Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-11122

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the preliminary ground investigations at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful will be completed.

Question reference: S6W-11281

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact that Green Freeport status would have on the provision of inter-island ferry services in Orkney.

As set out in the joint Bidding Prospectus, all green port bidders were required to ensure that their proposal embedded the second National Transport Strategy vision, priorities and outcomes for the transport system with in it as well as ensuring alignment with regional and local transport strategies.

Following selection there will of course be intensive discussions with each of the successful designations on all aspects of their proposals.

Question reference: S6W-11118

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated to local authorities from the £74 million Community Bus Fund since 2021, and how much remains in the fund to be distributed by the end of the current parliamentary session.

The recent Resource Spending Review allocated £46 million to the Community Bus fund for the remainder of this parliament, with a further £30 million allocated in the Capital Spending Review. These financial envelopes are intended to guide financial planning and reform across the public sector, in anticipation of future Scottish budget setting processes. Work is ongoing with local authorities and COSLA to determine how best to allocate this funding.

Question reference: S6W-11131

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Low Emission Zone fines have been issued in Glasgow for breaches by buses in each year since the scheme launched, broken down by bus operator.

Question reference: S6W-11121

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when in 2022 the medium-term solution for the A83 Rest and Be Thankful will be selected and published.

Question reference: S6W-11317

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-11140

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff currently working in the overseas offices network are also employed by the UK Government's overseas embassies.

There are no Scottish Government staff working within our international offices, who are also employed by the UK Government.

Scottish Government international offices are staffed by Civil Servants and Country Based Staff.

Civil Servants are appointed to represent Scotland in our international offices by a recruitment panel which includes the posts’ line manager. Appointees are recruited from existing Scottish Government roles or from wider UK Government departments.

Country Based Staff are recruited using the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office recruitment processes in each country and are paid for by the Scottish Government. There are currently 17 Country Based Staff employed within our Scottish Government international offices. It is common practice with the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive to recruit country based staff for their overseas offices in the same way.

Question reference: S6W-11061

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many properties have been registered for rental in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The Landlord Register came into effect following the Antisocial Behaviour Act 2004, with associated monitoring information available from 2007. Local authorities are responsible for the administration and enforcement of landlord registration, and are the data controllers of the information on the landlord registration IT system for landlords in their area. The Scottish Government receives monthly aggregate information extracted from the system, including on the total number of active registrations and the number of properties that these relate to, which are set out in the tables below for each of the years in which these figures are available between 2007 and 2022. However the Landlord Registration System is an administrative system used primarily to manage the registration of landlords and rental properties, and has not been designed to produce robust statistical figures on the sector. The figures presented should therefore be considered in the context of data quality issues which include impacts from changes to IT systems over time, a risk of duplicated data and double counting of rental properties in certain instances for joint owners, as well as data issues stemming from any potential lags in the provision of information by landlords on changes to circumstances to existing registrations, and we would advise caution in the use of these figures if making any specific comparisons over time or between local authority areas especially the number of properties within the 2017 – 2019 period which have been subject to significant data quality issues and are not considered to be accurate counts of the number of properties across these years .

