Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government has statutory requirements in the UK Marine Strategy to develop and implement pathway action plans to reduce the risk of introduction and spread of invasive non-native species (INNS), and to improve monitoring and surveillance to detect new non-indigenous species (or INNS) introductions, particularly at high-risk locations. The Scottish Government provides significant funding to tackle INNS, for example this includes part funding the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative, which is an ambitious £3.24 million partnership project tackling invasive non-native species alongside rivers and water courses.

Scottish Ministers, NatureScot, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Scottish Forestry have statutory powers to enforce the Wildlife and Countryside Act UK (1981), using the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act (2011), which make it a criminal offence to release, plant or cause a species to be outwith its native range. This applies across all aquatic environments.

Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) provides funding to farmers to undertake soil testing and analysis. Preparing and implementing a nutrient management plan on the basis of results encourages balanced fertiliser use for all plant nutrients. In addition, the Scottish Government-funded Farm Advisory Service (FAS ) offers a significant amount of high quality advice and support on a range of topics, the vast majority of which is free to the user. This includes the Soil and Nutrient Network, which is considering how to protect and improve farm soils and make the best use of both organic and inorganic fertilisers, saving money, benefitting yields and improving farm efficiency and resilience.

The relevant statutory requirements for land managers fall under the Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2008 and the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (CAR) General Binding Rule 18 – Storage and application of fertilisers.

Objectives/ targets for improving the water environment in relation to phosphorus and nitrogen impacts are set through River Basin Management Planning.

SEPA is responsible for monitoring phosphorus and nitrogen in the water environment. RPID audits farms for compliance with Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) requirements and there are penalties through the cross compliance scheme for non-compliance. SEPA enforces CAR through its priority catchment work and other regulatory activities and can serve fixed penalty notices on land managers for non-compliance or in severe cases take a case to the Procurator Fiscal for prosecution. There can potentially be cross compliance penalties for breaches of CAR GBRs as well.

There is no statutory duty on the Scottish Government to achieve a biodiversity net gain.

Scotland’s draft biodiversity strategy published in December 2022 sets out a clear ambition for Scotland to be nature positive by 2030, and to have substantially restored and regenerated biodiversity by 2045. Five year delivery plans will set out the actions we need to take to achieve that ambition. We will consult on the first delivery plan in the summer. We will also bring forward a Natural Environment Bill, which will put in place key legislative changes to restore and protect nature, including, but not restricted to, targets for nature restoration.

The National Planning Framework also places a strong emphasis on securing positive effects for biodiversity as one of its six statutory outcomes (as identified in section 3A(3)(c) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended). The recently adopted National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) includes a cross-cutting theme to improve biodiversity and our strategy and policies support development that helps to secure positive effects for biodiversity. NPF4 Policy 3 sets out that development proposals will contribute to the enhancement of biodiversity, including where relevant, restoring degraded habitats and building and strengthening nature networks.

Natural Flood Management (NFM) is one of a range of measures available to manage flood risk, however, it is a matter for individual local authorities to work with their communities to determine which solutions would best manage flood risk in their areas. As a result, the Scottish Government does not have any specific targets for the use of NFM.

We are committed to promoting and advancing our understanding of NFM projects and as part of this commitment we are funding the long term Eddleston Water research project and the Allan Water improvement project. These projects are helping to develop an evidence base to improve our understanding of NFM and will help stakeholders to understand its potential value as an alternative flood prevention measure. Evidence produced from these projects have indicated that NFM can help to delay flood peaks, deliver multiple environmental benefits and help mitigate the impacts of climate change.

As set out in the Programme for Government 2022-23 (A Stronger & More Resilient Scotland) the Scottish Government is committed to consulting on a new flooding strategy for Scotland, including how we can build community flood resilience and engage a broader range of delivery partners to deliver more diverse flood management actions, such as NFM, faster.

The Bathing Waters (Scotland) Regulations 2008 Reg 4 states Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) must exercise their relevant functions so as to take such realistic and proportionate measures as they consider appropriate with a view to increasing the number of bathing waters classified as “good” or “excellent”. However, there is no obligation to take measures which would result in disproportionate expense or where any change in classification is infeasible.

Following significant investment and improvements in the first two cycles of river basin management planning, 98% of Scotland’s designated bathing waters now meet ‘sufficient’ or better environmental water quality standards, and more bathing waters are now rated as ‘excellent’ than ever before.

During the third cycle we continue to apply measures to protect bathing waters aiming to achieve further good or excellent classifications, avoiding deterioration and implementing plans to ensure that the health of bathers at designated sites is protected”. SEPA will continue with a focused approach in diffuse pollution priority catchments to drive compliance with environmental legislation to help achieve water quality objectives and improve bathing water quality.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is responsible for monitoring, classifying, protecting and improving designated bathing waters with aim to reduce the risks to human health, where a large number of people bathe, by protecting and improving bathing water quality. SEPA monitors and classifies bathing waters on an annual basis following strict EU standards and publishes the results on its’ website. Bathing Waters : Summary of last season (sepa.org.uk) .

The Bathing Water (Scotland) Regulations 2008 Reg11(4) requires that for bathing waters classified as poor SEPA must take such action as it considers necessary, whether in relation to the regulation of any controlled activity or under any other functions to ensure that the bathing water can be classified as “sufficient”, “good” or “excellent”, unless permanent advice against bathing has been issued.

