Chamber and committees

The independent Scottish Environmental Protection Agency lead and coordinate strategic flood risk management planning, provide advice and guidance to planning authorities, and are the flood forecasting and warning authority for Scotland.

SEPA monitors water levels and rainfall in two of the headwaters above Hawick (Slitrig and Teviot) to provide the community with a Flood Warning Service.This information is available for everyone on SEPA’s website.

SEPA work closely with the local planning authority to provide advice on flood risk and respond to flood events at all stages prior to, during and after flooding.

SEPA Water Levels

Scottish Rainfall Data - provided by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

SEPA allocated approximately £30.1m of its £88.6m spend in 2021/22 to managing river catchments. This funded work to protect and improve the water environment including permitting, regulating activities, monitoring water environment and producing River Basin Management Plans.

SEPA administered total grant values of £2.353m from the Water Environment Fund to third parties to deliver river restoration and fish barrier removal works. Approximately £0.75m was allocated to regulatory activities as part of SEPA’s diffuse pollution priority catchment work. These include SEPA’s overhead costs. They do not include SEPA work on flood warning and flood risk management.

The Scottish Government expects women to receive high quality, safe care including in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia.

We are working with the Scottish Perinatal Network to examine the adoption of PlGF testing for pre-eclampsia in Scotland. This will include consideration of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance on PlGF (DG23) that is currently out for consultation and expected to be published in July 2022.

Confirmation of the additional £150 million for flood risk management was provided to COSLA by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance in her letter of 4 February 2021. The indicative annual capital allocations, as set out in the letter, are provided in the attached table. The initial £10 million tranche was distributed to local authorities in the 2021-2022 financial year. Discussions are ongoing with COSLA on the arrangements for distribution of the remaining £140 million.

The Seed Potatoes (Scotland) Regulations 2015 stipulate the disease tolerances for seed potato crops in Scotland, and all seed crops must comply with the requirements laid down in the Regulations to be certified as a seed crop.

The tolerance permitted for total virus in a seed crop is 0.8%, which includes a tighter tolerance of 0.4% combined for infection with the three most damaging viruses (PLRV, PVY and PVA). Seed crops are inspected at least twice during the growing season and monitored for disease and trueness to type. Leaf samples from all crops displaying virus symptoms are tested in the laboratory at SASA for 12 virus species to confirm the presence of virus infection in a crop. Crops that have a virus level that exceeds that permitted for a seed crop may be downgraded to ware.

A crop would only be destroyed if the virus levels were 4% or above and therefore posed an unacceptable plant health risk to other neighbouring potato crops.

The Scottish Government do not provide compensation to potato farmers who have been ordered by SASA to destroy their crops to prevent further growth.

Article 4 of The Plant Health (Potatoes) (Scotland) Order 2006 provides an explicit power to require that the grower of a potato crop (seed or ware) takes immediate action (within 72 hours of the service of a notice) to ensure the destruction of the haulm of a potato crop which has been determined by official inspection to present a clear plant health risk to other potato crops due to high levels of virus in the crop.

The SASA website hosts a number of pages dedicated to viruses of importance to potatoes, including information on aphid monitoring of seed potato crops, virus epidemiology and varietal propensity to virus infection.

Scottish Government staff participate in the National Potato Virus Forum that was initiated in 2019 in response to the increase in virus pressure. SASA chair the Scottish Aphid- Borne Virus Working Group; the group recently published guidance outlining 6 Steps to Effective Virus Management in Certified or Home Saved Seed. The document was sent to all growers in advance of the 2021 season.

SASA operate a national network of suction traps collecting information about aphid abundance and movement and provide advice on the risk of virus transmission and the need for aphid control. This information is published on the SASA website and can be used as an early warning system for growers.

Beavers have the potential to bring significant biodiversity benefits to Scotland. They may also have adverse impacts on some land uses. Our main policy focus at this point is to prevent and mitigate negative impacts of beavers before damage can occur.

NatureScot can issue protected species licences to control beavers for the purpose of preventing serious damage to agriculture.

NatureScot also support land and fisheries managers experiencing negative impacts through the Scottish Beaver Mitigation Scheme. The Scheme offers land managers advice and practical assistance with mitigating the impacts of beavers including taking pro-active measures to prevent impacts where appropriate. NatureScot will continue to work with stakeholders on the mitigation scheme looking to develop new and innovative approaches.

Increased use of translocation of beavers will also help prevent negative impacts and as set out in the answer to question S6W-04596 on 24 November 2021, we will also provide both financial and practical support to facilitate this translocation of beavers.

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

It is vital that the supply chain for the installation and maintenance of zero emission heating systems is equipped with the necessary skills and qualifications to provide a high quality and responsive service to consumers. We estimate that the supply of skills is largely balanced at existing levels of heat pump demand, but will need to grow substantially to match the pace and scale of the heat transition.

We have partnered with Skills Development Scotland to undertake a ‘Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project’ which will help us better understand the timing of workforce growth and how best to support people transitioning into key sectors, including low carbon heating. This work is at an advanced stage and we will publish the findings in due course.

We have committed to publishing our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan later this year which will detail actions and public support to aid workforce growth through a combination of reskilling, upskilling and youth employment.

There are a number of current initiatives funded by Scottish Government aimed at providing support to industry to upskill their workforce and gain the necessary qualifications to effectively install/ maintain low carbon heating systems.

Current initiatives include the National Transition Training Fund (NTTF); The Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF); and, the Heat Pump Skills Grant and MCS Certification Fund.

NTTF was established as a reactive response to Covid-19’s immediate impact on the labour market. The fund offers industry-recognised qualifications and training in growing employment sectors. Individuals can apply direct for training opportunities, while employers are encouraged to apply on behalf of their team. We have provided over £1.3m through the NTTF for energy efficiency and zero emissions heating retrofit skills. This includes a Low Carbon Learning Programme delivered by the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre which provides free training access for tradespeople to increase their skills in retrofit and Passivehaus construction methods, as well as funding through the Energy Skills Partnership to support heat pump training in Scottish Colleges.

FWDF is available to employers to address priority skills gaps in their organisation. The fund provides funding to UK Apprenticeship Levy-payers and SMEs in Scotland which they can use to access flexible workforce development training opportunities. Training programmes can be delivered in partnership with their local college, The Open University in Scotland or an independent training provider.

The Heat Pump Skills Grant and MCS Certification Fund is offered to assist Scottish SMEs installing heat pumps in achieving MCS certification for the first time. This funding is for installers who are not currently MCS certified for heat pumps and who want to become MCS certified for any heat pump technology (air, water, or ground source).