Aug-22			Dec-21


LA	Active Registrations	Properties	LA	Active Registrations	Properties
Aberdeen City	19683	24818	Aberdeen City	19889	24896
Aberdeenshire	8600	11798	Aberdeenshire	8746	11903
Angus	4294	7025	Angus	4367	7097
Argyll and Bute	2725	3412	Argyll and Bute	3005	3872
City of Edinburgh	42303	59602	City of Edinburgh	41866	58763
Clackmannanshire	1393	1958	Clackmannanshire	1408	1967
Dumfries and Galloway	6332	10288	Dumfries and Galloway	6571	10689
Dundee City	9202	15339	Dundee City	9354	15561
East Ayrshire	4459	6004	East Ayrshire	4607	6088
East Dunbartonshire	2754	2934	East Dunbartonshire	2734	2934
East Lothian	3609	4721	East Lothian	3739	4832
East Renfrewshire	2306	2350	East Renfrewshire	2317	2462
Eilean Siar	602	609	Eilean Siar	640	629
Falkirk	4936	6450	Falkirk	5031	6563
Fife	14417	20927	Fife	14778	21079
Glasgow City	39474	58919	Glasgow City	39394	58241
Highland	7637	10773	Highland	8265	11362
Inverclyde	2521	3791	Inverclyde	2546	3688
Midlothian	2470	2848	Midlothian	2408	2724
Moray	3002	4152	Moray	2727	3866
North Ayrshire	2726	4690	North Ayrshire	2931	4884
North Lanarkshire	8271	12423	North Lanarkshire	7795	11739
Orkney Islands	885	1010	Orkney Islands	883	1005
Perth and Kinross	5300	9551	Perth and Kinross	5138	9318
Renfrewshire	7429	10080	Renfrewshire	6554	9216
Scottish Borders	4688	7500	Scottish Borders	4959	7888
Shetland Islands	454	473	Shetland Islands	495	521
South Ayrshire	3805	5267	South Ayrshire	3999	5442
South Lanarkshire	11583	15063	South Lanarkshire	12008	15347
Stirling	4189	5744	Stirling	4273	5906
West Dunbartonshire	2031	2696	West Dunbartonshire	2082	2790
West Lothian	4669	6417	West Lothian	4789	6548

Total	238749	339632	Total	240298	339820

Dec-20			Dec-19


LA	Active Registrations	Properties	LA	Active Registrations	Properties
Aberdeen City	19908	24606	Aberdeen City	20369	30952
Aberdeenshire	8975	12041	Aberdeenshire	9185	15542
Angus	4236	6854	Angus	4427	8420
Argyll and Bute	3293	4288	Argyll and Bute	3680	5939
City of Edinburgh	42003	57596	City of Edinburgh	41542	66657
Clackmannanshire	1543	2062	Clackmannanshire	1583	2600
Dumfries and Galloway	6819	10798	Dumfries and Galloway	7120	14427
Dundee City	9590	15531	Dundee City	10180	20719
East Ayrshire	4732	6129	East Ayrshire	4897	7884
East Dunbartonshire	2873	2989	East Dunbartonshire	3029	3869
East Lothian	3718	4868	East Lothian	3856	5915
East Renfrewshire	2310	2381	East Renfrewshire	2383	3000
Eilean Siar	591	597	Eilean Siar	621	783
Falkirk	5141	6638	Falkirk	5474	8711
Fife	15024	21194	Fife	16002	28055
Glasgow City	38871	56227	Glasgow City	39879	67733
Highland	8287	11484	Highland	8700	15338
Inverclyde	2570	3698	Inverclyde	2740	4969
Midlothian	2619	2933	Midlothian	2787	3920
Moray	2454	3292	Moray	3065	5171
North Ayrshire	3710	5557	North Ayrshire	4304	7401
North Lanarkshire	8201	11790	North Lanarkshire	8755	14699
Orkney Islands	871	1009	Orkney Islands	923	1424
Perth and Kinross	5577	9691	Perth and Kinross	6447	13345
Renfrewshire	7505	10000	Renfrewshire	7681	12232
Scottish Borders	5119	8043	Scottish Borders	5147	10096
Shetland Islands	603	627	Shetland Islands	546	731
South Ayrshire	4446	5836	South Ayrshire	4869	7765
South Lanarkshire	12283	15227	South Lanarkshire	12837	20412
Stirling	4381	5936	Stirling	4695	7764
West Dunbartonshire	2133	2803	West Dunbartonshire	2277	3287
West Lothian	4904	6689	West Lothian	5055	8568

