality palliative care wherever and whenever it is needed.

As part of work being undertaken to develop the strategy, we are working with Public Health Scotland to get a better understanding of population-level palliative care needs, now and in the future. This includes consideration of the research that has been carried out by Marie Curie.

Members will be aware that we have been gathering views and evidence from a range of stakeholders around the minimum age of marriage and considering next steps following the recent concluding observation of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child that we prohibit all marriages of under 18s in Scotland.

Whilst very few 16- and 17-year-olds marry or register a civil partnership in Scotland each year (in 2022 out of over 30,000 marriages, only 18 involved a party or parties under 18), we are cognisant of the concluding observations. Therefore I have now decided that the Scottish Government should consult formally in this area in 2024.

Reaching a view on reform of the age of marriage is a potentially cross-cutting area given the other rights that we permit 16- and 17-year-olds to exercise whether with or without additional protections. Consequently, we need to carefully consider the full implications of any change in the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership and whether any change may be needed to the existing criminal law on forced marriage.

I also intend to include a number of other areas of family and succession law as part of this consultation.

We will consult on the Scottish Law Commission’s draft Bill to reform the law on a cohabitant’s financial rights against their former partner when they separate.

We committed in the Family Justice Modernisation Strategy in 2018 to consulting on whether the simplified forms-based divorce and dissolution procedure should include cases where a couple have children under 16 and they are not in dispute about their welfare, and this will also be included in the consultation.

Following on from a previous consultation on succession law and from views raised during the passage of the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Bill, our consultation will also explore a cohabitant’s entitlement to financial provision from their deceased partner’s estate where that partner has died without a will.

In addition, we have not yet implemented a provision in the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 on creating qualifying requirements for religious and belief bodies with celebrants who solemnise marriage and register civil partnerships. The aims of this provision include ensuring the continuing dignity and solemnity of ceremonies and tackling forced marriages and civil partnerships. We are planning therefore to also consult formally on the options here.

We will aim to publish the consultation on this substantial range of issues by summer 2024.