The following table shows that the number of bathing waters designated as good and excellent has steadily increased in the past three years.

The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (CAR) introduced a comprehensive control regime for abstractions which allows the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), on behalf of the Scottish Government, to manage water resources across Scotland. Under CAR, SEPA is provided with a three-level abstraction authorisation process: General Binding Rules (GBRs); Registrations; and Licences.

GBRs represent a set of mandatory rules which cover specific low risk activities. Activities complying with these rules do not require an application to be made to SEPA, as compliance with a GBR is considered to be compliance with an authorisation. Abstraction activities which do not comply with any relevant GBR must obtain authorisation from SEPA in the form of a Registration or water use Licence to abstract water.

All water users undertaking a controlled activity have a duty to take all reasonable steps to secure efficient and sustainable water use. During periods of prolonged dry weather, SEPA will review authorised abstraction volumes and, where necessary, SEPA have direction from Scottish Government to suspend specific abstraction authorisations using regulations under CAR. When suspensions are applied, abstractors are required to suspend their abstraction activities from Scotland’s water environment, including rivers and underground sources across Scotland and in sensitive habitats, to mitigate impacts the environment.

Further requirements for abstractors are set out by SEPA in their Water Scarcity Plan in conjunction with Scotland’s third River Basin Management Plan 2021 - 2027.

While the Scottish Government does not currently have targets directly relating to soil health, I would refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17413 on 9 May 2023 which provides our current restoration target for peatland soils. The Scottish Government is committed to improving soil health, as shown by the programmes and strategies that contribute to wider soil health both directly and indirectly which contribute to our commitment to becoming a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. These include our Agriculture Reform Programme, Peatland Restoration Programme, the second Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme, the draft Biodiversity Strategy, the Land Use Strategy and the National Planning Framework 4.

Soil health is important for the delivery of our Vision for Agriculture. Preparing for Sustainable Farming under the National Test Programme supports a range of measures including funding for farmers and crofters to undertake soil testing and personal development to improve nutrient planning and nutrient management which will help promote sustainable management of soils. We also support farmers, crofters and land managers with tools, skills, and knowledge to manage and improve their soils through a range of initiatives, for example: Farming for a Better Climate and its farmer-led soil regenerative agriculture network, Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service, the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund and the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme.

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 River Basin Management Plans are the key tools for implementing the European Community (EC)’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) .The regulations cover rivers, lochs, transitional waters (estuaries), coastal waters groundwater, and groundwater dependant wetlands. This legislation became law in Scotland as the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 (WEWS Act) and covers activities such as discharges to the water environment, abstractions, and physical works in rivers and lochs that can threaten the water environment and the animals and people that rely on it.

The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 – more commonly known as the Controlled Activity Regulations (CAR) – and their further amendments of 2013 and 2017 apply regulatory controls over activities which may affect Scotland’s water environment.

Scotland’s third River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) set statutory objectives to protect and improve Scotland’s water environment by 2027. These objectives are based on ecological assessments and economic judgments. The regulations cover all types of water body, e.g. rivers, lochs, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwater.

This RBMP builds on previous RBMPs published in 2009 and 2015, setting revised objectives for the period from 2021 to the end of 2027 and providing a programme of actions for achieving the objectives. While, 66% of Scotland’s overall water environment meets ‘good’ ecological status, the RBMP objectives for the 2021-27 period, and the associated work programme aims to ensure that 81% of Scotland’s water bodies achieve a ‘good’ or better classification by 2027 and continue to improve as natural conditions recover beyond that date.

This RBMP sets out a framework for protecting and improving the water environment across Scotland. The Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), responsible authorities and all of Scotland’s other public bodies are responsible for developing and implementing the RBMP. Detailed information about the RBMP can be found in the water environment hub . It provides information on each waterbody, pressures, measures and the objectives (targets) that we have set.

SEPA is responsible for monitoring, assessing and classifying Scotland’s water environment including coastal waters and Shellfish Water Protected Areas. The classification data is available to the public online at the water classification hub . The Scottish Budget has allocated nearly £3 million to improvement of the water environment in 2023-24.

The results of NatureScot’s Site Condition Monitoring programme show:

(a) 240 out of 307 (76%) freshwater habitat and associated species natural features are in favourable condition

(b) 3,773 out of 4,864 (78%) earth science, terrestrial habitats and associated species natural features are in favourable condition

There are no legal requirements for owners of protected sites to manage their land in order to achieve a specific standard of condition. It is an offence to intentionally or recklessly damage a protected area. Owners and occupiers must not carry out certain operations that could potentially damage SSSIs without prior consent from NatureScot.

The main sources of financial support for land managers for positive management of protected areas is through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) and Forestry Grant Scheme. NatureScot can also enter in to management agreements with owners and occupiers of land to support a range of actions to improve and maintain their condition.

I refer the member to the question S6W-16845 on 25 April 2023 which details how we arrived at our restoration targets. We are currently reviewing the proposals put forward in the Climate Change Committee’s Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland: 2022 Report to Parliament and will publish our response in due course.

Annual budgets are allocated and approved based on delivery forecasts and budget requirements from our delivery partners. The pipeline of work changes from year to year and so, therefore, does our allocated budget. We allocated around £20 million, £23 million and £23.7 million in funding in the years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively. There has been underspend in each of these years due to a range of factors including a reduction in the number of hectares delivered and over-estimation of capital required.

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