Chamber and committees

As referenced in the answer to S6W-15157 on 13 March 2023, in its annual update to its routemap, Scottish Water confirmed that priority locations have been identified for the 1,000 spill monitors, with installation programmed over 2023 and 2024. Over the past year, Scottish Water has invested significant time in developing a prioritisation approach for monitoring locations, based on amenity levels and predicted spill frequencies, and agreed this with SEPA. This has been published on Scottish Water’s website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/-/media/ScottishWater/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Urban-Water-Improvements/EDMmethodology.pdf . Scottish Water has also made considerable effort to review the marketplace to determine the most appropriate monitors to deliver maximum value for customers. A priority list of locations will soon be available on Scottish Water’s website and Scottish Water has committed to providing an annual update on its website to outline progress being made in delivering commitments under its Improving Urban Waters Route Map.

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

Scottish Forestry is the Scottish Government agency responsible for regulating forestry activities and leads on unauthorised felling.

Scottish Forestry does not routinely discuss unauthorised felling with the bodies listed.

Unauthorised tree felling may be discussed with them on a case by case basis if required, for example:

• Police Scotland can be requested by Scottish Forestry to assist with unauthorised felling where suspects refuse to be interviewed under caution or where a wildlife crime is suspected.
• NatureScot is an agency within Scottish Government advising on the natural environment, but plays no part in the delivery of felling regulations. NatureScot maybe be engaged in the process if the site is home to a protected species.

When Scottish Forestry receive a report of suspected unauthorised felling, investigations, including site visits and evidence gathering is then carried out.

When investigations conclude that it is likely that unauthorised felling has occurred, Scottish Ministers have a range of powers available to achieve a positive outcome. The priority is normally to secure the replanting of the site and protection of the woodland. The most appropriate action is often to issue a restocking notice to secure the replanting of the site.

Prosecution is considered in each case where unauthorised felling has taken place. A range of factors, such as the seriousness of the impact and whether there were aggravating circumstances are taken into account when considering whether to pursue a prosecution. The final decision on whether to pursue a case to prosecution lies with the Procurator Fiscal and not with Scottish Ministers. Where replanting has been secured and the woodland has been protected it is often concluded not to be in the public interest to pursue a prosecution.

Prior to April 2019, when the Forest and Land Management Scotland Act 2018 was enacted, prosecutions were required in order to secure a restocking notice. Since April 2019 Scottish Forestry have greater powers and so are able to secure the restocking of a site by issuing Restocking Directions.

Scottish Forestry have issued 36 Restocking Directions for unauthorised felling from April 2019 to the year end 2020-21.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

On 10 March 2023, there were 7 transgender women located within the female estate in the care of the SPS. Out of those 7; 4 individuals were sentenced, and 3 were held on remand.

The 4 sentenced individuals all had an index offence in the Non-sexual crimes of violence group. The remanded individuals are alleged to have committed index offences in the Non-sexual crimes of violence group and the Crimes against society group.

In response to the report, the Scottish Government established a Health and Social Care in Prisons Programme to address structural barriers to better health and social care in prisons across a number of areas. The Programme was unavoidably disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic but nevertheless managed to make a range of improvements including refreshing the National Prison Care Network. This Network has established strong links with healthcare staff in prisons and is delivering improvements around a number of priority areas such as mental health, substance use, and workforce. Other key achievements from the Programme include:

• publishing a suite of externally commissioned prison population health and social care needs assessments;
• developing a prisons health information dashboard through Public Health Scotland;
• completing a review of clinical IT in prisons; and
• carrying out six tests of change which modelled ways of delivering integrated health and social care in prisons.

Much of this work continues to inform ongoing improvements to health and social care in prisons.

We will publish an update on each of the accepted Deer Working Group recommendations, alongside minutes from the December meeting of the Deer Management Strategic Board shortly. This will be available, alongside minutes of previous meetings, on the Board’s webpages here: Deer Management Strategic Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Biodiversity Strategy is not the primary vehicle for addressing biosecurity issues, although clearly there are related issues and impacts which stress the need to mainstream biodiversity across the full range of Scottish Government policy.

The Biodiversity Strategy sets out a long-term, high-level ambition and Vision for 2045. Delivering that Vision is supported by a series of Outcomes across a range of overlapping ecosystems and land use types.

The Strategy also includes 33 Priority Actions which include, of relevance to the question:

• Implement Scottish Plan for INNS surveillance, prevention and control, and secure wider support measures to enable effective INNS removal
• Support surveillance and monitoring to support managing risks around pathogens and disease in wild bird populations
• Develop a Biodiversity Investment Plan to direct how we address the Finance Gap for nature
• Maintain and seek to increase investment in nature restoration through our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund.

A Delivery Plan is now being developed jointly by Scottish Government and NatureScot officials, drawing on engagement from key policy areas and across a wider network which includes expert academic input alongside significant stakeholder engagement.

Each iteration of the Delivery Plan will include estimated costs and will be reviewed in light of monitoring data to demonstrate the impact of actions taken so far.

The Biodiversity Investment Plan will direct how we address the finance gap for nature. It will ensure that investment is strategic, planned and focused on agreed priorities and will assist in securing responsible private investment in Scotland’s natural capital funding.

The pilot period for the commitment concluded on 31 August 2022, and a final evaluation report has been published on the Transport Scotland website . Support has been provided to delivery organisations to continue activities until 31 March 2023.

The total number of bikes issued during the pilot period was 2600 and the total figure to date is 3650.

The total cost of the pilot period was £2,922,704.15, which was made up of £1,912,135.12 Capital and £1,010,569.03 Resource funding. The total cost to date is £4,498,149.19, which is made up of £3,090,887.49 Capital funding and £1,407,261.70 Resource funding. The resource element of the budget is not used to procure bikes, but to fund activity such as training sessions and staffing to support the objectives of the pilot programme.

We are currently considering how best to continue delivery from April 2023.

The Permanent Secretary has confirmed in a letter to Members on‎ 6 March that written authority from Scottish Ministers (the equivalent of a Ministerial Direction) has not been sought.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15420 on 13 March 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