Chamber and committees

Scottish Forestry issued new guidance Cultivation for Upland Productive Woodland Creation Sites – an Applicant’s Guide on 27 th July. This guidance ensures that forestry practice is based on the latest research evidence from Forest Research on the impact of forestry ground preparation on soils. The research on which it is based is appended to the guidance.

The Scottish Government’s Forestry Grant Scheme supports the planting of all types of trees to create new woodlands. Over the last 3 years it has supported the planting of over 12,000 hectares of native trees, including within commercial forestry schemes. This has more than met the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy target of between 3,000 and 5,000 hectares of new native woodland per year.

From the moment it was announced that COP26 would be coming to Glasgow, the Scottish Government have been fully committed to playing our role in ensuring a safe and secure event. The Government of the United Kingdom hold the presidency of COP26 and are therefore responsible for working alongside the United Nations to organise the main summit and its attached "Green Zone". A joint COP26 delivery framework has been agreed between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Scottish Government, which includes Glasgow City Council and Scottish Agencies. This outlines the plans, organisation, structure, systems and methodology that will be used to manage delivery of COP26 including appropriate mitigation of impact on business as usual. As the Scottish Government have devolved powers around Safety and Resilience, our colleagues and organisations such Police Scotland, and Transport Scotland, who are responsible for the COP26 transport plan, have been engaged through the COP26 planning process. With a separate Legal landscape in Scotland, we are responsible for ensuring the correct legislative mechanisms are put in place that will allow the event to happen.

The Scottish Government is proactively leading a Scottish response to COP26, ensuring that our communities, businesses and organisations have the opportunities to engage and benefit from COP26 coming to Glasgow. Part of our offering will be to host a Scotland Zone, showcasing the talents, skills and innovative approach that Scotland is taking to addressing the climate emergency.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulator has approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to be given in Scotland, and across the UK. This vaccine also complies with European Medicines Agency requirements and is shown on the record of vaccination as Vaxzevria - EU/1/21/1529.

Individuals travelling abroad will still need to meet the requirements for their destination country when travelling. For example, a negative pre-departure test etc. if stipulated by the respective country.

Emissions from casking, distillation, fermentation, other maturation and spent grain drying are not disaggregated by spirit type, due to the very low levels involved. Collectively for all spirit manufacture in Scotland, these processes contributed approximately 3% of NMVOC emissions in 2018, the most recent year for which figures are available.

Overall NMVOC emissions in Scotland have declined by approximately 65% since 1990.

Approximately 45% of NMVOC emissions in Scotland were due to emissions from Scotch whisky maturation in 2018.

This information is also publicly available in the report 'Air Quality Pollutant Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2018' and the associated tables, which can be found at: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat09/2010220959_DA_Air_Pollutant_Inventories_1990-2018_v1.2.pdf .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-00019 on 26 May 2021. The answer is available on the Parliament's website at: Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament

The next meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands is scheduled to take place on Monday 25 October 2021.

The OECD did not take formal written submissions for their independent Review of Curriculum for Excellence. This was the OECD’s position from the outset of the review and conforms with their ‘Implementing Policies: Supporting Change in Education Framework’. This was outlined in the Scottish Government’s answers to S5W-35079 on 18 February 2021 and S5W-35292 on 25 February 2021 and made clear in the remit for the OECD’s review which was published on 26 February 2020.

The OECD uses this framework to provide tailored support to individual countries and education systems to analyse and support the development and implementation of education policies. This methodology has been used by the OECD in previous reviews, and set a very clear framework for their work in Scotland.

The OECD were clear that it was not feasible for them to consider more information than they specifically requested, nor was the purpose of the Review to generate new written submissions or replace what would otherwise be a national consultation. They advised that should any additional information be required at a later date, they would request this.

In terms of the OECD’s approach to evidence gathering on this Review, the OECD established a team of core OECD staff and international experts with experience in curriculum and assessment implementation. The process included:

• A comprehensive desk-based analysis of policy documents, evidence and research on CfE implementation, which included, amongst other documents, the initial evidence base provided by the Scottish Government in July 2020, papers published as part of the Education & Skills Committee’s Inquiry on Subject Choice and published academic articles and research.
• Compilation of information from key stakeholders’ websites and think tank publications.
• A series of interviews and virtual school visits plus focus groups to gather primary data. These included discussions with the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee, Scottish Government officials, national agencies, local government representatives, college and university bodies, employer groups, academics, teachers and head teachers, parents, young people, Gaelic and subject specific interest groups, and members of Scotland’s education governance groups.

This represented a significant and comprehensive amount of documentation, with many different perspectives informing the review.

Recorded Police Warnings are an alternative disposal option that are available to police officers that allow them to deal more quickly and efficiently with a range of offences which already commonly result in non-court disposals, including for small quantities of specified controlled drugs. The types of crime covered by the Recorded Police Warning scheme are a matter for the Lord Advocate as part of her independent role as head of the system of prosecution therefore it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on this.

The Scottish Government, through its agency Scottish Forestry, issued new cultivation guidance on 27 July based on research evidence regarding carbon released as a result of different cultivation techniques.

The guidance can found at: https://forestry.gov.scot/publications/1032-cultivation-for-upland-productive-woodland-creation-sites-applicant-s-guidance/viewdocument/1032 .