Chamber and committees

As set out in Scotland’s Beaver Strategy 2022-2045 published by NatureScot. we will support the identification of opportunities to expand beaver populations, and support the expansion of beaver populations through translocations.

Section 16A of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 allows Scottish Ministers to delegate their functions in relation to licenses under section 16 of that Act to NatureScot.

The Scottish Ministers delegated their species licensing functions to NatureScot in June 2011 via written direction. Assessment of licence applications is therefore the responsibility of NatureScot. Scottish Ministers retain the power to modify or revoke a direction. As part of this delegation, NatureScot is also asked to inform Scottish Ministers of any novel or contentious issues that may arise.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to expanding the beaver population across Scotland for the benefit of biodiversity, in line with Scotland’s Beaver Strategy.

Whilst we welcome the Glen Affric beaver translocation proposal, it is clear, that there remain concerns about the proposal among the local community.

NatureScot will therefore undertake some additional engagement to ensure the concerns around impact of beavers on land and fisheries managers has been fully explored ahead of any licensing decision. This process is in line with the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations in seeking to ensure there are acceptable mitigations in place.

We understand that there may be frustration around the timeframe for this licencing decision, but with proposals such as this we have to ensure the best chance of success for wildlife living alongside the people and communities most affected.

No such guidance has been issued to NHS boards or other public bodies.

Formal teacher vacancy data has not been collected or published since 2010 following the results of a user consultation on proposals to cease a number of education data collections in order to minimise the response burden on schools and local authorities.

Informal teacher vacancy data was collected from local authorities between 2016 and 2019 for the purpose of informing annual teacher workforce planning. This data collection was stopped in 2020 to reduce the burden on schools and local authorities during the pandemic, and due to concerns about the effectiveness of the data in informing the teacher workforce planning process.

Current teacher vacancy information is available from individual local authorities or at www.myjobscotland.gov.uk.

To date almost £23 million has been provided by Scottish Government to Falkirk Council to support the development of the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme.

As set out in answer to question S6W-37425, which was answered on 2 May 2025, due to the short amount of time left in this parliamentary session, there is insufficient time for a Misogyny Bill to be finalised and introduced. Therefore, the Scottish Government has decided not to proceed with this Bill in this parliamentary session.

However, in order to allow for the protected characteristic of ‘sex’ to be added to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 so that women and girls have the same protections as other groups protected by that Act, we will lay before the Scottish Parliament in September a proposed draft of an SSI under the powers within the Act. This will allow for views to be offered on the approach taken before a finalised SSI is then subsequently laid which will, if agreed, result in new protections for women and girls being introduced.

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 next steps in the process for the Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme are to be undertaken by the local authority.

Should Falkirk Council confirm the scheme in its current form and wish to access further Scottish Government funding, it will be necessary to demonstrate that the scheme, in whole or phased elements, is value for money, and assessed against other flood protection schemes across Scotland.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The SPS seeks to be as open and transparent as possible, while also upholding our statutory obligation to protect the personal information of those in our care.

This information requested is not information held by the Scottish Prison Service.

The maintenance of the valuation roll, including the collection of evidence, valuation of properties, and decisions on the removal of properties, are the responsibility of the independent Scottish Assessors, in accordance with the legislative framework established by the Scottish Government.

Table 1 shows the number of self-catering properties removed from the non-domestic rates valuation roll since 2020-2021, by the financial year from which the decision was made effective. The Scottish Government does not have information relating to how many operators were the ratepayers for these subjects.

Decisions to remove a property from the valuation roll are generally retrospective, and the financial year from which a property is retrospectively removed from the valuation roll may precede the year in which this decision is made.

This table may also include some properties which were later reinstated to the valuation roll, and may count them more than once, for example if a property was removed, re-added, and removed again.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Table 1: Self-catering properties removed from the valuation roll, by year for which the deletion was effective

The First Minister most recently met the Chairman of the INEOS Group, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, on 25 April 2025 to discuss the challenges that the INEOS businesses at Grangemouth continue to face.