Chamber and committees

I am pleased to confirm the publication today of the Scottish Government’s fourth thematic report on implementation progress following Dame Elish Angiolini’s Final Report. This not only includes a narrative, context and additional information about key recommendations but, importantly, also has a tracker showing what progress has been made.

This shows that 55 of the non-legislative recommendations are now complete leaving only 16 non-legislative recommendations still in progress and one to be kept under review.

Through their leadership and commitment, policing partners have delivered major business transformation and service redesign to improve how complaints are handled, bringing greater transparency, fairness and accessibility to systems, policies and processes.

Building on this and as announced in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will introduce a Police Complaints and Misconduct Handling Bill in this Parliamentary year to further strengthen public confidence in policing in Scotland.

I commend Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland for their dedication to this important work.

The report can be accessed here: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805252610

In August 2021, funding of £10m was made available to local authorities in relation to improving ventilation in schools, and this was claimed in full.

Additionally, in January 2022, funding of up to £4.8m was made available to local authorities. Of that funding, £3.8m was claimed.

Therefore, in total, £13.8m has been allocated to local authorities in relation to improving ventilation in schools.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12798 on 12 December. 2022. 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 .

The 15km value noted in the Strategic Transport Projects Review is representative of the average maximum range from the benchmarking study of similar cities and aligns well with the adjoining urban area of Greater Glasgow. However it is indicative, the exact extents of any Metro system will be for consideration as part of the future business case and design development work to determine.

No further flood protection schemes or engineering works have been removed from the list of the 42 formal flood protection schemes since the answer to question S6W-05146.

A benchmarking exercise was undertaken, as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review’s appraisal of Clyde Metro. That work considered UK and international cities, with a comparable population to Glasgow for both the city itself and the wider urban areas and/or metropolitan area and a comparable mix of urban public transport offerings in terms of mode, historical systems, modern systems, etc.

Applying this criteria, resulted in the identification of a list of thirteen cities across the UK and eight other European countries, comprising:

• Newcastle (UK);
• Manchester (UK)
• Copenhagen (Denmark);
• Dortmund (Germany);
• Dusseldorf (Germany);
• Rotterdam (The Netherlands);
• Bilbao (Spain);
• Lille (France),
• Gdansk (Poland);
• Nuremberg (Germany);
• Lyon (France);
• Helsinki (Finland); and
• Oslo (Norway).

The transport systems in each of the above cities was then reviewed against the following criteria; the different public transport systems on offer (e.g. commuter rail, metro, tram) and the interaction between these; the historical development of the network; socio economic factors; engineering aspects including underground running; density of stations; total length of network; and distance served by mode.

The average distance of Metro services was assessed at around 14km from a City Centre, while Tram has an average range of 9km and Commuter Rail has an average range of 40km. The 14km range is comparable to the urban area of greater Glasgow and Glasgow also had a good suburban rail network density. Therefore it was on this basis that Clyde Metro was put forward as a transport system serving up to around 15km in range from the city centre.

The Scottish Government is committed to working to deliver a just transition to climate resilience and net zero for Scotland. Scotland’s Future Fisheries Management Strategy sets out our approach to managing sea fisheries in Scotland in partnership with our stakeholders through ‘co-management’ and in a way that balances environmental, social, and economic interests to ensure the long-term sustainable management of Scotland’s fishing sector.

We recognise that planning and stakeholder engagement will be crucial to ensure that the economic and social impacts and opportunities from the transition for climate resilience and net zero are not missed and that risks associated with rapid structural change are mitigated where possible. Understanding the social and economic impacts and opportunities for marine sectors using just transition principles is at an early planning stage and will be evidence-informed and co-designed, working with those most impacted by the transition to help shape our approach.

The Scottish Government does not have specific targets or restrictions for tree planting on different classes of agricultural land.

In considering applications for tree planting on agricultural land Scottish Forestry takes into account the guidance produced by the Woodland Expansion Advisory Group.

This stated that the focus of woodland creation should not be on prime agricultural land within classes 2.1 to 3.1, where only small scale planting should be considered. The guidance states that there was more scope for planting on non-prime agricultural land within classes 3.2.4.2, but that the main focus of tree planting should be on grazing land within classes 5.1-6.3.

On 22 March 2021, the Scottish Government published a draft Independence Referendum Bill. The total costs of publication were £258.22.

Costs incurred for the Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court were published on 22 September. The information can be found here: www.gov.scot/publications/independence-referendum-supreme-court-referral-legal-costs . The information will be updated with final costs later this month.

Developing a strong supply chain for renewables is crucial to deliver on Scotland’s net zero ambitions, and to ensure Scotland’s economy and communities see the benefits of this transition.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role of SMEs in Scotland’s energy transition, and has a number of initiatives underway to support the supply chain including the Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan, published on 11 November. This sets out practical steps that will be taken to support the growth of the green heat sector – including supporting green jobs, leveraging private investment and helping businesses seize the economic opportunities offered by the transition to net zero.

An export plan which supports international ambitions of the Scottish supply chain is also being developed and will be published soon.

ScotWind promises to be transformational in delivering wider economic supply chain benefits, and developers have committed to invest an average projection of £1.4bn in Scotland per project. Onshore, the Scottish Government has awarded £9.8 million to the Energy Transition Zone, to stimulate investment from indigenous energy supply chain companies looking to deliver green energy projects, and to strengthen their capacity to take advantage of UK and international opportunities.

Our Business Energy Scotland SME Loan and Cashback scheme provides interest free loans from £1,000 up to £100,00 to Scotland based SMEs for the installation of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies.