Chamber and committees

Moray Council attended a series of A96 Corridor Review stakeholder sessions and provided feedback to the public consultation survey undertaken as part of the review during 2022. We will continue to engage with stakeholders including Moray Council as we progress the review.

The transparent, evidence-based review of the A96 corridor has included a public consultation which received an unprecedented level of engagement, with approximately 4,600 responses, generating more than 11,000 suggestions and potential opportunities for the route.

Given the sheer volume of responses received and the high level of options generated, it has rightly taken Transport Scotland more time than originally anticipated to examine and appraise all these options. However, we have now reported on the Public Consultation and the Initial Appraisal, which were published on 22 December 2022.

Transport Scotland is now pushing forward with the next phase of further detailed work to inform the remaining stages of the Review. These include a robust appraisal of the retained options alongside a Climate Compatibility Assessment, with outcomes expected to be announced in the first half of 2023 for final public consultation, before a final decision on the route can be reached.

From 16 August 2023 SEPA will become the enforcement authority for the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland and as part of this will carry out audits, inspections and enforcement activity in relation to the obligations and offences contained within the regulations. Staff have been allocated accordingly.

SEPA is not empowered to investigate and report instances of fraud, but they have a close working relationship with Police Scotland who are the competent authority for this sort of criminality.

Listed public bodies subject to climate change duties under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 are required to submit annual reports, including information on corporate carbon emissions and organisational emissions targets. The most recent analysis report was released in May 2022, based on data from reporting year 2020-21.

Emissions from heating, transport and electricity reduced by 5.8% in 2020-21 compared to the previous year, noting that at least part of this annual change will be attributable to the impact of pandemic response measures. Such emissions have decreased by 32.6% since mandatory reporting began for 2015-16.

Public bodies submitted reports for year 2021-22 in November 2022. Work to analyse these reports is underway and the annual summary analysis report is expected by the end of March 2022.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) provides funding each financial year rather than academic year for Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) on behalf of the Scottish Government. Official statistics published by SDS on 8 November 2022 report there were 12,593 MA starts up to the end of Quarter 2 2022-23 with year-end statistics expected to be published in May 2023. SDS were asked in their Letter of Guidance to deliver at least 25,000 new apprenticeship starts this financial year as part of our commitment to build back up to 30,000 starts.

The local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and they will allocate resources on the basis of local priorities. The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

In the most challenging budget settlement since devolution, we are providing over £13.2 billion in the Local Government Settlement 2023-24.

The local authority may also wish to contact the Coal Authority to establish if there is any recourse to them regarding the historical mine works.

In relation to the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme, we continue to progress the preparation stages of the scheme with a view to completing the statutory process. This includes the significant work required to prepare for publication of made Orders, including the Compulsory Purchase Order, in the coming weeks. Subject to no legal challenge being received, the Scottish Ministers will then have the relevant powers to acquire the land necessary to construct the scheme.

Delivery can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets.

As stated in my answer to S6W-13230, these calculations are based on commercially sensitive data provided in confidence to ZWS by local authorities. Therefore, we will not provide a breakdown by local authority.

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

Due to an absence of Scottish Government landholdings (i.e. presence of Scotland’s national forests and land) in East Lothian and/or Midlothian, Forestry and Land Scotland have not conducted any tree planting (either restocking or new planting) in the two local authority areas in the period of 2007 to 2022.

The Scottish Government is delivering a digital identity service which aims to improve people’s access to digital public services by providing them with a safe, secure, easy and reusable way to prove who they are or that they are eligible for a public service. We are working in partnership with Disclosure Scotland to launch a private Beta (a live trial involving the first applicants to access the service) early this year. This will include:

• The ScotAccount secure sign on which will enable users to use one account to securely log in to a variety of public services, using an email address, password, and two-factor authentication codes via text message.

• The Verify Your Identity feature, which people can use to confirm their identity to a public service, using official documents (initially a passport, UK driving licence, or UK biometric residence permit).

Following the private Beta launch, further developments planned for later this year will include adding other methods for two-factor authentication and identity verification; and work to add an attribute store, which will provide users with a choice to reuse verified personal information to apply for other services.