Chamber and committees

We have contacted the UK Government Insolvency Service's Redundancy Payments Service regarding the workers who were made redundant at Dawnfresh Seafoods plant in Uddingston.

The Redundancy Payments Service has advised that 200 claims from Dawnfresh employees were received and that all payable redundancy, arrears of wages and holiday pay claims have been paid within the statutory limits, except for one outstanding redundancy pay claim.

During the time of the offer passengers could purchase tickets via a dedicated telephone line as well as the ScotRail website and app, and ScotRail staff were briefed to ensure they could assist passengers wanting to access the offer.

Online offers such as the recent one, enable ScotRail to undertake detailed analysis, which, if successful, can be rolled out on a wider basis. It is right and prudent that such offers not only give passengers discounts, but that as far as possible they offer value for the public sector particularly in the current financial challenges.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08761 on
‎ 8 June 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 Scottish Government published a report to Parliament on 29 March 2022, outlining progress in developing the new Environment Strategy for Scotland ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/environment-strategy-scotland-progress-report-parliament/ ). This report provided a summary of key areas of Scottish Government policy and action that are already contributing to the goals of the Environment Strategy and outlined some of the challenges and opportunities in realising the strategy's vision. The Scottish Government does not plan to publish an additional response to the 'From Rhetoric to Reality: Revisited' report, but remains in ongoing dialogue with Scottish Environment LINK as a valued stakeholder.

There were no substantive changes made to the draft of the Temporary Measures Agreement (TMA) shared with Serco Caledonian Sleepers Limited (‘Serco’) on 25 February 2022.

The changes amounted to the correction of one typographical error, and the inclusion of a minor drafting clarification.

The Islands Bond Consultation report will be published in due course.

No applications have been received to date because the Islands Bond has not been launched.

Following agreement with COSLA, a total funding allocation of £8 million across local authorities on a per-pupil basis for the academic year 2022 has been agreed to continue funding free instrumental music tuition in schools.

An additional allocation of around £3 million was provided for those authorities which had budgeted for instrumental music tuition fee income.

Further consultation is ongoing to develop a sustainable funding model.

The current provisions for felling permissions are set out in the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018 and associated regulations, last updated in 2021.

Felling trees for the purposes of carrying out development, authorised by planning authorities, is exempt from the requirement for a Felling Permission. Here the Scottish Government’s Control of Woodland Removal Policy applies.

This policy includes a presumption in favour of protecting woodland. Removal should only be permitted where it would achieve significant and clearly defined additional public benefits. Where woodland is removed in association with development, developers will generally be expected to provide compensatory planting. The Scottish Government has no imminent plans to review its policy on the control of woodland removal.

The answer to question S6W-08058 set out the process whereby Marine Scotland Scientists produce estimates of unwanted catch calculated from information collected by scientific observers on board vessels to contribute to the fish stock assessment process run by ICES. Historically it was assumed this unwanted catch was discarded. With the introduction of the landing obligation, the majority of catch should now be landed, unless the fish are non-quota species or subject to a permitted exemption. In addition fish under the Minimum Conservation Reference Size (MCRS) cannot be sold for human consumption. The scientific observers do not try to differentiate between these different portions of catch, and instead group them together into a single category, called unwanted catch.

In terms of actual quantities of discards, under Article 15 of the retained Common Fisheries Policy (1380/2013) vessels are obliged to record both fish that has been discarded under a permitted exemption and fish below MCRS that is landed. Information on recorded levels of discards under permitted exemptions is provided in response to question S6W-08825 on 8 June 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