Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has made continued progress on its review of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS). Work has focused on engaging with key stakeholders to identify current strengths and opportunities to support the development of the AKIS. This includes activities to better support knowledge exchange and the flow of knowledge and innovation between stakeholders in the AKIS and to understand how to better co-ordinate the AKIS in Scotland.

Transport Scotland is not currently able to approve the opening of the M80 overbridge at Robroyston. This is because the developer has still to complete all outstanding construction works, carry out a Principal Bridge Inspection, and finalise a Stage 3 Road Safety Audit. Responsibility for completing these actions, and therefore enabling the footbridge to open, rests with the developer.

Scotland is a high confidence, stable and attractive destination for investment. Building on these strong foundations, the Major Projects Office will coordinate, package, and accelerate nationally significant projects involving private sector investment, serving as a single point of contact to identify projects that are in the national interest and assist with ensuring that these are built faster. The Major Projects Office will commence operation later this year, with further detail on project criteria and engagement with relevant delivery bodies to follow.

While the Scottish Government continues to monitor commercial delivery plans to inform eligibility for publicly subsidised intervention, it does not have the power to mandate publication of these commercial plans. We will however continue to publish build plans for publicly subsidised interventions through our address checker which can be found at: Faster broadband in Scotlandhttps://broadbandchecker.service.gov.scot/.

On Scotland’s national forests and land, tree felling associated with windfarm developments and associated infrastructure since 2022 is 922.30 hectares. Based on the average of 2000 trees per ha, this gives an estimated total of 1.84 million trees felled over this period.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Action Plan on Wildfires sets out a coordinated approach to preventing, preparing for and responding to wildfires, including through national initiatives to strengthen resilience to all climate-related hazards as outlined in the Scottish National Adaptation Plan, such as peatland restoration.

Through our world leading Peatland ACTION programme, we have carried out restoration on over 59,000 hectares of peatland since 2020, including a record 15,448 hectares in 2025-26. This work will continue in 2026-27, investing a further £28 million to deliver at least another 10,000 ha of peatland restoration, towards our aim of restoring more than 400,000 ha of peatland by 2040.

Our recently published Peatland Action Partnership Plan commits to working with our delivery partners to strategically prioritise peatland restoration where it can maximise the multiple benefits for climate, nature and people. Understanding which parts of Scotland face the greatest risk from wildfire as the climate changes, and which could benefit most from rewetting degraded peatlands, will be part of this work.

Coastguard Rescue Officers do a vital job in keeping people safe, and responding to incidents and casualties in some of the most demanding environments. Shipping safety, including coastguard cover, is a matter reserved to the UK Government. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is responsible for establishing maritime safety protocol and legislation, and providing an effective response to maritime incidents in UK waters.

My officials have liaised with the MCA on this issue. I am advised that changing the Coastguard Rescue Service operating model is a consequence of the Court of Appeal ruling. I have been assured that public safety remains the priority and careful consideration was given to the options for a revised operating model.

The Scottish Government expects the highest shipping safety and crew welfare standards, and for these to be applied in the case of those vessels and crews accessing Scotland’s waters, including for the Coastguard Rescue Officers protecting our seas. My officials will continue to liaise closely with the MCA as this issue progresses.

Restoring degraded peatlands involves taking measures such as drain blocking, creating bunds and reprofiling gullies in order to reinstate the site’s natural hydrology, raise the water table and increase wetness. This plays an important role in halting the spread and extent of fires, and in reducing their intensity and the risk of them burning deep into the peat.

Our Climate Change Plan commits to restoring more than 400,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2040. Recent successes in upscaling continued in 2025-26 with the restoration of 15,448 hectares – the highest area ever in a single year.

Our recently published Peatland Action Partnership Plan commits to working with our delivery partners to strategically prioritise peatland restoration where it can maximise the multiple benefits for climate, nature and people. Understanding which parts of Scotland face the greatest risk from wildfire as the climate changes, and which could benefit most from rewetting degraded peatlands, will be part of this work.

The Scottish Government recognises the positive role that Eurasian beavers can play as a native keystone species, and we remain supportive of their managed expansion in appropriate areas, as set out in Scotland’s Beaver Strategy 2022–2045.

Beavers can create wetlands, retain water and contribute to wider ecosystem resilience, which can reduce burn severity in some settings. However, our assessment is that their contribution to preventing large-scale wildfire events such as the 2025 Dava Moor fire is likely to be limited, localised and realised over the longer term, rather than offering a systemic or immediate solution to megafire risk.

Beaver expansion offers one helpful nature-based measure within a broader package of actions, alongside peatland restoration, preparedness and wildfire prevention, rather than as a stand-alone answer to Scotland’s growing wildfire risk.

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

SPS publishes prison numbers on a quarterly basis via the Prisoner Information Page (PIP), the most recent of which can be found here: Public Information Page

Additionally, SPS publish Prison Population Data Reports which illustrate the population in custody broken down by custody type, gender, and age, the most recent of which can be found here: Prison Population data 12 June 2026.xlsx.