Chamber and committees

A domestic commercial fishing licence provides a general authority to fish within the UK Exclusive Economic Zone (UK EEZ). UK Fisheries Administrations operate a restrictive licensing scheme, this means that a regulatory ceiling is maintained on the total fleet capacity (engine power - kilowatts and registered tonnage).

Individual licenses have attached a defined value of tonnage and kilowatts which may be transferred (moved to another vessel/owner), detached from a vessel and placed on an entitlement document, aggregated or disaggregated. There can be multiple changes involved in one licence transaction, for example, transfer of vessel and/or licence between owners or Fisheries Administration and a change of vessel name.

Fishers also trade licence commodities across the UK market. It is important to note that this happens externally to the Scottish Government (and likewise the other UK fisheries policy authorities) and as such we do not ascribe a monetary value and do not participate in any financial transaction.

For the reasons detailed above recorded licence transactions do not directly correlate with the Scottish fleet and fishing method data provided in table 41 of the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics series of publications.

We have provided the number of Scottish recorded licence transactions by year:

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold the information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Combined sewer overflows are licensed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and are designed to prevent the sewer network from becoming overwhelmed during times of heavy rainfall and putting homes and businesses at risk of internal flooding.

Scottish Water does not hold information for reported spills during dry weather, or the reasons for spills, however it publishes all reportable pollution events each year to SEPA and this information is available in its annual reports, which can be found at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Annual-Reports. In addition, Scottish Water has recently launched an online map to provide customers with near real-time information about the operation of their monitored storm overflows and this map, as well as information about storm overflows, is available on its website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Your-Waste-Water/Overflows/Live-Overflow-Map. To help address the issue of pollution incidents, Scottish Water is already expanding its intelligent sensor network to predict and prevent incidents and help speed up the operational response.

Potential impacts on communities, nature, and cultural heritage, including the cumulative effects of developments, are important considerations in the decision-making process.

When an application is received, a full public consultation is carried out. Scottish Ministers invite representations from members of the public, appropriate community councils and other public bodies, seeking their expertise to assist in examining applications.

The decision whether to grant consent is taken only after careful consideration of environmental information, consultee responses and public representations.

The post of Traffic Commissioner for Scotland is currently vacant but I understand the role has been advertised on the UK Government’s Public Appointment website. The closing date for applications is 28 April 2025.

On 2 April, I received a letter from the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt. Hon. Heidi Alexander MP advising that Richard Turfitt (Senior Traffic Commissioner) will cover the role on a temporary basis. I welcome Mr Turfitt’s temporary appointment to allow work to progress on improving bus services in Scotland.

There has been a consistent rise in applications due to increased demand from developers seeking consent to build renewable energy developments in Scotland.

The Out-turn report for the 2022-23 Affordable Housing Supply Programme was published on 17 January 2025.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/affordable-housing-supply-programme-out-turn-report/

As stated in the answer to question S6W-32145 on 18 December 2024, the 2023-24 out-turn report is still in progress and we do not, at present, have an identified publication date . 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29131 on 4 September 2024. 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

Statistics on more able pupil as a reason for support are published in the pupil census supplementary statistics. This is available on the Scottish government website here https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/.

Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide for, and to review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs, including more able pupils.

Table 1 presents the estimated gross cost of setting the Higher Property Rate equal to the Standard Multiplier in England, from 2016-2017 until 2020-2021.

The Higher Property Rate in Scotland was 1.3p higher than the Standard Multiplier in England from 2016-2017 until 2018-2019, and 1.2p higher in 2019-2020 and
2021-2022. The Higher Property Rate and the Standard Multiplier in each year are shown in Table 2.

Figures for years from 2021-2022 until 2025-2026 are available in answers to questions S6W-25972 on 18 March 2024, S6W-25588 on 1 March 2024 and
S6W-32778 on 7 January 2025.

In 2016-2017, the threshold for the Standard Multiplier was £18,000, while the threshold for the Higher Property Rate was £51,000. Both thresholds were set to £51,000 from 2017-2018 until 2019-2020. From 2020-2021, the threshold for the Higher Property Rate was increased to £95,000, while the threshold for the Standard Multiplier remained at £51,000.

All figures are gross estimates, and are not adjusted for any relief. Figures are broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

This table is based on the valuation roll as at 1 October 2016, 1 October 2017, 1 October 2018, 1 October 2019, and 1 October 2020.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated gross cost of reducing the Higher Property Rate to the level of the English Standard Multiplier (£), broken down by property class

NHS Boards are separate entities with their own local governance and performance management arrangements in place, in line with national guidance, such as the ‘NHS Scotland Blueprint for Good Governance.’ This can be accessed at: www.gov.scot/publications/blueprint-good-governance-nhs-scotland-second-edition/.

There is also an ongoing cycle of routine engagement, scrutiny and support between the Scottish Government and NHS Boards. This helps ensure the latter are delivering on local and national priorities, and are being held to account for the significant public investment in the NHS. This evidence-based approach to monitoring performance and managing risk across the NHS in Scotland is underpinned by the ‘NHS Scotland Support and Intervention Framework’, which consists of five stages in a ladder of escalation that provides a model for support and intervention by the Scottish Government. NHS Boards can be escalated on the Framework as a result of significant and persistent performance issues; informing further scrutiny, support and intervention, as required. Further details can be accessed at: www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-support-and-intervention-framework/.