Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to working with COSLA to develop solutions for secure transport - to advance our commitment to the UNCRC and the requirements within The Promise. A sub-group of the National Secure Care Group has been set up to develop solutions to these issues.

The service specification for secure transport is still in development. Multi-agency discussions are ongoing about how that will be used in local authority commissioning arrangements.

We will consider the implications of changing the legislative and regulatory framework to make it possible to bring scrutiny of secure transport arrangements within the remit of the Care Inspectorate.

The Scottish Government does not hold or collect information about the format of meetings local authorities have with people who make homeless applications.

The Digital Planning Transformation programme is a £35 million programme to transform the planning service and realise £200 million economic benefits to the sector. Work is progressing to deliver outputs from five missions as set out in the

Digital Strategy for Planning that underpins the programme.

The Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) introduced the Dog Control Notice (DCN) regime. This regime is operated by independent local authorities under the terms of the 2010 Act.

Local authorities are required to appoint at least one officer for the purposes of the 2010 Act. Local authority ‘authorised officers’ i.e. dog wardens, will be permitted to serve a written DCN on dog owners (if the owner is not yet 16 years of age, a person who has parental responsibilities would be served) who do not keep their dogs under proper control.

It is for local authorities to determine the best approach for enforcement for their areas.

Action taken by the Scottish Government to facilitate the use of the 2010 Act powers includes updated Scottish Government guidance for local authorities in relation to the exercise of their functions and the functions of authorised officers under the 2010 Act (published in 2020): https://www.gov.scot/publications/updated-guidance-control-dogs-scotland-act-2010/

The Scottish Government also led discussions between Police Scotland and local authorities to update the non-statutory Joint Protocol agreement between these enforcement agencies. The intention of the Joint Protocol is to aid local authorities and the police with the decision making process when considering how best to deal with complaints relating to irresponsible dog ownership. The updated Joint Protocol was published September 2021: https://www.safercommunitiesscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/Joint-Protocol-REVISED-10.09.2021-Control-of-Dogs-pdf.pdf

The Scottish Government has also established a national DCN database. The database went live in early February 2022. The national database brings together the DCN records of all local authorities into a centralised database accessible by all local authorities and Police Scotland. Where a person subject to a DCN moves from one local authority to another, the national database will be a valuable tool in helping to enforce that notice.

The Scottish Government has also recently funded the development and delivery of dog warden training, successfully delivered by Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland (REHIS).

The Scottish Government welcomes the report detailing offshore workers’ demands for a just energy transition, and agrees that listening to and acting on recommendations from workers is critical to ensure a Just Transition. This is why we have provided £100,000 in funding to the STUC to ensure workers’ voices are at the heart of our just transition planning. The recommendations provided within this report will be considered in full during the consultation period for the Energy Strategy Just Transition Plan and responded to in the final draft.

The following table shows the number of exemptions and voluntary return point applications, broken down by month, as of 16 March 2023.

Management Agreement Costs

Schemes for Annex 1 goose species (barnacle geese, white-fronted geese) and pink-footed geese at Strathbeg

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15692 on 20 March 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

A final response to S6W-15344 was issued by the Parliament deadline on Friday 10 March 2023.

We intend to publish a consultation on the third phase of our review of permitted development rights (PDR) in the Spring. Phase 3 will consider PDR for renewable energy equipment, which will include the proposal to remove the 50kW restriction on domestic and non-domestic solar PV sites.