Chamber and committees

The average household charge in Scotland is £375 in 2021-22. In 2022-23, this will rise to £391.

By comparison, Discover Water have stated the average charge across England and Wales to be £412 in 2021-22 and £419 in 2022-23. https://discoverwater.co.uk/annual-bill provides further information on individual company charges.

The Scottish Government today laid for consultation in the Scottish Parliament proposed draft regulations (SG/2018/103) and a proposed explanatory document (SG/2018/104) for a new Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land as required by Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016. It has also laid a draft partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment and a draft Privacy Impact Assessment of the draft regulations within the proposed explanatory document.

In addition the Government has published on its website a consultation document to support the consultation, which will run until 8 November 2018.

Migration is crucial to the development of Scotland as an inclusive, fair, prosperous, innovative country. It is essential to our economic prospects and our demographic sustainability that Scotland continues to attract the level and nature of migration it needs.

Following the EU referendum we published a report summarising and evaluating the recent literature on the impacts of migrants and migration on Scotland’s economy, labour market, public services, communities and culture. In November last year we set out the evidence about the importance of migration to Scotland, in our submission to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). We followed that earlier this year with a discussion paper on Scotland’s Population Growth and Migration Policy detailing the unique challenges facing Scotland’s population and the potential economic gains if migration was sustained. The paper also outlines how a tailored approach for Scotland, with new powers for the Scottish Parliament, could operate.

Reducing access to labour and skills by ending free movement will damage businesses in every sector of the economy in Scotland, and Scottish Ministers are clear that we need a solution for future migration that meets the needs of the agriculture sector.

However, evidence published by the Migration Advisory Committee shows that every sector of the economy - agriculture and fisheries, tourism and culture, healthcare and education - faces labour and skills challenges due to Brexit. We therefore need a migration system which meets the needs of all sectors of the economy, and we need an approach which is simple for employers and individuals to navigate and is flexible enough to meet changing needs.

Most importantly though we need the UK Government to start engaging on this issue. We have set out this Government’s position on the benefits of free movement of people and the need for new powers for the Scottish Parliament on migration. UK Ministers should now meet with the Scottish Government to discuss how we develop solutions tailored to Scotland’s needs.

The Scottish Government published its fourth Climate Change Adaptation Annual Report today.

The Report sets out the context for climate adaptation in Scotland, highlighting that we are already experiencing climate change, that there are a range of future risks and opportunities, and that we have a developing evidence base that is informing action.

The Report provides a summary of the core content of the Programme, the highlights to date, and the findings of the first Independent Assessment of the Programme in 2016. Finally, this Report refers to the development of Scotland’s second five-year Adaptation Programme which is to be published in 2019.

The Fourth Annual Report highlights include the latest on flood management, the Peatland ACTION Fund, the new Climate Change Plan’s commitments on woodland creation, the Fourth UK Forestry Standard 2017, a new Centre of Expertise in Plant Health launched in February 2018, Scotland’s National Coastal Change Assessment, Historic Environment Scotland’s climate change risk assessment, Green Infrastructure Fund, A82 Steep Ground Harvesting Project, Edinburgh Adapts, Aberdeen Adapts, Climate Ready Business, NHS Scotland Climate Change Risk Assessment Tool, and the third European Climate Change Adaptation Conference held in Glasgow.

Copies of the Annual Report have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, laying number SG/2018/74.

The Scottish Government's Guidance on Engaging Communities in Decisions Relating to Land is published today. Copies of the guidance have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, laying number SG/2018/32.

I was extremely concerned to hear about the recent disappearance of a satellite tagged golden eagle in the Pentland Hills. While we may never know exactly what happened to this bird, the circumstances are clearly suspicious. This is especially true when taken in the context of the satellite tagging report that I commissioned and was published last May. This showed that around one third of tagged eagles have disappeared in similar circumstances with many on or near driven grouse moors.

Since the report was published we have set up a review group to examine how we can ensure grouse moor management is sustainable and compliant with the law. The group, which will also consider possible regulatory options including licensing, met for the first time last month and will report back to me in Spring 2019. I await their findings with great interest.

I am also pleased to say that we are supporting a new Police Wildlife Crime Investigative Support Officer post which has now been filled. This officer will bring expertise to wildlife crime investigations across Scotland. We also expect shortly to launch a pilot project to use Special Constables to tackle wildlife crime in the Cairngorms National Park. These new measures build upon existing work, and demonstrate our commitment to put a stop to the wildlife crime that still occurs in parts of our countryside.

I have spoken to Dundee City Council’s Leader to offer my full support and I have written to the UK Government and European Commission to understand the potential implications of this situation and to establish what action needs to be taken in order to address it. My officials are in regular contact with the UK Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Dundee’s bid team about this.

The Commission was fully operational eight weeks after launch, with a full complement of commissioners from a range of expert perspectives, and is now supported by its own independent secretariat. The Commission has been tasked to advise Ministers on its child poverty delivery plan and is hard at work on that, while also beginning to develop its longer term work programme.

To date the Commission have held three meetings; minutes of these meetings are currently being published through the Scottish Government website ahead of the Commissions dedicated web presence being established early in the new year.