Chamber and committees

The report is currently being finalised and will be published later in 2023 once this process has been completed.

The First Minister’s vision for Scotland published in April 2023 sets out the commitment for enhancing protection for our most precious marine areas. This commitment also includes making progress towards halting biodiversity loss and reversing declines, protecting at least 30% of our land and seas for nature by 2030.

Specific targets relating to ensure the seabed habitats are healthy and sustainable can be found within Part One of the UK Marine Strategy which provides an assessment of our seas and sets objectives, targets and indicators for achieving Good Environmental Status (GES). The high-level objective for GES relating to benthic habitats is “the health of seabed habitats is not significantly adversely affected by human activities.” Under this objective there are four criteria and targets for measuring process towards GES which includes:

1. Spatial extent of physical loss- the physical loss of each seabed habitat type caused by human activities is minimised and where possible reversed;

2. Habitat condition- habitat loss of sensitive fragile or important habitats caused by human activities is prevented, and where feasible reversed;

3. Spatial extent of habitat types adversely affected by physical disturbance- the extent of habitat types adversely affected by physical disturbance caused by human activity should be minimised; and

4. Extent of adverse effects- the extent of adverse effects caused by human activities on condition, function and ecosystem processes of habitats is minimised.

This work was produced externally to the Scottish Government. Scottish public sector representatives on the project board were sighted on the methodologies and evidence used to calculate relevant estimates and were involved in discussions with the report authors during the lifetime of the project. As noted in the report, the authors are responsible for the final report.

This is a ScotRail led procurement, undertaken in line with Public Procurement Guidelines and as such appropriate for ScotRail to confirm details in due course.

Network Rail advise that the cost of work done (to 29 th April 2023) on the project is £6.7m. The amount spent reflects the efficiency in which the early development stages are being carried out.

We are continuing to work with the Learning Together Steering group, Education Scotland and other key stakeholders to develop a refreshed policy framework for parental engagement. This work is being taken forward as part of the broader Education Recovery Strategy to further improve parental involvement and engagement in schools. The refreshed action plan will take account of the recently published findings of the National Discussion on Education, which demonstrated a significant appetite from parents and carers for involvement in their children’s education. The Learning Together Action Plan will be published later this year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18462 on 15 June 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 .

Scotland’s national forests and land is sub-divided into five geographical management areas, each has a local incident response plan in place.

Each Regional incident response plan covers all potential incidents that may occur on Scotland’s national forests and land, inlcuding wild fires. The incident response plan is produced in collaboration with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and other agencies / public bodies and is reviewed annually.

In addition, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has guidance in place for staff regarding how to manage wildfires on Scotland’s national forests and land. The guidace covers roles and responsibilities and how to work in collaboration with SFRS. FLS staff are trained to respond to incidents when required, including wild fires.

FLS produces guidance for staff on the use of helicopters for firefighting, covering how and when to use a helicopter and the roles and responsibilites of FLS / SFRS staff.

The total cost for the helicopters utilised at the Cannich fire is not known at this stage, as the incident is still ‘live’ with damping down activity ongoing, and the two suppliers (PDG Aviation Ltd and Skyhook Helicopters) have not yet submitted their respective invoices.

The final cost of the helicopter support will run to hundreds of thousands of pounds, with the majority of the cost being met by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS).

FLS deployed the helicopters to the incident at the request and in liaison with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Cost allocation has not yet been discussed with neighbouring land owners/managers.

The delivery of the actions in the Report of the City Centre Recovery Task Force 2021-22 is being carried out under the auspices of the Scottish Cities Alliance, in agreement with our local authority partners. As a member of the Alliance, the Scottish Government will work with the cities to progress the strategic objectives in the report as part of the Alliance’s Operational Programme 2022-2026.

In addition, the Scottish Government has also adopted the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) in February 2023, which references the ambitions of the Report and directly influences all planning decisions. NPF4 recognises that our cities and towns are a national asset and their centres bring together a wide range of functions and land uses. Its policies help centres adapt and be vibrant, healthier, creative, accessible and resilient places for people to live, learn, work and enjoy. In March 2023 we also introduced new permitted development rights that provide greater flexibility to change the use of buildings and place furniture outside specified hospitality premises.