In 2023, Coastal officers carried out 177 inspections from 266 non-UK vessel landings into Scotland, or 67%. Routine inspections by Coastal officers include document checks, box counts, species identification and assurance sampling checks of catch landed. The level of sample checks will depend on risk, which considers the likelihood and impact of an infringement.

The Scottish Government publish Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics. In the latest publication, supplementary table 19 details the Tonnage and value of landings by foreign vessels into Scotland by main species 2018 to 2022. See Supporting documents - Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The introduction of Air Departure Tax (ADT) was deferred due to state aid issues raised in relation to replicating the existing Highlands and Islands exemption that currently exists under Air Passenger Duty. As of January 2023, Scottish Ministers have a responsibility to ensure all subsidies – including tax exemptions – comply with the UK Government’s subsidy control regime introduced in the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

A referral to the Subsidy Advice Unit at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is necessary where a subsidy has a greater potential to lead to undue distortion and negative effects on competition or investment within the UK, or on international trade or investment. The Scottish Government has not yet had any specific discussions with the CMA regarding a future referral of a prospective Highland and Islands exemption but has had high-level discussions regarding the process through which a referral could be made. Prior to introducing ADT, the Scottish Government will assess whether a prospective Highlands and Islands exemption requires a referral to the CMA.

The Scottish Government continue to explore all options to implement ADT in a way that protects Highlands & Islands connectivity and complies with the UK Government’s subsidy control regime. The UK-wide Air Passenger Duty will continue to apply in Scotland until ADT is implemented.

The answer to S6W-28648 stated that 3,308 certificates of exemption for XL Bully dogs have been issued to dog owners by the Scottish Government during the period 1 April 2024 to 31 July 2024. This reflected the number of exemptions issued when the PQ answer was developed and there can be a short time lag between an answer being drafted by the Scottish Government and the PQ being answered.

The figure that was provided by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Sun newspaper was that, as of Thursday 1 August, there have been 3,342 applications for exemption certificates for XL Bully dogs approved.

The difference in figure is explained by the time-lag noted above meaning that 34 additional manually produced exemption certificates issued by the Scottish Government after 31 July 2024 were included in the figure given to the Scottish Sun, but not in the PQ answer.

It may be helpful to be aware that the Scottish Government is continuing to work through a small number of cases where XL Bully dog owners have met the legal requirement to apply before 31 July 2024, but still require to provide additional information in order for their exemption application to be processed and granted.

It is important we work together to understand and plan for coastal change. The Scottish Government’s Dynamic Coast (DC) project is helping us understand the erosion threat to Scotland’s coast including in the Highlands and Islands.

DC2 assesses coastal erosion rates nationally and considers how these rates might be exacerbated by climate change. This report has been published and can be found at the following link;

https://www.crew.ac.uk/dynamic-coast

Throughout the project, we have worked closely with local authorities, including in the Highland and Islands, to help them plan for coastal adaptation. To support them, we have provided an additional £11.7 million of funding for coastal change adaptation from 2022-23 to 2025-26.

In 2024-25, the funding of £2.7m will be distributed to local authorities in two ways. £1.65m in direct allocation to coastal local authorities including the Highlands and Islands and £1.05m for case studies, including a study in Nairn looking at monitoring coastal data.

The civil service that supports Scottish Ministers is structured into eight Director-General areas, each containing a number of directorates and related public bodes which are responsible for proposing legislation and putting Scottish Government policy into practice.

Directors General are referred to within our governance processes as the accountable officers (AOs). They are accountable to Parliament for the duties given to them by the Permanent Secretary as the Principal Accountable Officer, and participate across the corporate governance system.

Each Director General and their accountabilities align to Cabinet Secretary and Ministerial portfolios to enable oversight and leadership for their respective Ministerial responsibilities.

These Directors General and their Directorates are all part of the Scottish Government organisation, referred to as core Scottish Government, that operates as a single employer. This structuring allows for the more flexible deployment of resources across portfolios to respond quickly and efficiently to Ministerial priorities and external events. It also supports the wider approach set out within the National Performance Framework, to focus the organisation on working and leading collectively to improve the National Outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Further details of the government structures can be found on the Scottish Government website Government structure - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

I have asked Janet Egdell, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

National Records of Scotland have today published: 2022 results | Scotland's Census (scotlandscensus.gov.uk).

Scotland’s Census results are designated as Accredited Official Statistics and form an integral part of the statistical system in the UK. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority – Statistics for the Public Good, awards Accredited Official Statistics designation based on the quality, good practice and comprehensiveness of official statistics. 

More detail about the schedule for future reports can be found here. Census outputs schedule | Scotland's Census (scotlandscensus.gov.uk).

The Scottish Government publish Enforcement Data which details the number of inspections by nationality. Marine and fisheries compliance: boardings of vessels in Scottish waters - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) The latest period will shortly be published. The Marine Directorate has observed 421 inspections of non-UK landings between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2024.

The European Convention on Human Rights is fundamental to our legal framework in Scotland. Our proposals in the Bill are fully compliant with the ECHR, including the right to private property.

More details on the consideration of the effect of the provisions of the Bill on human rights can be found in the Policy Memorandum accessible (parliament.scot).

If passed by the Scottish Parliament, the Bill will allow Ministers to consider the impact on the local community of certain sales of land over 1000 hectares before the sale can proceed.

Ministers may decide that the landholding should be sold as separate lots, though this is not expected to be appropriate in all cases.

The Bill sets out a process for landowners to apply for a review of a Ministerial lotting decision as well as appeal and compensation processes.

More details on this issue can be read in paragraphs 109 to 134 of the Policy Memorandum accessible (parliament.scot).