Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to action to protect biodiversity and to the effective monitoring of progress towards this goal. We are working to meet the commitments set out within the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, 2004 - 2020, and are aligned to the international Aichi biodiversity targets as set out in the Strategic Plan for biodiversity 2011-2020.

The final report against the Aichi targets published in 2021 showed that Scotland achieved 9 out of the 20 targets and another 11 are progressing. This compares favourably to the global picture, where the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) reports that good progress as being made on only 4 of the targets, and with the UK as a whole, which met only 5 targets. The CBD reports that there is no country in the world that has fully met the Aichi Biodiversity targets.

The 2020 Statement of Intent on Biodiversity included a commitment to protect 30% of our land for nature by 2030 And assess whether we could go further given that we have already achieved 37% protection of Scotland’s marine environment. We also recently added a new single high level indicator to the National Performance Framework which measures trends in marine and terrestrial biodiversity in Scotland.

Looking forward, we will publish a new biodiversity strategy in October 2022. This will set out how we will deliver our overall ambition of preventing any further extinctions of wildlife and halting declines by 2030, and making significant progress in restoring Scotland’s natural environment by 2045. This will lay the foundation for a new A Natural Environment Bill which will include legislation for new nature recovery targets.

We are in daily contact with Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), and are monitoring the situation closely, including in Fife HSCP. Health Boards and HSCPs have provided assurances that people in need of the most urgent care will continue receiving care during this challenging period.

We are working with local partners to address these pressures at a local and national level, including putting in place measures to support recruitment and multi-disciplinary working. Some of the immediate actions we have taken include: funding support to advertise vacant posts on a dedicated social care webpage; and targeted communication with Further and Higher Education nursing students and Social Work students, to encourage applications to join the workforce.

Further, we have allocated an additional £380 million to Health Boards to help with costs arising from the pandemic. This comes on top of the £1.7 billion already provided to Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships last year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02365 on 3 September 2021. 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-02365 on 3 September 2021. 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-02365 on 3 September 2021. Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) is the Scottish Government's approach to supporting children and young people. One of the core components of this is a named person who is a clear point of contact for children, young people and parents to go to for initial support and advice. The named person can also help to connect families to relevant services offered by the NHS, local authorities and third sector or community groups.

Another core component of GIRFEC is a single, shared approach to planning for children and young people’s wellbeing where support across services is needed. A personalised child’s plan will be available when a child needs a range of extra support planned, delivered and co-ordinated. The child's plan is managed by a 'lead professional': someone with the right skills and experience to make sure the plan is managed properly. Depending on the situation and the child's needs, the lead professional may also be their named person.

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 work on the Home Report Review had been delayed to allow for available resources to support the Scottish Government’s continuing response to the pandemic, though preparatory work for the review has been progressed.

The timetable for initiating this review, which will include substantial engagement with key stakeholders, will be subject to resources and kept under review.

The UK Government introduced its Subsidy Control Bill on 30 June 2021. There is a considerable amount of detail which we are reviewing with a view to bringing a Legislative Consent Motion forward by the end of September.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party agree that transport plays a crucial role in supporting a green and fair recovery and our shared position on this is included in the draft shared policy programme, forming part of the cooperation agreement.

We believe that bold action is needed to increase the pace of change and the scale of investment to support the priorities and outcomes set out in the National Transport Strategy, including our ambitious climate goals. We agree that in the face of the climate emergency we need to shift away from spending money on new road projects that encourage more people to drive, and instead focus our money and effort on maintaining roads, improving safety and providing a realistic and affordable alternative through investing in public transport and active travel.

The Sustainable Investment Hierarchy contained in the second National Transport Strategy and published in February 2020, can trace its linage back to the first Strategic Transport Projects Review in 2008, which in turn was developed from Scotland’s first National Transport Strategy (NTS) published in 2006. This was enhanced as part of the second NTS to include reducing the need to travel unsustainably at the top of the hierarchy. In addition, NTS sets out the commitment to ensure we will not build road infrastructure to cater for forecast unconstrained increases in traffic volumes.

We need to balance the significant changes in travel behaviour required to meet a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions with our duty to ensure that Scotland has high quality infrastructure to meet the needs of all our residents, businesses and visitors. That is why we are continuing work on our programme of trunk road improvement scheme to improve resilience, safety and deliver sustainable inclusive growth for the people of Scotland. Work on the trunk roads projects and programmes under construction, procurement or design and development continue and are subject to the statutory assessment and business case processes.

SEPA requires adequate financial provision to be in place for all incineration facilities to ensure the site is closed safely and cleared of waste should it cease operation.

As with other industrial facilities, the financial provision required by SEPA does not include the costs of full de-commissioning of the facility.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is a relative measure of deprivation which ranks 6,976 small areas (called data zones). Rank 1 represents the most deprived data zone in Scotland and 6,976 represents the least deprived data zone in Scotland. The rankings are split into deciles 1-10, which define the deprivation levels in 10% bands. Data zones in decile 1 are among the 10% most deprived areas in Scotland, and data zones in decile 10 are among the 10% least deprived.

The following table shows the SIMD decile for incineration facilities operational in Scotland in 2019, accepting household or commercial waste.