Chamber and committees

As required by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, the Climate Change Plan will set out proposals and policies for supporting, including by the sharing of expertise and technology, action in developing countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and adapt to the effects of climate change.

With regards to intra-UK diplomacy, Scottish Government officials are engaged in regular meetings with counterparts in the UK Government and the other devolved administrations, and we repeatedly promote joint collaboration in areas that will be essential to delivering net zero. The next Climate Change Plan will set out where action will be needed by the UK Government to reduce emissions within reserved areas in order for Scotland to meet its emissions reduction targets.

The Scottish Government takes a whole population approach to tackling alcohol-related harms, in line with the World Health Organization’s focus on affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol.

The Scottish Government’s Alcohol Framework sets out our priorities for preventing alcohol-related harm. It contains 20 actions building on existing measures to change Scotland’s relationship with alcohol, including our world-leading minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy.

We are evaluating the impact of MUP at the current price of 50 pence per unit and will assess what level MUP should be set at going forward, if MUP is to continue. If our overall evaluation supports a continuation of MUP, we will lay Orders in Parliament in late 2023 to continue MUP beyond the initial six year period and if the evidence supports a change in price, to set a new unit price.

On 17 November we launched a consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion. This sets out a range of potential proposals including prohibiting alcohol advertising outdoors, phasing out alcohol sponsorship and reducing the promotion of alcohol in-store.

We are working on initiatives that will support people across Scotland to reduce alcohol consumption. These include the review of alcohol brief interventions, the managed alcohol programme pilot and supporting the UK Government on reviewing and updating clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment.

ScotRail and Network Rail teams have reinforced to staff the importance of passenger assistance adhering to the correct procedures when a passenger is being assisted onto or off a train.

In the event there is no ticket examiner on board the train to deploy the ramp, the station staff will alert the Customer Service Centre and alternative arrangements can be made. At unstaffed stations, customers are advised to make contact with the Customer Service Centre team via the platform Help Point.

If customers are unable to book assistance in advance, they can turn up and request assistance from ScotRail’s on-train staff. Both the station and on-train staff are trained to look out for customers who appear to need help on platforms before the train leaves the station. If customers are travelling from an unstaffed station, they can speak to a member of staff via the station Help Point. Managers have been asked to ensure they monitor these procedures.

It is too early to provide a definitive timetable as future progress is partly dependent on the outcomes of the ongoing A96 Corridor Review.

In relation to the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme, we continue to progress the preparation stages of the scheme with a view to completing the statutory process. This includes the significant work required to prepare for publication of made Orders, including the Compulsory Purchase Order, in the coming weeks. Subject to no legal challenge being received, the Scottish Ministers will then have the relevant powers to acquire the land necessary to construct the scheme.

Delivery can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets.

As with all trunk road improvement projects, delivery of any section of the A96 Programme can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets. The statutory right for individuals to have their say on our proposals cannot be set aside and it is essential that vital feedback is taken into account as we develop our plans.

As advised at the recent Scottish Parliament debate on Essential Road Improvements held on 02 November 2022, the first part of the review, a report on the Public Consultation and the Initial Appraisal: The Case for Change will be published by the end of the year.

NatureScot is the lead organisation for non-native species on land including wetlands and riparian zones. They lead on riverbank vegetation and all land animals (vertebrates and invertebrates). Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) take the lead in the freshwater environment (still and flowing). Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland take the lead on woodland and other habitats on the national forest estate. In many cases, fisheries trusts have taken the lead on co-ordinated action on riverine INNS such as giant hogweed.

The “ Families Affected by Drug and Alcohol Use in Scotland : A framework for holistic whole family approaches and family inclusive practice ” published in December 2021, sets out principles of how we will improve holistic support for families affected by substance use.

We want to ensure we are providing the right kind of support to enable families to thrive. Investing Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, which aims to deliver transformational change to improve holistic whole family support, with £32m already allocated to local authorities this year.

Since 2021-22, we have provided Alcohol and Drug Partnerships with an additional £3.5 million per year until the end of the National Drugs Mission, to support their implementation of this framework, which includes allocating funding to local family support services.

Our National Drugs Mission, provides £3 million each year, administered by Corra, through the Children and Families element for family support each year to front-line and third-sector organisations. This fund is intended to help these organisations to sustain, stabilise or increase capacity, extend or improve services and/or meet identified gaps in service provision.

We are providing funding of nearly £9 million over the course of the National Mission to Phoenix Futures Family Service, which is a family rehabilitation service offering a unique programme of interventions to benefit each family member and the family unit as a whole. As well as this, more than £5.5 million has been committed over this parliamentary term to support the establishment of two houses at Aberlour, specifically designed to support women and their children through recovery.

We also fund Scottish Families Affected by Drugs (SFAD), £160,000 per year, for family support services. This includes a national bereavement support service andhelpline. We have also allocated a one-off payment of £2,820 to SFAD for information booklets to support families who have lost a loved one to a drug or alcohol related death.

Additionally, we allocate £30,000 per annum for our Family Recovery Initiative Fund (FRIF). This is administered through SFAD and offers one-off grants of up to £5,000 to groups that support families affected by alcohol and drugs in Scotland.

In 2021-22, we funded £550,000 for the Partnership Drugs Initiative (PDI), which is managed and match-funded by the Corra Foundation. The PDI provides funding to locally based projects and charities working with children and young people affected by substance issues, and produces insights for policy and practice .

Responsibility for invasive non-native plants rests with landowners and occupiers. Under common law, there is an expectation that land owners should take reasonable steps to prevent invasive non-native plants growing on their land from causing a nuisance or injury to others. However, it is not a criminal offence for an owner or occupier to have invasive non-native plants growing on their land.

NatureScot can make species control agreements (SCA) and species control orders (SCO) to require control of invasive non-native species. This discretionary power is aimed primarily at preventing high impact invasive non-native species becoming established in and spreading within Scotland. For species that are already widespread, such as giant hogweed, NatureScot can offer species control agreements to support coordinated control programmes, where inaction on a particular land holding is jeopardising the success of the programme.

It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to fail to comply with an SCO.

There are a range of funding sources available to land managers to control invasive non-native species. These include the Agri-environment and Climate Scheme (AECS) and the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) under the Scottish Rural Development Programme. To date, more than £3.6m of FGS funding over the past eight years has been committed for rhododendron control projects.

There are also a number of projects that are tackling invasive plants and animals across Scotland, such as the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative and the Tweed Invasives project set up by the Tweed Forum.

In September 2021, at COP26, Scottish Ministers announced that the Nature Restoration Fund would provide £65 million for projects that benefit nature to be funded through this Parliamentary session. Habitat and species restoration which include the eradication of invasive non-native species are among the types of projects that can apply for grants funding, including for projects lasting up to three years.