Chamber and committees

Developing a strong supply chain for renewables is crucial to deliver on Scotland’s net zero ambitions, and to ensure Scotland’s economy and communities see the benefits of this transition.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role of SMEs in Scotland’s energy transition, and has a number of initiatives underway to support the supply chain including the Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan, published on 11 November. This sets out practical steps that will be taken to support the growth of the green heat sector – including supporting green jobs, leveraging private investment and helping businesses seize the economic opportunities offered by the transition to net zero.

An export plan which supports international ambitions of the Scottish supply chain is also being developed and will be published soon.

ScotWind promises to be transformational in delivering wider economic supply chain benefits, and developers have committed to invest an average projection of £1.4bn in Scotland per project. Onshore, the Scottish Government has awarded £9.8 million to the Energy Transition Zone, to stimulate investment from indigenous energy supply chain companies looking to deliver green energy projects, and to strengthen their capacity to take advantage of UK and international opportunities.

Our Business Energy Scotland SME Loan and Cashback scheme provides interest free loans from £1,000 up to £100,00 to Scotland based SMEs for the installation of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies.

NatureScot has not made any species control agreements in northeast Scotland. Species control agreements can be useful where inaction on a particular land holding is jeopardising the success of a coordinated control project. Working with landowners on a voluntary basis is a more effective way to secure a long-term commitment to tackling invasive plants.

The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative works with hundreds of landowners to control invasive plants on riverbanks in northeast Scotland. As infestations are brought under control, landowners are asked to sign voluntary agreements to continue the control work. As of 7 October 2022, 34 landowners had signed voluntary agreements to control giant hogweed in northeast Scotland.

See also answer to question S6W-09427 on 29 July 2022. 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 purpose of the National Marine Plan is to set out the strategic policies for the sustainable development of our marine resources. The current National Marine Plan reflects broad spatial areas for certain types of activities (for example through policies such as RENEWABLES 1 and AQUACULTURE 1, 2 and 3). The content of the new National Marine Plan (NMP2) is yet to be defined. Given its strategic nature, it is anticipated that it will similarly reflect broad areas for certain types of activity, as informed by other relevant marine planning processes and policies. It will also provide at a strategic level an overview of the range of human activities in the marine space, including fisheries, and their associated cumulative impacts and interactions.

I am pleased to confirm the publication today of the Scottish Government’s fourth thematic report on implementation progress following Dame Elish Angiolini’s Final Report. This not only includes a narrative, context and additional information about key recommendations but, importantly, also has a tracker showing what progress has been made.

This shows that 55 of the non-legislative recommendations are now complete leaving only 16 non-legislative recommendations still in progress and one to be kept under review.

Through their leadership and commitment, policing partners have delivered major business transformation and service redesign to improve how complaints are handled, bringing greater transparency, fairness and accessibility to systems, policies and processes.

Building on this and as announced in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will introduce a Police Complaints and Misconduct Handling Bill in this Parliamentary year to further strengthen public confidence in policing in Scotland.

I commend Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland for their dedication to this important work.

The report can be accessed here: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805252610

The Scottish Government is in regular dialogue with the culture sector, who have been clear that the impact of rising costs are significantly hampering their ability to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6O-01540 on 16 November 2022, which is available on the Parliament’s website Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament .

The Scottish Government’s ability to respond to the cost crisis is limited by the inactivity of the UK Government and the financial restrictions of devolution. The Scottish Government budget is largely fixed.

The Scottish Government will continue to urge the UK Government to take a different approach to public finances in order to ensure sufficient support is made available for Scotland’s culture sector.

The Scottish Government intends to lay an affirmative Scottish Statutory Instrument in January 2023 that will seek to amend The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022. Subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament, this amendment will extend the deadline by which existing hosts must apply for a short-term let licence from 1 April 2023 to 1 October 2023.

This is a one-off 6 month extension recognising the wider economic circumstances of the cost of living crisis that is placing pressure on existing short-term let hosts and businesses. It will not unduly delay our primary aim of ensuring that all short-term lets across Scotland meet consistent safety standards and are provided by fit and proper people.

Applications for the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme can be made through getyournec.scot in all local authorities. Additionally, each local authority is responsible for providing alternative application route(s) for their residents.

The application routes for each local authority in the Highlands and Islands region are outlined in the following table.

A species control agreement (SCA) is a voluntary agreement between a relevant body and a land owner or manager. NatureScot has not issued any species control agreements within that period. Scottish Forestry has issued a single species control agreement for Rhododendron ponticum, while SEPA issued a species control agreement for North American signal crayfish in 2019. The Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) issued four species control agreements for Didemnum vexillium in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

A species control order (SCO) is a compulsory instrument which can be used to compel certain actions in regard to invasive non-native species and these may be used in situations where an SCA has failed. None of the relevant bodies have needed to make a species control order because there has never been a situation where an owner has failed to cooperate with a species control agreement.

Flood Risk Management Plans for the period 2022-2028 were approved by Scottish Ministers in December 2021 and published by SEPA in January 2022. They coordinate the efforts of all organisations that tackle flooding to where the risk of flooding and benefits of investment are greatest. They state the objectives, as agreed by responsible authorities, for tackling floods in areas at risk of flooding. Actions that will then deliver these objectives are described and prioritised in six-year planning cycles.

The plans contain proposals for a number of new flood protection schemes. Local authorities are now in the process of preparing Local Flood Risk Management Plans (LFRMPs) which are due to be published by the end of December 2022. The LFRMPs will provide more detail on how, and when, the actions set out in the Flood Risk Management Plans for 2022-2028 will be delivered.

Scottish Forestry is leading a review of the UK Forestry Standard in partnership with the other UK administrations. Stakeholders are currently being consulted on a revised draft of the Standard which includes a proposed reduction in the maximum threshold for use of a single species from 75% to 65%. This change will help enhance the resilience of Scotland’s forests to a changing climate and increasing threats of pest and diseases. It will not alter the balance of objectives and does not change the proportion of fast growing conifers that can be used.