Seòmar agus comataidhean

As previously confirmed in an update to the Public Audit Committee in December 2021, the final costs of the electrification of the route are £221m.

The project enabled new faster, longer, greener trains to operate on the route providing passengers at Stirling with quicker journeys and it also provided step-free access to Stirling Station Platforms 9 and 10 via an upgraded footbridge and new lift.

Works also included a programme of route clearance and major road bridge improvements, notably including reconstruction of Shore Road and Kerse Road bridges in Stirling.

In 2020 Marine Scotland introduced a new mechanism for reporting gear loss that aims to take a holistic approach, facilitating fishers being reunited with displaced gear.

A report of lost gear can be made via any of our 18 Fishery Offices. The aim of this is to help fishers arrive at an amicable outcome, but that will also ensure all necessary information is available, should Police Scotland require to be involved.

As noted in the report of the Task Force on Gear Conflict, there are no statutory requirements for gear conflict avoidance or resolution. Gear damage and vandalism is a crime and a matter for Police Scotland. It is not a fisheries offence and therefore Marine Scotland Compliance is unable to take enforcement action.

We have also introduced The Gear Marking (Scotland) Order 2020, which makes it a legal requirement for a fishing vessel to deploy buoys made for that purpose and those buoys display their name and registration number. This builds on the Best Practice Guidance for Marking Static Fishing Gear we published in August 2018. At sea, our Marine Protection vessels have been actively engaged in assuring compliance with this Order and our Inshore Protection Programme has enabled more agile and responsive monitoring in inshore waters.

In addition to this, in 2020 Marine Scotland introduced a new mechanism for reporting gear loss that aims to take a holistic approach, facilitating fishers being reunited with displaced gear. A report of lost gear can be made via any of our 18 Fishery Offices. The aim of this is to help fishers arrive at an amicable outcome, but that will also ensure all necessary information is available, should Police Scotland require to be involved.

In 2019 and 2020 the Crofting Commission recorded over 830 new entrants into crofting, with 44% of these being women, and 32% being aged 40 or under. Given the positive work being undertaken by the Commission and the Development Officers, we expect to see similar positive numbers when the Crofting Commission produces its figures for 2021-22.

The Scottish Government does not have specific data across all of its funding schemes to separate the financial support it provides to new entrant crofters from the funding support it provides to existing crofters. In round terms, however, the Scottish Government provides croft businesses with over £40m in support each year.

New entrants to crofting can access the Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme, which has a higher grant rate for those crofters under 41 years of age who have been head of the croft business for less than 5 years. New entrants can also access the Croft House Grant, Forestry Grant Scheme, Farm Advisory Service, Highlands and Islands Veterinary Services Scheme and can also access the basic Pillar 1 type payments.

The National Development Plan for Crofting, published in March 2021, forms a critical part of the support this Government will be offering to crofters and crofting communities, to ensure that crofting remains at the heart of our rural and island communities.

In 2021 the Crofting Commission expanded its Residency and Land Use team to enable it to increase its work in addressing absenteeism and bringing crofts back into productive use.

The Commission also appointed its islands-based Crofting Development Officers who will work with crofting communities and strengthen links between the Commission and the communities it serves by building constructive local relations. The new Officers will work with local assessors and liaise with landlords and townships to encourage opportunities for new entrants and active croft use.

The Scottish Government are continuing to progress our commitment to modernise the Scottish fleet by deploying appropriate and proportionate vessel tracking and monitoring systems across inshore vessels. Work is well underway with the extension of Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) systems to the scallop dredge sector. Our Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 also acknowledges the importance of making full use of technology to ensure more effective compliance and develop the evidence base to underpin future decision making. Wider extension of appropriate tracking systems across the inshore fleet is also one of the priorities under the recent Bute House Agreement.

In addition, our 2017 Inshore Fisheries Pilots initiative have worked to address some of the causative agents of gear conflict and test approaches aimed at mitigating them. Our Mull pilot for example has successfully introduced temporal and spatial separation of the creel and scallop dredge fleet, while the Outer Hebrides pilot is testing creel limitation as well as a low cost approach to monitoring fishing vessel activity.

The Scottish Government also continues to work collaboratively and closely with Police Scotland and in situations where gear conflict amounts to theft, Police Scotland should be contacted.

A person who is performing indoors does not need to wear a face covering if there is a partition between that person and other people or if there is at least one metre between that person and other people. The distance was reduced from 2 metres to 1 metre with effect from 28 January.

There is an exemption as set out in regulation 5(1)(j) of the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) 2021 which allows individuals to perform or rehearse for a performance without face coverings in situations on stage where the wearing of a face covering, one-metre distancing or partitioning would materially affect the performance.

The 1 metre distancing requirement or wearing of face covering or partition is required to ensure that choirs can return safely to singing given transmission of Covid19 in indoor spaces. The Scottish Government published a report on the impact of physical distancing in reducing the spread of the virus in June 2021. This is available at the link below:

Coronavirus (COVID-19): review of physical distancing in Scotland - June 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government will continue to review the remaining restrictions on a three weekly basis. The next review is due on 22 February.

