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The audit of the Annual Accounts of a local authority provides essential external scrutiny and assurance that a local authority is managing its finances appropriately. Best Value audits provide further scrutiny of the effectiveness of a local authority’s use of public funds to deliver public services and are essential in order to provide public assurance that a local authority is delivering value for money for council tax payers.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission to secure the audit of all accounts of local authorities and associated bodies (including health and social care integration boards and other joint boards) by appointing either Audit Scotland or firms of accountants as the auditors.

Local Authorities are required to make their audited annual accounts available for public inspection and publish them on their website. Audit Scotland publish all audit reports of local authority annual accounts.

For the current academic year 2023-2024, there has been no Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) spend to date. We hope to confirm the final decision on delivery soon.

Academic year 2022-2023 is still in delivery with any contractually agreed training due to be completed by the end of December 2023. Based on the latest data provided by the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland, the total spend so far is £11.55 million. Spend figures for 2022-23 will be finalised when delivery is complete.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22410 on‎ 7 November 2023. 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 Scottish Government have held no discussions with Stagecoach regarding reports of bus fires.

Vehicle safety is a reserved matter that is dealt with by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). Road safety remains an absolute priority for this government, and that includes the safety of those using buses.

Yes.

The area of High Conservation Value Woodland (HCVW) on Scotland’s national forests and land has not decreased in real terms. The method used to calculate HCVW area has been refined to more accurately reflect where native trees would naturally occur.

Plans are in place for Forestry and Land Scotland to increase the amount of HCVW they manage through (a) greater rates of restoration of Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites from funding awarded by SG totalling £2.8M between FY 2022-23 & FY 2023-24. This will be used to commence a programme of rainforest restoration works, as part of the Programme for Government commitment to support the restoration and expansion of Scotland’s rainforests, and establish a National Register of Ancient Woodlands. This funding has enabled FLS to underpin the restoration of 658 hectares of priority rainforest area in Cowal, Argyll (Kintyre & West Loch Awe), Loch Lomond Basin, Wester Ross and the Isle of Arran (North Sannox). Activity includes INNS control, clearing non-native tree regeneration and deer management.

And (b) improvements to the condition of ancient semi-natural woodlands. This will be achieved on 4,663 ha of Ancient Semi-natural woodland areas on Scotland's national forests and land within the Rainforest Zone. Work is underway to remove non-native tree regeneration and invasive non-native species from prioritised areas.

Deer management will continue to increase, with positive benefits for PAWS restoration and ASNW condition already being observed. It is anticipated natural tree regeneration will occur within PAWS under restoration and colonisation more generally throughout rainforest habitat following a reduction in deer densities, buffering zones for natural colonisation are being planned within Land Management Plans .

Additionally improvements to the condition of ancient semi-natural woodlands areas in upper Spey-side are being achieved through participation with the Cairngorms connect project.

Out with the Rainforest Zone, alternative funding streams are being explored to support the continued restoration of iconic landscapes such as Glen Affric and the Black Wood of Rannoch.

All £15.5 million plus an additional £4.5 million was spent by Forest Enterprise Scotland (the predecessor to Forestry and Land Scotland) on rhododendron control between 2010 and 2020.

The area treated was in the region of 16,000 hectares. Complete eradication of this highly invasive plant is not realistic due in part to the continued reinvasion of seedlings from adjacent uncontrolled sites. FLS considers successfully controlled sites as those in the ‘maintenance phase’ where rhododendron no longer threatens the conservation interest on a site and recolonisation will be slow.

FLS continue to control rhododendron in priority sites on Scotland’s national forests and land, and where possible in collaboration with other land managers at the landscape scale.

Forestry and Land Scotland accounting systems do not differentiate rhododendron control from other environmental expenditure such as Invasive Non-Native Species control. Therefore, figures of expenditure on a) new rhododendron and b) ongoing treatment cannot be provided.

It is not possible to say how many hectares of land managed by Forestry and Land Scotland rhododendron has been eradicated in each year since 2020.

For FY 2023-24, £1.0 million has been budgeted for INNS and rhododendron follow-up control over a minimum of 440 hectares.

Most of this expenditure will be targeted at ongoing treatment of existing areas of rhododendron.

The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (“ACCC”) has previously welcomed significant progress made by Scotland in addressing the concerns identified by the ACCC. Officials worked with Defra to submit an action plan to the ACCC on behalf of the UK in July 2022, in response to the ACCC’s decision VII/8s issued in October 2021. Work is ongoing in order to strengthen Scotland’s compliance and address the areas of concern raised by the ACCC. A progress report was submitted to the ACCC in October 2023, again following liaison with the UK Government and in particular Defra.

In July 2022 the Scottish Government introduced an exemption from court fees for Aarhus Convention cases in the Court of Session. The Scottish Civil Justice Council (“SCJC”) is undertaking a review of court rules relating to Protective Expenses Orders. As the SCJC is an independent body, the Scottish Government cannot commit to a timeframe for completion of the rule review. The SCJC have however noted it in their annual report and work programme as a priority for completion in 2023/24. Policy development is ongoing in relation to a new Human Rights Bill for Scotland, which is to include a right to a healthy environment.

The deadline for addressing areas of concern and submitting a report to the ACCC is October 2024.

In June this year, a delivery action plan was announced aimed at ramping up tree planting levels. This included a £1 million investment by Scottish Forestry to provide comprehensive training for its staff to speed up the woodland creation application process.

Other measures announced include increasing the level of support for smaller scale woodland projects, providing more advice and support for farmers, refreshed community engagement guidance and more support for riparian planting.

I will chair a Woodland Creation Summit on 12 December, with industry leaders and stakeholders directly involved in woodland creation, which will look at the opportunities for growing more trees and also look at overcoming any associated barriers in meeting the woodland creation targets.

To date this year, Scottish Forestry has provided regulatory approval for over 11,200 hectares worth of new woodland applications, which already exceeds last year’s total, with more approvals expected.