Seòmar agus comataidhean

The total budget for the Take Hold marketing campaign is £200,000.

The Take Hold marketing campaign runs in paid-for-media from the 22 November 2023 until 7 January 2024.

Scotland’s water environment is one of our most important national assets. The Scottish Government sets out it’s objectives and action programmes for protecting and improving Scotland's water environment in the River Basin Management Plan (RBMP), which the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) produces on our behalf every six years (currently covering 2021-2027). Each year the Scottish Government provides SEPA with a grant from the Water Environment Fund (WEF) to support their work to deliver the RBMP. WEF is targeted on projects which will derive the greatest benefit to Scotland’s rivers and neighbouring communities and is currently focussed on projects which restore rivers and improve fish migration.

Some projects to remove Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) were previously funded under WEF. However, in recent years funding for INNS projects has been provided through other funding streams such as The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative (SISI) (total £3.24 million); The Tweed Invasives Project (£100,000); NatureScot’s Biodiversity Challenge Fund; The Scottish Rural Development Programme’s (SRDP) Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) (2020-2022 £20,392) and the Forestry Grant Scheme (£730,000 to date). Prioritising funding in this way enables more effective use of resources and greater benefits for biodiversity.

The Scottish Government has regular discussions on matters relating to its response to climate change, and has no plans to set per capita carbon budgets. In line with international reporting practice and independent advice from the UK Climate Change Committee, Scotland’s statutory climate change targets are set on the basis of long-term reductions in total net territorial emissions, and also include a share of emissions from international aviation and shipping.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), published and adopted on 13 February 2023, places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and already gives strong support for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies, including electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure.

Electricity networks are central to the delivery of the ambitions set out in our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. The Scottish Government’s response to the Electricity Networks Commissioner’s recommendations makes clear our commitment to delivering a just transition to net zero emissions by 2045. The UK Government must implement the recommendations swiftly, to ensure the grid is not a barrier to net zero. It is vital that the UK Government builds a high standard of co-design and collaboration with devolved governments to ensure that the recommendations are fit for purpose. It is also important that the Scottish Government is integral to the overall governance structures set up to oversee implementation and ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

As set out in the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, we see a vital role for energy storage and flexibility to support efficient matching of energy supply and demand for power from heat, transport and industry.

We recognise that the recommendations in the Nick Winser Report represent a step-change in policy relating to electricity networks and, if implemented effectively, could be transformational for our energy system.

It will be critical that Scotland’s ambitions and devolved responsibilities are recognised as the recommendations are implemented.

We are reviewing available evidence to inform our position relating to electricity storage and flexibility as part of the publication of the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan by Summer 2024.

Scottish Government fund peatland restoration via the Peatland Action partnership. The individual delivery partners that make up this partnership apply their own grant offer terms and conditions regarding protections and restrictions on the land that receives money from them for undertaking peatland restoration. I would refer the MSP to those organisations for further information.

At a programme level, the Peatland ACTION Monitoring Strategy ( https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-monitoring-strategy ) is putting in place a structured approach to monitoring sites that have had their peatland restored to evidence whether we are delivering effective restoration.

In its November 2023 independent assessment of progress on climate adaptation, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommended that the Scottish Government “should set specific and quantified targets for levels of resilience across Scottish society under each outcome” of the next Scottish National Adaptation Plan.

The Scottish Government is considering all recommendations from the CCC on the structure of the next adaptation plan. Public consultation on a draft of the next adaptation plan is anticipated in early-2024 and we have asked the CCC to provide further views at this stage.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23310 on 11 December 2023. All answers to 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 Prison Population Statistics 2022-23 were published on 5 December 2023 at 9.30am.