Chamber and committees

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of Historic Environment Scotland, including how much money has been spent by Historic Environment Scotland on the repair of Properties in Care, are best answered by Historic Environment Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on ill-health retirement of officers due to mental health reasons. Staffing issues are a matter for the Chief Constable under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government welcomes the support provided by Police Scotland to its workforce through initiatives such as the "Your Wellbeing Matters" programme which covers psychological, physical, social and financial wellbeing.

The Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board (ESSB) has met once over the past year, on 25 March 2022. As set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET), published in March 2022, the ESSB has been restructured to become the new NSET Delivery Board which was announced in May 2022: https://www.gov.scot/groups/national-strategy-for-economic-transformation-delivery- board/ .

Circularity Scotland Ltd, as Scheme Administrator, is responsible for anti-fraud arrangements for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

When DRS launches on 16 August 2023, SEPA will become the enforcement authority for DRS. As part of this, SEPA will carry out audits, inspections and enforcement activity in relation to the obligations and offences contained within the regulations.

A total of £1,892,440 in private water supply grants has been awarded by Highland Council from financial years 2007-08 to 2021-22. Yearly totals are set out in the following table. The Scottish Government does not hold information regarding the breakdown of amounts awarded to (a) homes and (b) commercial premises.

The Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) which accompanies the Revised Draft NPF4 considers the potential benefits and costs to businesses and other stakeholders of each policy. The BRIA can be accessed at https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-planning-framework-4-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment .

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable funding for regeneration activity.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and derelict land and we launched the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) in 2021 to support place based approaches to delivering regeneration and sustainable inclusive growth, as part of a ‘just transition’ to net-zero.

The VDLIP complements our existing investment in support of place based regeneration across Scotland, including the Place Based Investment Programme. We are keen for South Lanarkshire Council to work with its communities and other partners to develop suitable project proposals and apply to the VDLIP.

We are also providing support for town centre regeneration through the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP), which aims to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration and community wealth building. The PBIP includes the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund which is providing funding for The Hamilton Hub which is transforming the formerly vacant Vogue cinema in Hamilton town centre.

Additionally South Lanarkshire Council are in receipt of an allocation of the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund. This is a ring-fenced element of the local government finance settlement which is allocated to five eligible Scottish local authorities where there is the greatest amount of long-term vacant and derelict land alongside deprivation. Each eligible local authority is responsible for developing proposals based on its local regeneration priorities in the area, and they must ensure that their proposals meet the aims and objectives of the fund.

Finally we are seeking to promote the reuse of vacant and derelict land and buildings across Scotland through revised Draft National Planning Framework 4 – which was laid in Parliament on 8 November 2022 for the Parliament to consider and approve. This sets out the priority given to the reuse of brownfield land, including vacant and derelict land and buildings, and seeks to proactively enable its reuse and limit greenfield expansion.

In 2016, the then Education Secretary’s Good Governance Task Group reported back on the lessons learned at Glasgow Clyde, North Glasgow and Coatbridge Colleges. The Task Group made a series of recommendations to improve governance in Scotland’s colleges.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, work on taking forward recommendations made by the Good Governance Task Group was put on hold. The Scottish Government has restarted the work around the Task Group’s recommendations and is currently consulting on proposals to introduce trade union nominees onto College Boards. This work will sit within a wider package of transformation and change within the tertiary education and skills sector, as the Scottish Government progresses recommendations from the SFC Review of Coherence and Sustainability 2021.

The Scottish Government works with stakeholders through the Good Governance Steering Group, where work around governance reforms in the college sector is discussed; at present work to implement the recommendation of adding trade unions nominees on boards is underway, along with work to refresh the Ministerial Guidance. No decision has yet been taken on the timeframe for implementing other recommendations made by the Good Governance Task Group.

There is no application process for an area seeking recognition as a National Scenic Area (NSA).

NSAs were first designated by Scottish Ministers in 1980, the areas having been identified by the Countryside Commission for Scotland (Scotland’s Scenic Heritage, 1978). In December 2010 under the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006, NSAs were given a statutory basis. Section 50 of the act sets out the criteria for designation:

(a) whether the area is of outstanding natural beauty,

(b) the amenity of the area, including (i) whether it is of historical, cultural or environmental importance; and (ii) the nature of any buildings or other structures within it, and

(c) any flora, fauna or physiographical features of the area, whether or not to any extent the product of human intervention in the landscape.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12954 on 20 December 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx '.