Seòmar agus comataidhean

As previously stated in the answer to S6W-41852, the processing of a representation requires multiple members of staff of the Energy Consents Unit to undertake a combination of detailed administrative tasks. The time and cost taken to process representations vary depending on the nature, size and complexity of each submission, as well as the total number of representations received for an application.

It is therefore not possible to provide average processing timescales and costs that would accurately portray the work undertaken by Scottish Government officials to administer representations submitted by the public.

As previously stated in the answers to S6W-41171 and S6W-41175 on 27 October 2025, all submissions received by the ECU are treated in the same manner, irrespective of the application or the sender of the representation. All material considerations raised in representations are carefully considered before reaching a decision on the relevant application.

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 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.

Discussions around summer 2026 ferry services for Campbeltown are ongoing. I met with the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, Constituency MSP Jenny Minto and Transport Scotland Officials on 9 December to consider the latest information available on the matter. CalMac have rightly not consulted on timetables for this route due to the limitations and impacts resulting from wider fleet issues and uncertainties across 2026 as new vessels are delivered and deployed.

Potential options remain under consideration but are dependent on new vessel delivery, deployment and cascade plans. Deploying the MV Isle of Arran to provide resilience across the network is likely to be vital as part of these plans. The Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity is due to meet with the local stakeholders on 14 January when we hope to have further information from Transport Scotland.

The Planning and Environmental Appeals Division considers public concerns about fire risk, if raised, when determining appeals for battery energy storage proposals, but only insofar as these concerns raise relevant planning issues.

Fire safety itself is regulated by other statutory regimes, such as building standards and fire safety legislation, and is not a matter for the planning system to control directly. However, where concerns relate to the suitability of a site or its layout, for example access for emergency services, provision of water supply etc, these would be valid considerations. In some cases, these matters may be capable of being addressed through planning conditions.

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 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.

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/

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

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.

Sections 9-11 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007(The Act), require local authorities to assess a person’s needs for adoption support services and then provide that support if it is deemed necessary. This applies to children, young people, adoptive and birth families and adult adoptees.

Adoption support services are defined in section 1 of The Act as the provision of counselling, guidance and any other assistance that the local authority considers appropriate in the circumstances of that case. The accompanying Guidance on the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 explains that support services provided by local authorities can include:

• support to groups of adopted children, adopters and birth children
• assistance, including mediation, in arrangements for contact between adopted children and their birth parents, siblings and other relatives
• services to meet the therapeutic needs of adopted children
• assistance to adopters such as training to meet special needs and respite care
• mediation and other services if there is a disruption in an adoption placement, or risk of one.

Local Authority adoption services, including the post adoption support they provide, are monitored through inspections by the Care Inspectorate, which has the role of looking at the quality of care in Scotland to ensure it meets high standards, and supporting services to make positive changes where improvement is needed.