Total	245290	339414	Total	255055	428328

Dec-18			Jan-17


LA	Active Registrations	Properties	LA	Active Registrations	Properties
Aberdeen City	20,377	30,801	Aberdeen City	19,636	23,034
Aberdeenshire	9,350	15,608	Aberdeenshire	9,166	12,276
Angus	4,676	8,839	Angus	4,741	7,247
Argyll and Bute	4,097	6,867	Argyll and Bute	4,545	5,878
City of Edinburgh	42,675	67,984	City of Edinburgh	43,732	59,949
Clackmannanshire	1,717	2,763	Clackmannanshire	1,782	2,434
Dumfries and Galloway	7,404	14,893	Dumfries and Galloway	7,318	11,148
Dundee City	10,217	20,573	Dundee City	9,999	16,269
East Ayrshire	5,073	8,017	East Ayrshire	5,005	6,328
East Dunbartonshire	3,129	3,895	East Dunbartonshire	3,150	3,149
East Lothian	4,254	6,469	East Lothian	4,422	5,247
East Renfrewshire	2,494	3,171	East Renfrewshire	2,510	2,461
Eilean Siar	600	739	Falkirk	5,645	6,850
Falkirk	5,611	8,754	Fife	17,299	23,327
Fife	16,657	29,266	Glasgow City	39,165	55,854
Glasgow City	39,926	64,653	Highland	10,719	14,133
Highland	8,852	15,329	Inverclyde	3,050	4,616
Inverclyde	2,885	5,183	Midlothian	3,293	3,471
Midlothian	2,822	3,862	Moray	3,898	5,056
Moray	3,693	6,311	Eilean Siar	744	720
North Ayrshire	5,009	8,154	North Ayrshire	5,442	8,033
North Lanarkshire	9,423	15,605	North Lanarkshire	9,387	13,221
Orkney Islands	964	1,440	Orkney Islands	1,022	1,115
Perth and Kinross	6,606	13,458	Perth and Kinross	7,050	11,220
Renfrewshire	7,964	12,197	Renfrewshire	7,512	9,556
Scottish Borders	5,473	10,542	Scottish Borders	5,360	8,946
Shetland Islands	534	700	Shetland Islands	587	909
South Ayrshire	4,920	7,849	South Ayrshire	5,046	6,527
South Lanarkshire	12,754	20,107	South Lanarkshire	13,597	16,355
Stirling	4,895	7,915	Stirling	4,797	6,240
West Dunbartonshire	2,522	3,553	West Dunbartonshire	2,600	3,286
West Lothian	5,306	8,820	West Lothian	5,592	7,029

Total	262,879	434,317	Total	267,811	361,884

Dec-16			Dec-15


LA	Active Registrations	Properties	LA	Active Registrations	Properties
Aberdeen City	19,659	23,011	Aberdeen City	19,151	22,252
Aberdeenshire	9,166	12,236	Aberdeenshire	8,510	12,149
Angus	4,750	7,259	Angus	4,808	7,164
Argyll and Bute	4,495	5,886	Argyll and Bute	4,517	5,833
City of Edinburgh	44,011	59,782	City of Edinburgh	43,074	57,951
Clackmannanshire	1,791	2,421	Clackmannanshire	1,880	2,403
Dumfries and Galloway	7,322	11,124	Dumfries and Galloway	7,303	11,011
Dundee City	10,026	16,230	Dundee City	9,789	15,771
East Ayrshire	5,037	6,332	East Ayrshire	5,001	6,252
East Dunbartonshire	3,180	3,149	East Dunbartonshire	3,086	3,042
East Lothian	4,445	5,256	East Lothian	4,414	5,192
East Renfrewshire	2,500	2,454	East Renfrewshire	2,458	2,374
Falkirk	5,631	6,845	Eilean Siar	672	716
Fife	17,330	23,278	Falkirk	5,627	6,786
Glasgow City	39,385	55,624	Fife	16,922	22,363
Highland	10,735	14,141	Glasgow City	38,558	55,999
Inverclyde	3,057	4,596	Highland	10,502	13,803
Midlothian	3,282	3,463	Inverclyde	2,991	4,526
Moray	3,873	5,048	Midlothian	2,837	3,424
Eilean Siar	736	718	Moray	3,887	4,909
North Ayrshire	5,447	7,993	North Ayrshire	5,546	7,777
North Lanarkshire	9,401	13,230	North Lanarkshire	9,077	12,704
Orkney Islands	1,023	1,118	Orkney Islands	1,010	1,107
Perth and Kinross	7,055	11,215	Perth and Kinross	7,004	11,020
Renfrewshire	7,549	9,543	Renfrewshire	7,066	9,049
Scottish Borders	5,397	8,953	Scottish Borders	5,781	8,866
Shetland Islands	587	908	Shetland Islands	572	864
South Ayrshire	5,065	6,528	South Ayrshire	5,093	6,447
South Lanarkshire	13,527	16,321	South Lanarkshire	13,582	16,005
Stirling	4,838	6,218	Stirling	4,926	6,085
West Dunbartonshire	2,566	3,311	West Dunbartonshire	2,519	3,182
West Lothian	5,647	7,144	West Lothian	5,369	7,230

