Chamber and committees

The regulatory regimes for offshore oil and gas licensing and consenting are matters reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has noted the recent publication of the UK Government’s North Sea Future Plan, including its approach to future offshore oil and gas licensing. We are now taking the appropriate time to carefully consider the detail within the UK Government’s plan and its implications for Scotland.

All public bodies have an obligation to consider the conservation objectives of Marine Protected Areas within their decision making and ensure these are furthered.

There has been no communication between Scottish Ministers and Crown Estate Scotland regarding the provision of financial support for the Offshore Solutions Group (OSG) in relation to OSG's development of a proposal for a floating offshore wind (FLOW) park in the Moray Firth.

Crown Estate Scotland’s delegated authority for financial and other operational matters are set out in its Framework Document, agreed with the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is following a 4-step process to select statutory nature restoration targets. Target selection is based on the best scientific advice available, through recommendations provided by the Biodiversity Programme Advisory Group (PAG), which is made up of independent external experts.

This robust scientific advice has taken into account the role of natural processes in achieving biodiversity regeneration by 2045 and will be reflected in the indicators set against the target topics.

The Scottish Government does not use the term rewilding, which encompasses a wide range of activities and can be interpreted in different ways.

The Scottish Government commissioned research by the James Hutton Institute in 2023 which considered the definition of ‘rewilding’ for public bodies in Scotland. Ministers accepted and published the report in 2023 but concluded that the term ‘rewilding’ remains contested and does not, therefore, provide useful clarity for policy purposes.

The Scottish Government provides national oversight to ensure adoption from fostering is coordinated effectively across local authorities. Guidance on the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, The Adoption Agencies (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and The Looked-After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 recommends permanence planning to begin promptly when a child becomes looked after to support timely and stable permanence arrangements.

Scotland’s Adoption Register also facilitates matching across local authorities by providing a national system to link approved adopters with children from any local authority in Scotland.

To promote consistent and effective practice in permanence, the Scottish Government has commissioned the Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption Scotland to develop three national good practice guides on permanence in kinship care, foster care and adoption, which will be available in early 2026.

Together, these measures provide a national framework intended to promote consistency and improve coordination for children moving from foster care to adoption.

Permanence Orders with authority to adopt are governed by the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 and The Adoption Agencies (Scotland) Regulations 2009. The Act makes the child’s welfare paramount and requires decision-makers to consider any risk of prejudice caused by delay, but it does not set statutory time limits.

The 2011 Scottish Government Guidance on the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 emphasises that decisions should be made within timescales appropriate to the child’s developmental needs and that avoiding delay is essential, as prolonged uncertainty can harm a child’s welfare and stability.

The duration of the process varies according to the child’s circumstances, the complexity of the case, and the time taken to complete necessary legal and administrative procedures.

Scottish Government’s work on the Ecosystem Restoration Code (ERC) includes consideration of ecosystem metrics that:

• Measure change in ecosystem condition and biodiversity;
• Align with the metrics used for environmental policy frameworks, targets and public funding mechanisms;
• Enable the issuance of ERC credits that meet the requirements of high-integrity buyers and investors.

The development of an ERC is building on the discovery and stakeholder engagement phases undertaken earlier this year, which covered policy alignment and measurement related aspects. Details of those phases can be found at the weblinks below:

Discovery – https://www.gov.scot/publications/ecosystem-restoration-code-engagement-paper/

Engagement – https://www.gov.scot/publications/ecosystem-restoration-code-erc-engagement-phase-results-analysis-paper/

Scottish Government provides a wide range of support for landowners of fewer than 200 hectares, including community groups and private individuals, who wish to manage land for nature restoration purposes. This includes advisory support from Government and public bodies and also financial support from schemes such as:

• Agricultural support;
• the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS);
• Peatland ACTION;
• the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF).

We also support the Woodland Carbon and Peatland Codes (WCC and PC) which are high-integrity market mechanisms for private investment in woodland creation and peatland restoration respectively. Further actions to increase the private investment opportunities for nature restoration are outlined in our Natural Capital Market Framework.

The Scottish Government strongly welcomes the British Ecological Society’s report and its emphasis on an ecosystems approach. This aligns with the focus in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and draft Environment Strategy on ecosystem health and integrity, in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework.

In developing statutory nature restoration targets, we are also working to develop a target focused on Ecosystem Health and Integrity, using the Red List of Ecosystems indicator framework.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42271 on 16 December 2025. 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