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The Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy aims to optimise the conservation prospects of seabirds in Scotland through effective management of existing and emerging threats. We plan to consult on the Strategy in summer 2022.

In February 2022 two new marine special protection areas (SPAs) were designated in Orkney. The sites in Scapa Flow and North Orkney have been designated to protect rare and vulnerable migratory birds.

The Scottish Government has established a justice recovery fund of £53.2m in the next financial year to be allocated to recovery, renewal and transformation activity across the justice system as we emerge from the pandemic.

This includes funding of £26.5m to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service to maintain enhanced court capacity and remote jury centres. In addition, we have allocated a further £4.2m to the SCTS resource budget, a 3.5% increase.

We have already previously committed an additional £50m in 2021-22 to support our ‘Recover, Renew, Transform’ programme for the Criminal Justice System – which has included setting up 16 additional solemn and summary courts from September.

The additional funds have and continue to be used in a variety of ways to increase capacity across the justice system, including: recruitment of additional staff; greater use of digital tools and improved support for victims and witnesses.

At present the programme includes; the operation of remote jury centres for the conduct of High Court and Sheriff and jury trials; fully virtual summary trials; virtual custody courts; changes to summary criminal process and; community justice and preventing offending.

In terms of civil business, the Scottish Civil Justice Council (SCJC) is the body that is tasked with modernising the civil justice system in Scotland. It is ultimately for the council to decide how civil court proceedings should proceed. SCJC has consulted on proposed new court rules concerning the mode of attendance in civil proceedings. These fall within the SCJC’s powers and functions under the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Act 2013.

The Scottish Government is actively working with all justice partners including the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and SCJC to review how civil business can best be conducted. We have appointed a contractor to undertake a remote hearing evaluation project to provide analysis of the changes to civil justice processes and procedures flowing from the pandemic response, with a particular focus on the adoption of ‘virtual hearings’. SCTS has fed into that process and is partly funding it. The primary aim of the research is to provide evidence to determine the value of the measures adopted by the Courts and Tribunals during the pandemic and if these measures need to be adapted or improved in any way. The research should be completed towards the end of 2022.

Within the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill, the Scottish Government has brought forward proposals to enable longer extension of provisions which suspend the requirement to physically attend a court or tribunal. The provisions seek to retain the ability for any participant in either criminal or civil proceedings to take part in any proceedings by way of live visual (television) or audio (telephone) link from any location.

In addition, I would refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06603 on 28 February 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 

The Scottish Government has been working with other organisations across the UK, including UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Sea Mammal Research Unit and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science to investigate the unusually large numbers of emaciated and dead seabirds that were found along the North Sea coasts in autumn 2021.

Due to the long life spans of many seabird species, the full impacts of the increased mortality in 2021 may not be evident for a number of years. However, long term monitoring of populations and individual survival at some seabird colonies may provide an indication of the impacts of the recent mortality event, although these data will only become available from the autumn of 2022.

The Scottish Government is aware of reports of unusually large numbers of emaciated and dead seabirds that were found along the North Sea costs in autumn 2021 and have been working to establish the potential causes. We have a number of dead seabird, fish, plankton and water samples undergoing analysis with the aim of identifying potential causes for the mortality event. The Scottish Government has been working closely with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Sea Mammal Research Unit and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the findings of these investigations will be published in due course.

The Scottish Government is aware of the impact that invasive species can have on seabird populations. We are developing the Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy, which aims to optimise the conservation prospects of seabirds in Scotland through effective management of existing and emerging threats. We plan to consult on the Strategy in summer 2022.

The Scottish Government sits on the working group for the RSPB led UK Seabird Island Biosecurity Programme. This programme follows on from the Biosecurity for LIFE programme where invasive rats that were negatively impacting seabird populations were successfully removed from the Shiant isles. Through the working group RSPB are identifying funding opportunities for the programme.

The Scottish Government asked Andrew Horne, Chief Executive of We Are With You Scotland, to chair a multi-agency working group focusing specifically on improving drug treatment services for young people.

The purpose of the group is to set clear expectations for the delivery of treatment support to children and young people who experience problem alcohol and drug use.

To date, the group have sourced statistical data which will be used to shape how we improve the provision and access to drug and/or alcohol treatment and support services. The group will work towards establishing Standards for Young People’s Alcohol and Drug Services in order to provide consistency in quality across Scotland. The group will also consider residential rehabilitation provision as part of their work to develop these standards. However, residential rehabilitation is just one aspect of a recovery oriented system of care, and the group will also look to develop a comprehensive approach to early intervention for young people which is focused on supporting children and young people to access support that is age-appropriate and in their own community so that, where possible, they can remain with their families.

The Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce funded a project through Stirling University to research and develop the key components required to implement Drug Checking facilities. Research began in January 2021 and will conclude with an evaluation report in January 2023.

Home office licenses must be granted before project teams can implement Drug Checking facilities.

The project team from Glasgow plan to submit their license to the Home Office by the end of April 2022.

The project team from NHS Grampian plan to submit their license for a drug checking facility in Aberdeen to the Home Office by the end of June 2022.

Over the course of this parliament the Scottish Government has committed £100 million to support further investment in residential rehabilitation and associated aftercare. We aim to increase the number of publicly funded placements by more than 300 per cent over the five years of the programme so that, by 2026, at least 1,000 people every year are publicly funded for their rehab placement.

In order to facilitate this increase we are working to increase capacity by 50% which is an increase from 425 beds to 650 beds. As well as increasing funding to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships allocated for residential rehab and developing more standardised commissioning processes we have made national investment in expanding capacity through the Recovery Fund.

The Scottish Government has provided the funding needed to increase capacity for residential rehab, however we cannot allocate beds to any specific individual or age group. This is the responsibility of Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and residential rehabilitation providers, who have the necessary expertise for deciding referrals, assessments of suitability and admissions to their facilities on a case by case basis.

We have set up a multi-agency working group focused specifically on improving services for young people. This group will engage with a range of young people to better understand their alcohol/drug use and their preferences for support, and their work will shape how we improve the provision and access to age appropriate treatment and support services in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not asked KPMG to conduct a review of the implementation of the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Standards. The embedding of the standards will be reported on in a document to be published in Summer 2022.

The Scottish Government want all victims to have the confidence to report sexual crimes, including those that may have happened some time ago. A Scottish Government led Governance Group has now been established, comprising key stakeholder interests, to enable progress and detailed consideration of the recommendations within Lord Justice Clerk’s Review Group report on improving the management of sexual offence cases.

We remain absolutely committed to improving the justice system to respond better to the needs of survivors in Scotland and it is hoped that this work will go some way to addressing any barriers to reporting.

The creation of Police Scotland has transformed the way rape and other sexual crimes are investigated in Scotland allowing far greater consistency of approach, including the training of police officers and use of specialist officers.

The Scottish Government also recognises the key role that advocacy services play in helping victims come forward and engage with the justice process, like those provided by Rape Crisis Scotland, which is why we fully fund the RCS National Advocacy Project.