Total	268,513	361,335	Total	263,532	354,256

Dec-14			Dec-13


LA	Active Registrations	Properties	LA	Active Registrations	Properties
Aberdeen City	18,133	20,949	Aberdeen City	16,364	19,160
Aberdeenshire	8,073	11,939	Aberdeenshire	7,778	11,310
Angus	4,712	7,010	Angus	4,407	6,617
Argyll and Bute	4,335	5,668	Argyll and Bute	4,129	5,346
City of Edinburgh	42,187	55,818	City of Edinburgh	40,225	53,357
Clackmannanshire	1,719	2,411	Clackmannanshire	1,646	2,261
Dumfries and Galloway	7,030	10,699	Dumfries and Galloway	6,553	10,071
Dundee City	9,486	15,127	Dundee City	8,887	14,674
East Ayrshire	4,903	6,035	East Ayrshire	4,671	5,828
East Dunbartonshire	3,059	2,983	East Dunbartonshire	2,906	2,748
East Lothian	4,280	5,056	East Lothian	4,225	4,944
East Renfrewshire	2,387	2,335	East Renfrewshire	2,253	2,217
Eilean Siar	556	720	Eilean Siar	440	689
Falkirk	5,561	6,524	Falkirk	5,402	6,230
Fife	15,991	21,443	Fife	14,848	20,062
Glasgow City	35,723	53,115	Glasgow City	31,760	47,453
Highland	10,117	13,200	Highland	9,001	12,239
Inverclyde	2,792	4,331	Inverclyde	2,436	3,863
Midlothian	2,602	3,283	Midlothian	2,586	3,074
Moray	3,797	4,762	Moray	3,589	4,543
North Ayrshire	5,320	7,375	North Ayrshire	4,932	6,826
North Lanarkshire	8,717	12,072	North Lanarkshire	7,762	11,071
Orkney Islands	1,093	1,154	Orkney Islands	1,026	1,128
Perth and Kinross	6,907	10,699	Perth and Kinross	6,814	10,719
Renfrewshire	6,426	8,744	Renfrewshire	5,787	8,097
Scottish Borders	5,797	8,667	Scottish Borders	5,548	8,347
Shetland Islands	501	796	Shetland Islands	390	679
South Ayrshire	5,069	6,462	South Ayrshire	4,807	5,905
South Lanarkshire	12,954	15,420	South Lanarkshire	12,098	14,500
Stirling	4,732	5,804	Stirling	4,489	5,564
West Dunbartonshire	2,393	2,950	West Dunbartonshire	2,158	2,599
West Lothian	5,429	7,215	West Lothian	5,101	7,066

