Chamber and committees

In the last 3 years surface dressing has been used in 5 locations on the Trunk Road Network. These locations are:

• A76 Bargower (South of Kilmarnock)
• A701 Boreland (North of Dumfries)
• A75 Hetland Hall (Between Annan and Dumfries)
• A75 Kinmount (Between Annan and Dumfries)
• A75 Bladnoch (West of Newton Stewart)

Scottish Government is aware of community concerns and Scottish Forestry attended a public consultation drop in event held in Langholm on 4 th May this year, which was arranged by the land owners and their forestry agents with encouragement to do so by officials.

As a result of the drop in session, the proposal which is being developed by Gresham House Forestry on behalf of James Jones and Sons, a private sector sawmilling company, will incorporate ideas and suggestions provided by the local community. It is expected that Sitka spruce, in the final design, will amount to only 25-35% of the total area, with the rest of the tree planting being designed to incorporate other diverse conifer species, native broadleaves and open unplanted ground. In addition, more than 40 % of the area will be retained for agricultural purposes, with the protection and incorporation of existing and new footpaths and public access routes.

The Scottish Government has not conducted an assessment regarding discharge levels from Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS) in Scottish ports. Whilst statutory port authorities have individual powers to regulate vessel activities within their harbour limits, the responsibility for shipping emission regulations is reserved to the UK Government. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is responsible for enforcing all shipping regulations in UK waters, to ensure vessels are meeting UK and international safety and environmental regulations.

Teachers attain Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) status on completion of their teaching qualification.

Information on the number of UK domiciled students qualifying from Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes at Scottish Higher Education Institutions is published in the “Diversity Teaching Profession Annual Data Report”. The latest information, covering 2021-22 academic year, can be found here:

Diversity in the teaching profession: annual data report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Since 2019-20, local authorities have been allocated an annual share of £8 million from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget to support the implementation of their rapid rehousing transition plans. The additional £2 million in 2023-24 for rapid rehousing transition plans has also been allocated from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget.

The Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform is exploring proposals for meaningful changes to be introduced to Council Tax, this includes the consideration of approaches to longer term reform of the Council Tax system.

The Scottish Government have provided local authorities with nearly £13.5 billion of funding in 2023-24, a cash increase in local government day to day spending of over £793 million which represents a real terms increase of £376 million or 3 per cent.

As set out in the Bute House Agreement, and our response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group report, we are committed to improving the regulatory framework which applies to fish farm containment and escapes. We note calls in the Salmon Interactions Working Group report for escapes to be regulated by licence. We will consider this in forming our policy options, including how the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture would fit within or alongside any enforcement regime. The publication and introduction of a new technical standard is our immediate priority.

The aim of the Green Growth Accelerator model is to unlock investment over the medium term in low carbon infrastructure. This unlocking would be supported by payments from the Scottish Government to the local authority which are tied to delivery of a set of pre-defined and agreed outcomes.

It takes time to develop infrastructure projects, so to support the initial pilot phase the Scottish Government has provided £720k in resource funding from the 2021-22 budget for six pathfinder projects (£120k per project) to develop business cases to pilot the GGA model across a range of geographical areas and project types. The six pathfinder pilots were selected following an open call for proposals from local authorities.

The Scottish Government provided a further £832k in resource funding through the GGA in 2022-23 to support local authorities with developing their pipeline of low carbon infrastructure projects.

In October 2021 we published our response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group (SIWG) report, and we are continuing to progress delivery of those commitments, which include action to minimise the escape of farmed fish to help protect Scotland’s wild salmonid populations.

Alongside our response to the report of the SIWG, the Marine Directorate published its first assessment of genetic introgression in wild salmon in 2021: A national assessment of the influence of farmed salmon escapes on the genetic integrity of wild Scottish Atlantic salmon populations | Marine Scotland Data Publications.

This was the first report as part of the National Introgression Programme for Scotland (NIPS) and based on sampling undertaken in 2018/2019. NIPS is an ongoing nationwide project that is researching the link between fish farm escapes and introgression in wild salmon populations.

In 2021 a second NIPS survey was conducted across the country with samples and data from this is currently being analysed. A further NIPS survey was also initiated in 2023 and sample collection is now underway. Analysis of the NIPS surveys from multiple sampling years will provide a picture of temporal changes in levels of introgression.

We remain committed to working with the sector to reduce the risk of escapes from fish farms, including through the revision and publication of the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture, and the introduction of penalties where escapes occur with the ultimate aim of redistributing this money to support wild salmonid conservation and research.