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There are no plans to combine these systems which operate under distinct legislative requirements.

Both systems, however, seek to achieve shared strategic objectives, including achieving net zero emissions. Our work on planning reform is ongoing, including taking forward the provisions of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 through policy, regulations and guidance. Building regulations address a wide range of building functions or performance standards, and complement broader provisions of the planning system. Improved energy standards will apply from December this year and changes will be made in 2023 to introduce provision for electric charge points in new developments.

Work is also ongoing to improve the consistency, transparency and accessibility of information in both the planning and building standards systems as part of our five year digital planning transformation programme.

Responsibility for invasive non-native plants rests with landowners and occupiers. Under common law, there is an expectation that land owners should take reasonable steps to prevent invasive non-native plants growing on their land from causing a nuisance or injury to others. However, it is not a criminal offence for an owner or occupier to have invasive non-native plants growing on their land.

NatureScot can make species control agreements and orders to require control of invasive non-native species. This discretionary power is aimed primarily at preventing high impact invasive non-native species becoming established in and spreading within Scotland. For species that are already widespread, such as giant hogweed, NatureScot can offer species control agreements to support coordinated control programmes, where inaction on a particular land holding is jeopardising the success of the programme.

In the last ten years NatureScot has written to twenty-two land owners asking them to control giant hogweed, and to date there have not been any cases where a landowner has ignored such a letter or refused to cooperate with a coordinated control programme. In the majority of cases the landowner has allowed access for a third party to control giant hogweed on their land, or has carried out the control work themselves. In some cases NatureScot has allowed landowners more time to secure funds to control extensive areas of giant hogweed.

For example, NatureScot has entered into one species control agreement to control giant hogweed along the railway line north of Dunblane to prevent the plants from seeding onto the banks of the River Allan. This enabled Network Rail to prioritise plant control along this section of line within its annual maintenance programme. Network Rail’s control programme has been successful in reducing the extent of giant hogweed on the site but a small number of plants remained in 2021. The agreement comes to an end in 2022 and NatureScot will consider whether to extend the agreement or make a species control order.

Large-scale control across river catchments is an effective way to reduce the biodiversity impacts of invasive plants like giant hogweed. However, it is challenging to eradicate completely and control must be maintained for many years to prevent reinvasion of the catchment.

Eleven of the thirteen Fisheries Trust areas where giant hogweed is widespread have initiated coordinated control programmes. In some areas, such as the River Tweed, invasive plant populations have already been reduced to very low levels. In others, control is at an early stage and concentrated on the upper parts of the catchment.

In 2017, the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS), carried out an evaluation of effectiveness and lessons learnt from giant hogweed control programmes within seven Trust areas (Horril et al, 2019). All of the projects reported decreases of between 53% and 75% in the area covered by giant hogweed, while the plant was completely cleared from 16% of the infested sites within four years.

The paper highlights that the main barrier to successful control of invasive plants has been the short-term nature of project funding (1-4 years duration). To address this, the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative aims to quantify the level of support and coordination necessary to maintain invasive plant control programmes in the longer term.

The following table provides a summary of Scottish Government funding for Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) control on riverbanks in each of the last 15 years. Invasive species control projects based on river catchments control a number of species including American mink, Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed, Himalayan balsam and American skunk cabbage. It is not possible to disaggregate funding for giant hogweed control alone.

At a national level, there are two methods for monitoring of flowering plants: changes in plant distribution and changes in plant abundance.

In relation to the first method, the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) periodically publishes a complete Atlas of plant distributions, based on 10km square records gathered by volunteers.

Giant hogweed increased its distribution significantly in Scotland between 1930–69 and 1987–99. The increase was greatest in the eastern arable area and less pronounced in the Highlands and south Scotland. BSBI is due to publish its next Atlas in 2023. This will include changes in the distribution of plants between 1987-99 and 2000–2019.

Between 2010 and 2020, giant hogweed was recorded in thirty 10km squares where it had not been previously recorded. Giant hogweed is being controlled in more than half of these locations; the remainder are in locations where there is currently no coordinated control programme in place, and there is already giant hogweed nearby.

In relation to the second method, giant hogweed is not sufficiently abundant in the countryside to be detected by the National Plant Monitoring Scheme. Information on abundance of invasive plants is collected as part of individual control projects and is not collated centrally.

In 2017, ten Fisheries Trusts supplied information to the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS) for an evaluation of effectiveness and lessons learned from catchment-scale invasive plant projects. Giant hogweed was the least prevalent and abundant of the invasive plants surveyed. Three Trusts reported it absent and a fourth discovered only one small instance of the plant. In all the other areas infestations averaged greater than 4,000 square metres. In Ayrshire giant hogweed had invaded 188,000 square metres. Giant hogweed is being controlled in all of these river catchments.

The local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and they will allocate resources on the basis of local priorities. The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The overall funding package for local authorities of almost £12.7bn this year represents a rise of £1.06bn or 9.2% in cash terms, or 6.3% in real terms compared with 2021-22.

Falkirk Council are leading the delivery of the A801 Avon Gorge scheme, which will replace the Torphichen Bridge and are responsible, along with West Lothian Council, for ensuring that the business case remains robust and for setting the final timetable for delivery. The Scottish Government remains committed to funding its proposed 50% contribution towards the construction of the upgrade.

As the Census Coverage Survey (CCS) is ongoing, the predicted costs are based on the budget assigned to the CCS. Across the lifecycle of the Census Programme it was estimated that a budget of £3.1m would be required to deliver the CCS.

The CCS, alongside high quality administrative data and innovative statistical methods, will build on the census returns to deliver high quality Census Outputs. National Records of Scotland is continuing to take the action necessary to deliver the CCS phase of Scotland's Census Programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09318 on 22 July 2022. 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 .

Independent licensing (i.e. local) authorities already have powers under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 to operate a variety of licensing schemes, including for example a late hours catering licence regime, if they so choose.

Draft National Planning Framework 4 (2021) proposed planning policy which would not support the clustering of some non-retail uses including hot food takeaways and permanently sited vans, where further provision would undermine the character and amenity of centres or the health and wellbeing of centres and their communities, particularly in disadvantaged areas.

The comments received through the Parliamentary scrutiny and public consultation processes for the Draft are being analysed, prior to laying a revised National Planning Framework 4 in the Scottish Parliament for approval in the autumn.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09318 on 22 July 2022. 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 .