Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16521 on 27 April 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

Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan (NWSP) published in 2014, and updated in 2020, sets out how water resources will be managed prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), is monitoring current water levels carefully across Scotland, collating information on the abstractions, and recording feedback on the impact of likely suspensions on business.

In June 2023, SEPA published guidance which clarifies how suspensions will be implemented. If the dry weather continues it may be necessary to reduce or suspend abstractions licences to protect the environment.

Public Water Supplies are largely operating normally and there is no immediate need for water restrictions. Investment in resilience measures over many years means that Scottish Water is able to maintain supplies during prolonged dry periods to all parts of Scotland. There have been challenges in smaller supplies particularly in rural areas and the Scottish Government and Scottish Water are monitoring the situation very carefully.

The Minister does not sit on the stakeholder groups however the Minister does receive updates from the groups.

The Minister chairs the Ministerial Strategy Assurance Group, referred to in answers to questions S6W-18537, S6W-18540 and S6W-18541 on 15 June 2023. The Ministerial Strategic Assurance Group’s purpose is to discuss issues which may need escalated following discussions at the stakeholder groups. The Ministerial Strategic Assurance Groups includes representatives who sit on the individual stakeholder groups to ensure these discussions are joined up.

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

As committed to in the Policy Prospectus ‘Equality, opportunity, community: New Leadership - A Fresh Start’, the Scottish Government will publish the Rural Delivery Plan within the lifetime of this parliament. It will set out how all parts of the Scottish Government are delivering for Scotland’s rural, island and remote coastal communities.

The Scottish Government offers a range of grants for the installation of electric vehicle charge points at properties, including flatted dwellings where there is access to shared off-street parking. The residential grants are delivered by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) on behalf of Scottish Ministers and are designed to ensure that a lack of traditional off-street parking is not a barrier to EV adoption. More information can be found on the EST website.

Being unable to charge at home using a private charger should not be a deterrent to making the transition to EV. The Scottish Government has invested over £65m to develop the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) public electric vehicle charging network. CPS now has a network of over 2,500 publicly available charge points spread across Scotland, making it the 4th largest network in the UK and the most comprehensive per head of population outside London.

As part of the comprehensive approach being taken by the Scottish Government, new legislation has also been introduced to ensure new buildings in Scotland are equipped with charge points – for flats with designated parking, one socket for per flat should be provided. Steps have also been taken to amend existing Permitted Development Rights legislation to make it even simpler and quicker to install charging infrastructure, including in residential areas containing all dwelling types.

The National Statistics publication Provisional Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics: 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) provides information on the number of fishers on Scottish registered vessels. On 31 December 2022, there were 4,117 fishers employed on Scottish registered fishing vessels.

We do not routinely collect information on the nationality or migrant status of fishers. We last collected information on the nationality of fishers in 2015 from around 15% of the Scottish fishing fleet. This is published in Scottish Sea Fisheries Employment 2015 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and showed that 28% of the crew surveyed were from outside the UK.

Some more recent information on the nationality of fishers was collected from a sample of vessels by Seafish in 2021. This is published in 2021 Employment in the UK Fishing Fleet — Seafish. This publication shows that, based on the sample of Scottish vessels surveyed, 31% of the workers were from outside the UK. If a similar proportion of non-UK workers were employed on Scottish fishing vessels in 2022, then approximately 1,300 fishers were from outside the UK.

Police Scotland provided an update on the National Dashcam Safety Portal (NDSP) to officials at the Strategic Partnership Board meeting on 5 June, the highest tier to the Road Safety Framework to 2030 governance structure.

Prior to this, officials received a scoping paper from Police Scotland that outlines what will be required in order to initiate a business case that considers the development and anticipated demand of the pilot project before full national capability can be implemented.

Officials will meet with Police Scotland on 20 July to discuss the next steps.

Our Agencies, on behalf of Scottish Government, commissioned a series of reports into the economic opportunities around battery use and the circular economy, including Scotland as a potential location for future gigafactory opportunities. Our Enterprise Agencies in partnership with Department of Business and Trade and others will continue to respond positively to any business considering gigafactory scale manufacturing in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the harm and distress this activity causes to those targeted. I would urge anyone impacted to report it to Police Scotland for investigation. Police Scotland have been clear that all reports will be taken seriously, dealt with in confidence and without judgement.

The Scottish Government works closely with national and UK partners including Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland to tackle cyber-crime, including sextortion scams. There is a range of advice to help people improve their online safety, found on CyberScotland.com, as well from the National Cyber Security Centre, Cyber Aware, Take Five and Get Safe Online. Further, Police Scotland have information for victims and links to support services on their web site - Sextortion - Police Scotland . Also, the National Cyber Security Centre have specific guidance on sextortion scams that advises on practical steps for victims to take which is available at https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/sextortion-scams-how-to-protect-yourself .

Via the Scottish Government “Our Delivering Equally Safe Funding” £110,822 has been provided to the South West Grid for Learning Trust Ltd to deliver helpline advice to those who have experienced intimate image abuse and improve awareness and understanding throughout Scotland – available here: Revenge Porn Helpline - 0345 6000 459 | Revenge Porn Helpline . Further, we recently refreshed our Safer.scot webpages, which include a section on intimate image abuse: Striving for a safer Scotland - Safer.scot .

ScotRail advised that between 6 January 2019 [the start of 2018-19: reporting period 11] and 27 May 2023 [the end of 2023-24: reporting period 2], there were 444 full cancellations and 122 part-cancellations on the North Berwick line as a result of infrastructure issues. This is out of 68,274 trains planned for that route during this time (0.82 percent).

While full- or part-cancellations as a result of track congestion are not reported separately, ScotRail also advise that there were a further 46 full cancellations and 39 part-cancellations to ScotRail services as a result of the actions of other train operating companies. This is out of 68,274 trains planned for that route during this time (0.12 percent).