The Flood Resilience Strategy consultation document sought views on a range of flooding related matters, including how best to improve the long term resilience of coastal communities. The results of this consultation will help to inform the Flood Resilience Strategy. Both the Strategy and an analysis of the consultation responses will be published later in the year.

At present, there are no license requests for seabed mining in Scotland’s inshore or offshore waters.

Deep sea mining refers to the exploration for - or extraction of - minerals from the seabed at depths greater than 200 metres. Most of Scotland’s waters of this depth or greater fall within existing MPAs. Existing Conservation and Management Advice for the West of Scotland Marine Protected Area from Joint Nature Conservation Committee: West of Scotland MPA | JNCC - Adviser to Government on Nature Conservation, which covers the majority or our deep waters and seamounts, advises against seabed mining in such waters.

Any licensing request relating to seabed mining within Scotland’s seas would be subject to the licensing requirements set out in the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 for inshore waters (between 0 and 12 nautical miles), and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 for offshore waters (between 12 and 200nm), as well as statutory environmental assessment requirements and the policies set out in Scotland’s National Marine Plan, which covers both inshore and offshore waters. Consideration of any licence application would be based on best available evidence.

Scotland’s National Marine Plan 2015 sets policies for the sustainable development of our seas and marine resources. Aggregates Policy 2 states that decision makers should ensure all the necessary environmental issues are considered and safeguards are in place when determining whether any proposed marine aggregate dredging is considered to be environmentally acceptable. Any licensing request relating to seabed mining in Scotland’s seas would be subject to this policy.

The National Marine Plan 2 (NMP2), which is currently being developed, will support sustainable development of our seas, protect our marine environment, and deliver for our coastal communities. NMP2 is considering our marine economy, local communities, and the environment together by adopting a Blue Economy: A Blue Economy Vision for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This will help get the right planning framework in place to balance the need for protection and enhancement of the marine environment, and sustainable development of existing and emerging sectors.

The Scottish Government recognises the serious erosion issues to the sand dunes in Montrose and the impact this could have on flood risk for residents.

Through our Dynamic Coast project, we have worked closely with local authorities to help them plan for coastal adaptation and in our Programme for Government 2020 we announced a new £11.7 million capital budget over four years for coastal change adaptation, starting in 2022-23.

In 2024-25, funding of £2.7m will be distributed to local authorities in two ways. £1.65m in direct allocation to coastal local authorities and £1.05m will be made available for local authorities to bit for to undertake case studies. Angus Council, where Montrose sits in, will receive £56,375 for coastal change adaptation in 2024-25.

In addition, Angus Council submitted a proposal to fund a case study and an additional £440k will be distributed for this, which is the largest allocation for any local authority to undertake a case study.

Local authorities can choose to additionally fund coastal protection work from their general capital grant allocation.

Scottish Government officials have attended two Four Nations meetings regarding the ban on single-use vapes within this time period, during which implementation was discussed - on 14 August and 24 July. We have corresponded with the UK Government regarding the implementation of a ban on 9 August, 26 July, 18 July, 16 July, 15 July and 11 July. These discussions have focused on our respective legislative timelines, and on preparing guidance for Business.

The Scottish Government issued a general call for evidence on the Scottish Government’s X Account on 10 July. In addition, since announcing the review on 6 March at a visit to the Heart of Newhaven project in Edinburgh, we have emailed stakeholder and community groups who have engaged with Community Right to Buy to seek their views.

This initial call for evidence will inform a full formal consultation in summer 2025, which will give everyone the opportunity to comment. The response to which will be published and summarised in accordance with standard consultation practice.

The review will consider all of the previous work that has been carried out in exploring the various community rights to buy. The Scottish Land Commission will be involved in discussions along with a wide range of other stakeholders and community groups, throughout the review.

The Scottish Government issued a general call for evidence on the Scottish Government’s X Account on 10 July. In addition, since announcing the review on 6 March at a visit to the Heart of Newhaven project in Edinburgh, we have emailed stakeholder and community groups who have engaged with Community Right to Buy to seek their views.

The deadline for submission of evidence to Phase 1 of the review is the end of September 2024. The anonymised responses received will be made available (in October 2024). The terms of reference for the review are set out in the call for evidence and the emails issued to stakeholders.

This initial call for evidence will inform a full formal consultation in summer 2025, which will give everyone the opportunity to comment. The response to which will be published and summarised in accordance with standard consultation practice.

The results from the most recent seabird census show that many of Scotland’s internationally important seabird populations are suffering from a range of pressures, including climate change, and more recently highly pathogenic avian influenza.

We take these declines extremely seriously, which is why the Scottish Government, supported by NatureScot, is developing a Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy in partnership with stakeholders, which will drive forward and prioritise action aimed at improving the conservation status of Scotland’s seabirds and increase their resilience to climate change. Work on the strategy is moving at pace with public consultation planned for later this year.

Alongside the strategy, NatureScot is working with partners to investigate the underlying causes of these declines. These include continuing to undertake monitoring and research so that we can better understand the trends in seabird populations, the threats they face and how these can best be managed; work on biosecurity and invasive non-native species to address the risks posed by predators to breeding seabirds; and continuing to contribute to the response to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza through sampling and surveillance of wild birds.

NatureScot also continues to support Scottish Government in taking forward action to meet its commitment to achieve and maintain Good Environmental Status for seabirds. This includes delivering action to minimise, and where possible eliminate, bycatch of sensitive marine species, including seabirds, to ensure the sustainability of our fisheries, as well as supporting ongoing work to ensure the coherence of our marine protected areas network.

Much of this work is supported by funding streams, including the Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund and Scottish Government's Nature Restoration Fund which is managed by NatureScot.

The number of Senior Civil Servants working in core Scottish Government and its Agencies who have requested approval under the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) rules in (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23 and (iii) 2023-24 is published on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/appointments-or-employment-of-former-staff/

The reasons for not approving the four most recent late applications are detailed in the decision notice for each. These can be found in the Register of Community Interest in Land (RCIL), which is held on the Registers of Scotland website. It is free to access. The four cases were:

Broomhill Community Trust Hub Limited (Ref:CB00263) – September 2023

Kinlochard (Cottages) Residents Association Ltd (Ref: CB00248) – January 2021

Kinlochard (Cottages) Residents Association Ltd (Ref: CB00247) – November 2020

Carty Port Community Company (Ref: CB00234) - April 2018

As set out in the Flood Resilience Strategy Consultation, the Scottish Government is working in partnership with COSLA and Local Authorities to reform the current approach to funding flood resilience actions.

We have met regularly, having met 3 times already in 2024 with the next meeting on 5 September.