Total	252,781	340,766	Total	235,018	319,187

Jan-12			Nov-11


LA	Active Registrations	Properties	LA	Active Registrations	Properties
Aberdeen City	12,886	18,249	Aberdeen City	10,181	16,600
Aberdeenshire	7,145	10,316	Aberdeenshire	6,621	9,299
Angus	4,070	6,249	Angus	3,599	5,702
Argyll and Bute	3,698	4,888	Argyll and Bute	3,218	4,372
Edinburgh, City of	37,092	48,900	Clackmannanshire	1,446	1,830
Clackmannanshire	1,631	2,056	Dumfries and Galloway	4,828	8,184
Dumfries and Galloway	6,125	9,478	Dundee City	6,579	12,580
Dundee City	7,881	13,585	East Ayrshire	3,714	4,793
East Ayrshire	4,228	5,320	East Dunbartonshire	2,331	2,326
East Dunbartonshire	2,680	2,541	East Lothian	3,688	4,385
East Lothian	3,948	4,692	East Renfrewshire	1,640	1,747
East Renfrewshire	2,009	2,015	City of Edinburgh	33,076	43,762
Eilean Siar	454	606	Eilean Siar	418	550
Falkirk	4,871	5,628	Falkirk	4,216	4,929
Fife	13,685	18,120	Fife	12,001	16,372
Glasgow City	27,258	41,829	Glasgow City	22,938	36,233
Highland	7,586	10,840	Highland	6,395	9,479
Inverclyde	2,036	3,528	Inverclyde	1,685	3,209
Midlothian	2,198	2,736	Midlothian	1,618	2,373
Moray	3,370	4,265	Moray	2,914	3,783
North Ayrshire	4,143	6,069	North Ayrshire	3,430	5,017
North Lanarkshire	6,424	10,114	North Lanarkshire	5,504	8,674
Orkney Islands	967	1,094	Orkney Islands	965	1,057
Perth and Kinross	6,275	10,123	Perth and Kinross	5,540	9,425
Renfrewshire	5,111	7,412	Renfrewshire	4,166	6,761
Scottish Borders	5,268	8,052	Scottish Borders	4,836	7,633
Shetland Islands	332	580	Shetland Islands	396	493
South Ayrshire	4,233	5,266	South Ayrshire	3,691	4,734
South Lanarkshire	11,113	13,532	South Lanarkshire	9,635	12,669
Stirling	4,071	5,120	Stirling	3,627	4,652
West Dunbartonshire	1,980	2,308	West Dunbartonshire	1,707	1,937
West Lothian	4,573	6,437	West Lothian	4,253	5,762

Total	209,341	291,948	Total	180,856	261,322

Dec-10			Dec-09




LA	Active Registrations	Properties	LA	Active Registrations	Properties
Aberdeen City	12,166	15,085	Aberdeen City	11,765	13,704
Aberdeenshire	6,573	8,916	Aberdeenshire	5,913	8,157
Angus	3,203	5,199	Angus	2,912	4,832
Argyll and Bute	2,849	4,015	Argyll and Bute	2,861	3,951
Clackmannanshire	1,264	1,638	Clackmannanshire	1,153	1,479
Dumfries and Galloway	3,896	7,311	Dumfries and Galloway	3,869	6,791
Dundee City	6,158	11,851	Dundee City	5,648	10,718
East Ayrshire	3,238	4,264	East Ayrshire	2,942	3,860
East Dunbartonshire	2,221	2,136	East Dunbartonshire	1,913	1,758
East Lothian	3,333	4,143	East Lothian	3,115	3,860
East Renfrewshire	1,434	1,601	East Renfrewshire	1,481	1,515
City of Edinburgh	31,790	41,944	City of Edinburgh	31,280	39,204
Eilean Siar	442	500	Eilean Siar	461	454
Falkirk	3,541	4,301	Falkirk	2,990	3,769
Fife	10,230	14,758	Fife	9,493	12,728
Glasgow City	20,490	32,478	Glasgow City	19,336	28,944
Highland	6,760	8,741	Highland	6,250	8,106
Inverclyde	1,312	2,794	Inverclyde	1,477	2,513
Midlothian	1,501	1,990	Midlothian	1,667	1,751
Moray	2,496	3,454	Moray	2,307	3,216
North Ayrshire	3,158	4,381	North Ayrshire	2,990	3,854
North Lanarkshire	4,759	7,390	North Lanarkshire	4,185	6,410
Orkney Islands	928	1,025	Orkney Islands	914	995
Perth and Kinross	5,322	9,078	Perth and Kinross	4,789	8,488
Renfrewshire	3,933	6,022	Renfrewshire	3,629	5,291
Scottish Borders	4,362	7,172	Scottish Borders	4,224	6,966
Shetland Islands	353	426	Shetland Islands	337	395
South Ayrshire	3,364	4,211	South Ayrshire	2,879	3,785
South Lanarkshire	8,828	11,528	South Lanarkshire	8,866	10,580
Stirling	3,295	4,284	Stirling	3,144	4,005
West Dunbartonshire	1,484	1,752	West Dunbartonshire	1,362	1,575
West Lothian	3,918	5,235	West Lothian	3,645	4,733