The Report of the Task Force on Gear Conflict, while recommending Marine Scotland undertake targeted surveillance in areas where there is historically known to be gear conflict, also recognised that there are no statutory requirements for gear conflict avoidance or resolution and no easy solution to the problem. Our assets are tasked according to risks of legislative infringements and therefore there has been no specific tasking with regards to gear conflict.

However, we introduced The Gear Marking (Scotland) Order 2020, which makes it a legal requirement for a fishing vessel deploying buoys for fishing operations for those buoys display their name and registration number. This builds on the Best Practice Guidance for Marking Static Fishing Gear we published in August 2018. At sea, our Marine Protection vessels have been actively engaged in assuring compliance with this Order and our Inshore Protection Programme has enabled more agile and responsive monitoring in inshore waters.

In addition, the outcomes of our 2017 Inshore Fisheries Pilots initiative have worked to address some of the causes of gear conflict and test approaches aimed at mitigating them. Our Mull pilot for example successfully introduced temporal and spatial separation of the creel and scallop dredge fleet, while the Outer Hebrides pilot is testing creel limitation as well as a low cost approach to tracking and monitoring of fishing vessels.

We are also continuing to encourage the industry to develop voluntary codes of conduct and providing support wherever necessary. Our national network of Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups are the correct medium for such proposals to be proposed and developed.

In 2020 Marine Scotland introduced a new mechanism for reporting gear loss that aims to take a holistic approach, facilitating fishers being reunited with displaced gear. A report of lost gear can be made via any of our 18 Fishery Offices. The aim of this is to help fishers arrive at an amicable outcome, but that will also ensure all necessary information is available, should Police Scotland require to be involved.

We have not undertaken any specific work relating to the French ban introduced on New Year’s Day and its operations. However, as set out in my response to S6W-05499, we are working with the other UK administrations to introduce extended producer responsibility for packaging, which will encourage more sustainable packaging design, and are supporting industry-led efforts to reduce plastic packaging, through the UK Plastics Pact.

The Scottish Government is also keeping under review the impact of existing actions in train or planned as well as evidence from other countries. As part of our commitment on the waste route map we are working with industry, local government and environmental groups to identify further actions to accelerate progress towards waste prevention and recycling targets.

The Scottish Government agrees with the Assembly on the importance of rapidly decarbonising public sector buildings. We are committed to developing and agreeing, through consultation, a series of phased targets for the decarbonisation of public sector buildings. Targets will start in 2024, with the most difficult buildings like hospitals being decarbonised by 2038 and for all publicly owned buildings to meet net zero emission heating requirements by 2038. This is seven years earlier than the backstop of 2045 for the rest of Scotland’s building stock.

Action is being taken by the Scottish Government to support Scotland’s public sector to meet these targets:

• The Scottish Green Public Sector Estate Decarbonisation Scheme will distribute £200 million of capital funding during this parliamentary session to aid the decarbonisation of Scotland’s public sector estate.
• NHS Scotland’s £10 billion programme of investment in new hospitals and healthcare facilities is guided by a commitment that all new buildings and major refurbishments will produce net zero emissions and use renewable heat.
• The £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme, managed by the Scottish Futures Trust, aims to benefit around 50,000 pupils across Scotland by the end of the next Parliament by delivering digitally enabled, low-carbon schools and campuses.

The Scottish Government supports farmers during the ongoing UK-wide avian influenza outbreak through the provision of timely advice and guidance to poultry and other captive bird keepers on risks, legal requirements and biosecurity. This information is made available through social media, news releases and on gov.scot, as these continue to be vital tools in protecting birds.

The Scottish Government has reminded keepers that the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ), and associated robust biosecurity and housing measures, remain in place across Scotland. These measures include all bird keepers keeping their birds indoors or keeping them otherwise separate from wild birds.

The Scottish Government has also made an additional £1 million of funding available to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). This is to cover the agency’s additional expenses associated with tackling the current outbreak.

Compensation is paid for birds humanely euthanased as part of our disease response in line with valuation tables, which are updated regularly by the Animal and Plant Health Agency on behalf of the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government do not compensate for any dead or visibly ill birds, which is in line with the policy in England and Wales.

If a larger poultry or captive bird business is in a disease control zone, there may be trade issues associated with regionalisation. The Scottish Government work with the Defra Market Access and Veterinary Trade Facilitation teams, who liaise with poultry industry stakeholders and the APHA Centre for International Trade to understand and address issues and priorities for poultry exports. Defra Market Access also liaise with British Embassy colleagues globally to answers trade related queries from Central Competent Authorities, provide updates to third country trading partners and seek clarity on terms of trade where required. The Scottish Government will liaise with the National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) and the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) to support affected businesses where required.