Chamber and committees

The TSE (Scotland) Regulations 2010 and the Retained (EC) 999/2001 Regulations place a number of requirements on Food Business Operators (FBOs), mainly related to animal identification and animal-by-products, particularly the removal of Specified Risk Material (SRM) before official post-mortem inspection and its adequate identification, segregation and disposal. However, when FSS officials identify SRM at post-mortem inspection, the FBO will be given an opportunity to rectify the meat and remove the SRM before it is reinspected, to prevent it being placed into the food chain. These lapses are classed as non-compliances and enforcement action is recorded in all cases.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) is the Competent Authority for all Scottish slaughterhouses. Local Authorities do not have any TSE controls remit in these establishments which is why non-compliances are not reported by local authority area.

FSS is able to report on non-compliances since August 2020 during which time we have recorded a total of 6,246 non-compliances across all FSS approved Scottish Meat Establishments, 87 of which refer to breaches of the TSE (Scotland) Regulations 2010 or the equivalent Retained (EC) 999/2001 Regulations.

FSS is unable to extract non-compliances between 2010 and 2020, partially due to retention policies in place (for enforcement data older than 6 years) and partially linked to the way in which we record information prior to 2020 (which was a basic word document). Since 2020 we have changed our system to enable us to have more precise information.

The figures requested are set out in the following table:

This is an operational matter for ScotRail, noting that in 2016 any agreement was with the private company, Abellio ScotRail, but ScotRail is now operated by a new, publicly owned company.

The following table gives the number of homelessness applications live as at 25 December 2022, by local authority and the associated number of (a) adults and (b) children.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The member may wish to contact the British Transport Police.

In accordance with the Sewel Convention and in line with Rule 9B of Standing Orders, the UK Parliament should not legislate with regard to devolved matters – that is on matters within the legislative competence of the Parliament, or which change the competence of the Parliament or the Scottish Ministers – without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.

Within the legislative programme announced by the UK Government, Bills which appear to give rise to the requirement for the legislative consent of the Scottish Parliament are:

• Animal Welfare (Livestock Export) Bill
• Automated Vehicles Bill
• Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Bill
• Criminal Justice Bill
• Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill
• Tobacco and Vapes Bill
• Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (carried over) – legislative consent memorandum already lodged
• Economic Activities of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill (carried over) – legislative consent memorandum already lodged.

In addition, the following Bills extend to Scotland. The Scottish Government will consider the need for legislative consent when the text of these bills is available, but we do not currently expect they will generate a requirement for a legislative consent motion.

• Media Bill
• Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill
• Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill
• Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill
• Victims and Prisoners Bill (majority of provisions apply to England and Wales)

The Scottish Government will consider the content of all Bills before making its recommendation to the Parliament on legislative consent. It will then be for the Scottish Parliament to determine whether to give or withhold consent.

It is possible that legislative consent may be required for other UK Bills and those will be drawn to the attention of the Parliament as they arise.

All vessels authorised to operate in Scottish waters do so under the appropriate licences, and are obliged to follow Scottish domestic management rules. This includes a mandatory requirement for all vessels, including EU vessels, operating in UK waters to report any incidental injury or mortality (bycatch) of marine mammal to the Marine Management Organisation.

We take any infringements of fishing vessel licence conditions seriously, including those relating the reporting of marine mammal bycatch. We continue to remind masters of their obligation to record and report incidental mortality and serious injury (bycatch) of marine mammals in accordance with their licence condition and will investigate any reports where there is evidence which suggests this condition is not complied with.

While the management of Scottish waters is an area of devolved competency, the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government and other devolved administrations through the delivery of the Marine Wildlife Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI) which is a joint plan for tackling bycatch across the UK with the aim of minimising, and where possible eliminating, bycatch of sensitive marine species.

Funding for the HS2 programme has been provided by the UK Government to the Department for Transport (DfT) who manage the project, at UK Spending Reviews.

The Scottish Government receives Barnett funding based on the movements in DfT’s total budget.

As the UK Government have indicated that all funding for HS2 will be retained by the DfT for other projects, there should be no loss of Barnett funding.

However, this funding falls partly into the next UK Government Spending Review period and confirmation of funding levels will only be confirmed once the Spending Review has concluded.

Assessments are made at local level of the potential impacts of non-native species on adjacent or nearby habitats, through implementation of the Forestry Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (EIA), and the implementation of the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) and associated guidance.

The EIA Regulations process ensures assessment of the potential environmental and social impact of non-native tree species seeding into other habitats. Where the new woodland proposed is adjacent to European designated site, a Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) is also required to assess potential impacts. The UKFS and associated guidance also requires appraisals to be made of the potential impact of productive woodland on neighbouring habitats, as part of both woodland creation applications and Long-Term Forest Plans.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards spending by local authorities is to allow them the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, most funding is provided by means of a block grant.

Local authorities are responsible for managing their own budgets and allocating the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, which includes the needs of care experienced children and young people; having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government recognises the financial challenges that local government are facing and that local authorities and their employees play a crucial role in our communities. In the most challenging budget settlement from the UK Government since devolution, the Scottish Government is providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement. Since the flat-cash position set out in the 2022 Resource Spending Review, the Scottish Government listened to local authorities and has already increased the resources available to Local Government this year by over £793 million.

Funding is also provided to local authorities through targeted initiatives. For example, the Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund has provided £60m to local authorities to help support the attainment and wellbeing of care experienced children and young people. The funding benefits a wide group, with care experienced children and young people from birth to the age of 26 being eligible for support through the fund.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the support offer available to care experienced children and young people, and to young people moving on from care into adulthood. Work is progressing to engage with delivery partners to understand how we can better target holistic support for the care experienced population to help improve outcomes and empower children, young people and families to thrive.