Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers have met with the Scotch Whisky Association four times since June 2021. On occasion, Scotch Whisky Association staff also attend meetings such as the Scottish Government’s Ministerial Trade Board, where various industry stakeholders and the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism & Enterprise is also in attendance. Discussions between Scottish Government officials and the Scotch Whisky Association take place regularly.

While the restrictions on the number of people who can attend live events have been relaxed from 24 January, I understand it will take time for audience confidence to be rebuilt.

The Scottish Government is keen to encourage audiences to return to cultural events. The First Minister held a media visit at the Scottish Opera on 2 February. The First Minister welcomed the return of live events and encouraged people to support theatres and other aspects of the arts.

The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs & Culture is giving the opening address at the Association of British Orchestras conference on 9 February. Mr Robertson will highlight during this speech the need for audiences to feel confident in returning to cultural events.

The Scottish Government is keen to work with stakeholders, including the performing arts and live music sector, to seek opportunities to encourage audiences to return to cultural events, in line with current guidance for public places.

The Scottish Government does not assess risk on a sector by sector basis as the risks of a significant number of people gathering together indoors is the same regardless of the activity that brings them together.  

For the purposes of the capacity limits on indoor gatherings the Scottish Government considers a live event to be something that brings together a significant number of people for communal participation in a leisure or entertainment activity.  

The Scottish Government carried out an impact assessment of the live event regulation and its impact on businesses which include, but is not confined to, Bingo halls. This has been published at the link below: The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 6) Regulations 2021 (legislation.gov.uk).

The current list of prescribed offences where a victim impact statement can be made is set out here - The Victim Statements (Prescribed Offences) (No. 2) (Scotland) Order 2009 (legislation.gov.uk). The Scottish Government has committed to expanding the scope of the Victim Statement Scheme and work is currently ongoing to explore extensions to this list.

The Scottish Government published new guidance, Public Sector Leadership on the Global Climate Emergency , on 29 October, to provide advice for public bodies on robust, consistent and comprehensive carbon management.

The guidance says it is vital that public bodies understand the carbon impacts of their decisions and therefore embed carbon into decision-making processes. The guidance says that any investment should consider the whole life impact with regards to climate change to ensure that truly sustainable options are selected. The guidance defines whole life costing as referring to the total cost of ownership over the life of an asset and that typical areas of expenditure which are included in calculating the whole-life cost include planning, design, construction and acquisition, operations, maintenance, depreciation and cost of finance and disposal. The guidance also says that budget holders must understand and actively support a strong focus on climate considerations within procurements and that additional focus must be placed upon whole life costing.

The Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020 requires that, from this year, public bodies must report how they will align their spending plans and use of resources to contribute to reducing emissions and delivering emissions reduction targets.

I also refer the member to the answer to your question S5W-05786 on 31 January 2022 and the Scottish Government’s commitment to using public procurement to address the Climate Emergency. 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 .

There are currently no cases of Avian Influenza in any goose species recorded on Islay.

The barnacle geese present on Islay are from the Greenland population and mixing between these and the Svalbard population in the Solway is rare.

The Islay population are well monitored and are managed using an adaptive management approach, which can respond quickly to any changes in the situation.

The Scottish Budget 2022-23 sets out almost £2 billion of low carbon capital investment in Scotland’s public infrastructure, including almost £350 million to drive forward our commitment to decarbonise the heating of 1 million homes and £124 million capital investment to support high quality active travel in walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure.

Audit Scotland operate independently from the Scottish Government. The Auditor General has highlighted seven themes in their Strategic Priorities and Future Work Programme, including Climate Change. For more information on Audit Scotland please visit Audit Scotland | Audit Scotland (audit-scotland.gov.uk) .

The Scottish Government does not have plans to produce a joint net zero delivery framework with local authorities. We continue to support public sector leadership on the climate emergency through ongoing engagement with key bodies such as the Sustainable Scotland Network, Scottish Leaders Forum, COSLA, Environment and Economy Leadership Group and the Scottish Cities Alliance.

The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plans include proposals and policies to deliver Scotland’s emissions reduction targets and the updated Climate Change Plan, published in December 2020, sets out a framework for all sectors of society to contribute to our journey to net zero including the role that local authorities and other parts of the public sector must play. This is supported by a legislative framework for local authorities delivery of net zero, where local authorities are required to report annually on their climate duties. Looking ahead, we have committed to publish our next Climate Change Plan in the first half of this Parliament.

The Scottish Government continuously reviews energy consenting frameworks, and looks for opportunities for further efficiencies and improvements while ensuring protection of our natural resources. In line with an existing Programme for Government commitment, Marine Scotland Directorate are putting in place the resources, processes and structures to respond to the challenge of the additional volume of applications which will flow from ScotWind.