Chamber and committees

As part of my consideration of the camping management byelaw proposals submitted by the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority, on 8 July 2015 I met representatives of the National Park Authority, the Loch Lomond Destination Group, the 5 Lochs Management Group & Community Council, the Loch Earn Tourism Initiative and the St. Fillans Community Council. On 3 September 2015, I met Ramblers Scotland and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland to hear about their work and their views on the proposed camping management proposals. A meeting is also being arranged with Ms Baillie.

The Scottish Government provided £600,000 of funding for the Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award between 2012-13 and 2014-15. The funding broken down by financial year was:

£220,000 in 2012-13;

£200,000 in 2013-14;

£180,000 in 2014-15.

The Scottish Government has committed £100,000 of funding in 2015-16 for the award.

As Minister for Community Safety, I met recently with the Outward Bound Trust to hear of their work, and its positive impact on beneficiaries, and to discuss future activities associated with the awards programme and funding requirements.

The Scottish Government has not considered introducing legislation to give tenancy rights to people with residential moorings.

We have no current plans to review the legislation on mooring and navigation licences on Scotland’s canals.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement the recommendations outlined in the report by the Scottish Commission on Older Women, Older Women and Work: Looking to the Future. I welcome the Scottish Commission on Older Women's report, which I read with interest. The Scottish Government absolutely agrees that supporting women of all ages in the labour market is a key priority and that older women face particular challenges. Female employment is at a historically high rate, and over a third of the increase in overall employment over the last year came from women aged over fifty getting jobs. We recognise that beneath this there is more work to be done to enable a level playing field for women. We are already making progress on a number of these issues and will do everything within our power to help older women play a valuable role in the Scottish economy. We will certainly take into account the recommendations helpfully outlined in the report.

The Scottish Government’s position is that grace period criteria relating to the closure of the renewables obligation should extend to all projects in planning to afford reasonable protection to developers who have made significant investments. We have made that case to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. The UK Government is finalising its policy on the proposed grace period ahead of bringing forward primary legislation to implement the final policy. Before framing the terms of the legislation, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has sought information from developers with projects which are currently in the planning system but which have not yet secured consent. The UK Government has set out further information on this process in a policy paper which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewables-obligation-ro-grace-period-for-new-onshore-wind/information-on-the-proposed-ro-grace-period-for-new-onshore-wind The UK Government has not yet confirmed whether onshore wind will remain eligible for support under the Feed-in Tariff or Contracts for Difference schemes.

The Renewables Obligation (RO) is a scheme which supports the deployment of large-scale renewable electricity generating stations in the UK. It puts an obligation on licensed electricity suppliers to source some of their supply from renewables, a proportion which increases every year. The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (the authority) is the body responsible for administering the RO. Information on the number of certificates issued can be found at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/renewables-obligation-ro-annual-report-2013-14

The UK Government has set out details of the proposed grace period relating to the closure of the renewables obligation for new onshore wind projects in a policy paper which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewables-obligation-ro-grace-period-for-new-onshore-wind/information-on-the-proposed-ro-grace-period-for-new-onshore-wind

Figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate (DECC) show that, as at March 2015, there were 126 onshore wind sites in the planning system awaiting consent in Scotland. This data is published by DECC at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/renewable-energy-planning-data The Scottish Government publishes a local authority breakdown of this data on a quarterly basis. This data is available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/Energy/planningdata

Figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate show that, as at March 2015, Scotland had 5.1 gigawatts of installed capacity from existing onshore wind projects.