Chamber and committees

The following table shows the number of affordable homes delivered in remote, rural and island communities in 2021-22 and 2022-23:

The Scottish Government is committed to enhancing protection for our marine environment in the face of the twin crises of climate change and loss of nature.

Although we are no longer progressing with our proposals for Highly Protected Marine Areas, we want to develop a new pathway to enhancing marine protection with all those who will join us round the table. There is a wealth of innovative ideas in our island and coastal communities and we want to hear more of these to help us develop an approach which is fair, just and brings people together.

We are also committed to supporting any group that wishes to pursue community-led marine protection in its local area. We have already seen successful initiatives in Arran and in St Abbs and Eyemouth and we will do everything to support those communities that want to follow in their footsteps.

Additionally, we have an on-going programme of work to implement fisheries management measures in existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where they are yet to be introduced, and to protect some of the most vulnerable priority marine features outside the MPA network.

After the summer recess, we will be consulting on proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore MPAs, beyond 12 nautical miles. The options to be consulted on have been the subject of extensive engagement over many years with a wide range of marine stakeholders. Inshore MPAs and priority marine features also require fisheries management measures and consultation on these inshore measures will take place in 2024.

Another step is the consultation on proposals to close fishing for sandeel in all Scottish waters which the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands launched on 21 July. This is a crucial step in safeguarding an important food source for many species, and it could aid the long-term sustainability and resilience of marine ecosystems.

Our Fisheries Management Strategy commits to rolling out Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) to key parts of Scotland’s fishing fleet. REM will offer enhanced scientific benefits, enabling us to boost the data and knowledge we have which in turn will help deliver an improved evidence base. This can be of significant benefit to not only the fishing industry but also fisheries managers and could improve our ability to provide enhanced protection to our marine environment going forward.

Broadcasting is reserved to the UK Government. We have not had any recent discussion with the UK Government on this particular issue, however we remain strongly committed to a fairer and more representative service for Scotland, and we will continue to press for its improvement to ensure it better reflects the specific needs and interests of Scottish audiences in terms of all programming, including sport.

We will continue to support expanding the offer for audiences to enjoy Scottish international football and other major sporting events on free-to-air broadcast TV.

Although the Scottish Government cannot influence access rights, and the listed events regime is the responsibility of the UK Government, we maintain a close interest in audience and stakeholder views in Scotland and we meet regularly with representatives of Ofcom and the broadcasters to urge them to consider how they can ensure that audiences in Scotland receive the best possible level of service.

The management of pipes and air conditioning systems in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and it is not an area the Scottish Government would ordinarily be involved with.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have not submitted any report to the Scottish Government relating to the pipes within the air conditioning system at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on major rebuilding or refurbishment requirements. It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate.

Since 2007 the quality of the school estate has improved from 61% to over 90% of schools reported in good or satisfactory condition.

It is difficult to make accurate estimates of the proportion of palm oil imported into Scotland that is from sustainable sources. There is no reason to believe that the proportion is significantly different from that for the UK as a whole. The most recent Annual Progress Report from the UK Roundtable on Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil states that "since 2010, the proportion of UK imports of palm and palm kernel oil that can be reported as certified sustainable has increased from 16% to 72% in 2021, with the vast majority of remaining imports likely to be sourced through a form of assurance." The UK Government has consulted about regulations to introduce due diligence on forest risk commodities, which are planned to place new obligations on businesses that import large volumes of commodities that can be grown on newly cleared forest land. Businesses will be required to demonstrate that production of these commodities has respected local laws.

The £500 million Just Transition Fund for North East and Moray has allocated £75 million to date, including a multi-year capital programme supporting 24 projects. The open and competitive bidding round assessed projects against published criteria in line with public finance guidelines. Details of successful projects are published here: Just Transition Fund: year one projects - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . I have committed to regular updates on progress towards a just transition to net zero to Parliament and the Just Transition Commission.

The pathfinder projects supported through the Green Growth Accelerator are still at the development stage and, as such, no private investment has been secured yet.

Publicly funded peatland restoration is delivered by Peatland ACTION – a flagship partnership programme established by the Scottish Government with five public sector delivery partners – NatureScot, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, Scottish Water, Cairngorms National Park Authority and Forestry and Land Scotland.

We published our National Peatland Plan in 2015 which can be found here: https://www.nature.scot/doc/scotlands-national-peatland-plan-working-our-future In 2020 we announced an investment of £250 million to restore 250,000 hectares of peatlands over a 10 year period to 2030, and reiterated this commitment in the First Minister’s new policy prospectus ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/equality-opportunity-community-new-leadership-fresh-start ), aiming to deliver up to 110,000 hectares of restored peatland by 2026.

In addition to currently providing up to 100% funding for peatland restoration, we are working on a variety of parallel fronts by leveraging activity across the Scottish Government and through Peatland ACTION to increase restoration rates, this includes:

• developing new models for private finance;
• improving our scientific knowledge base to ensure we target restoration where it can be most beneficial;
• encouraging landowners and managers to participate in restoration through our land and agriculture reform programmes as well as exploring opportunities for restoration on public land;
• signposting to the new National Planning Framework ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-planning-framework-4/pages/6/ ), which strengthens controls on future extraction and on other types of development on peat;
• our consultation on ending the sale of peat in Scotland (closed 12 May 2023) which will support further policy development;
• addressing the skills shortages through the Peatland Skills, Capacity and Training Group which brings together partners from Peatland ACTION, Skills Development Scotland, LANTRA, Confor, Scotland’s Rural Collage and the James Hutton Institute;
• developing a Technical Compendium (published November 2022) ( https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-technical-compendium ) which is providing robust and standardised guidance on how to restore peatland and is helping contractors to specify and plan works more efficiently.

Comprehensive and rigorous monitoring of Scotland’s water environment is already undertaken by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). This monitoring shows that 66% of Scotland’s water environment as a whole is assessed as having ‘good’ status and that 87% of Scotland’s entire water environment is assessed by SEPA as having a ‘high’ or ‘good’ classification for water quality.

In its improving urban waters routemap, Scottish Water committed to installing 1,000 new CSO monitors by the end of 2024.