Total	168,601	239,623	Total	159,797	218,387

Dec-08			Dec-07



LA	Active Registrations	Properties	LA	Active Registrations	Properties
Aberdeen City	10,651	12,082	Aberdeen City	8,486	10,247
Aberdeenshire	4,983	7,291	Aberdeenshire	3,698	5,937
Angus	2,423	4,285	Angus	1,916	3,733
Argyll and Bute	2,404	3,524	Argyll and Bute	1,954	3,071
Clackmannanshire	939	1,243	Clackmannanshire	688	972
Dumfries and Galloway	3,393	6,301	Dumfries and Galloway	2,937	5,771
Dundee City	4,808	9,688	Dundee City	3,501	7,479
East Ayrshire	2,308	3,230	East Ayrshire	1,670	2,539
East Dunbartonshire	1,448	1,357	East Dunbartonshire	1,006	991
East Lothian	2,645	3,228	East Lothian	1,961	2,649
East Renfrewshire	1,220	1,304	East Renfrewshire	908	1,054
City of Edinburgh	27,036	34,114	City of Edinburgh	22,577	29,520
Eilean Siar	417	416	Eilean Siar	373	368
Falkirk	2,474	3,118	Falkirk	1,845	2,499
Fife	7,604	10,641	Fife	5,910	8,444
Glasgow City	16,134	24,629	Glasgow City	12,845	20,993
Highland	5,212	7,224	Highland	4,386	6,258
Inverclyde	1,339	2,251	Inverclyde	1,119	1,979
Midlothian	1,312	1,455	Midlothian	969	1,227
Moray	1,846	2,660	Moray	1,493	2,239
North Ayrshire	2,256	3,179	North Ayrshire	1,677	2,537
North Lanarkshire	3,544	5,273	North Lanarkshire	2,558	4,154
Orkney Islands	943	993	Orkney Islands	826	898
Perth and Kinross	3,850	7,481	Perth and Kinross	3,197	6,441
Renfrewshire	2,772	4,176	Renfrewshire	1,998	3,186
Scottish Borders	3,472	6,178	Scottish Borders	2,736	5,324
Shetland Islands	314	371	Shetland Islands	273	337
South Ayrshire	2,359	3,166	South Ayrshire	1,958	2,691
South Lanarkshire	6,417	8,106	South Lanarkshire	3,890	5,167
Stirling	2,654	3,595	Stirling	2,060	3,068
West Dunbartonshire	1,058	1,290	West Dunbartonshire	725	960
West Lothian	3,245	4,072	West Lothian	2,441	3,270

Total	133,480	187,921	Total	104,581	156,003

associated monitoring information available from 2007 onwards which have been subject to significant data quality issues and are not considered to be accurate counts of the number of properties across these years

Question reference: S6W-11125

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what effects the designation of an area as a Green Freeport will have on planning, protected areas or other regulations designed to protect the environment.

The Scottish Government expects communities to gain from green ports. The joint bidding prospectus , delivered in partnership by the Scottish Government and the UK government, provides details on Planning requirements and advises on place-based tools to inform the delivery of appropriate development in green port areas. It also required applicants to outline how their proposal would ensure compliance with all applicable environmental regulations and standards, as well as submitting an outline decarbonisation plan for the green port. These elements form part of the assessment of proposals.

Question reference: S6W-11000

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the new flood risk management works funded by SEPA for the period 2022-2027, including the local authority areas in which the works are taking place.

SEPA, as required by the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, prepared Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) for the period 2022-2028. These were approved by Scottish Ministers and published in January 2022. The FRMPs have been developed to ensure all efforts to reduce flood risk are coordinated. The Plans outline the long term ambition by setting objectives and identifying actions for areas most at flood risk. The Local Flood Risk Management Plans, which are complementary to the FRMPS and prepared by local authorities, are due to be published by December 2022. They will provide more detail on how the actions set out in the flood risk management plans for 2022-2028 will be delivered.

There are multiple organisations responsible for flood risk management and the Plans focus their efforts to where the risk of flooding and benefits of actions are greatest. SEPA do not undertake or fund flood risk management works themselves. Funding is provided either by the organisation undertaking the work, such as the local authority, or by the Scottish Government. In recognition of the importance of reducing flood risk the Scottish Government has provided, since 2008, a total of £42 million a year through the General Capital Grant to local authorities to allow them to invest in flood protection schemes. In addition the 2020 Programme for Government committed an additional £150 million over the course of this Parliament for flood risk management actions.

Chamber and committees