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Inter-islands ferries within Orkney and Shetland are wholly the responsibility of the Local Authorities.

The Ferries Plan made an offer that the Scottish Government would assume responsibility for Local Authority ferry services, at no net detriment to the Scottish Government. It noted that ultimately a transfer may not go ahead as the Scottish Government cannot guarantee to be in a position to provide additional funding. This offer to consider a transfer remains under the same principles.

We understand the significant financial challenges that can fall on individual local authorities and remain committed to the principle of fair funding in the provision of ferry services and ferry infrastructure.

Discussions regarding internal ferries are on-going with the leaderships and officials of local authorities, including Orkney, Shetland and Argyll and Bute, as well as Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority. An update will be provided in due course.

The spiking of a drink, for whatever means, is a cowardly and dangerous act.

The Scottish Government work closely with a number of key partners including Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC), Crimestoppers and Police Scotland to promote and share messages on how to keep safe.

Examples include the Best Bar None Scotland ‘Good Night Out” campaign, Crimestoppers 7 tips for a good night out, previous seasonal safety messages and the supply of anti-drink spiking devices for bottles available to venues on request.

The Scottish Government is aware of the ongoing campaign from Girls Against Spiking who are working with the University of Strathclyde to provide anti drink devices for cups and glasses, and we are engaged with the SBRC and Police Scotland regard this campaign.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recent report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and agrees with its assessment that all countries, as well as businesses and individuals, need to act now if the Paris Agreement goals are to be met. The Scottish Government introduced the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) Bill to Parliament on 23 May 2018 in order to raise the ambition of Scotland’s emission reduction targets so that they are in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The target levels set out in the Bill follow the advice of our independent, statutory advisors, the UK Committee on Climate Change.

The IPCC report says that the world needs to be carbon-neutral, defined as net-zero emissions of CO2, by 2050, which is exactly where Scotland will be by 2050 under the targets set out in the Climate Change Bill. In response to the report, the Scottish Government, alongside the UK and Welsh Governments, has requested advice from the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on the implications of the report for our emissions reduction target levels. If the CCC advises that Scotland’s emission reduction targets can be even more ambitious than they previously advised, then we will act on that advice.

The advice received from our independent, statutory advisors,
the UK Committee on Climate Change, in March 2017, provided
two options: 1 - Keep the target for a reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions of at least 80% by 2050 with subsequent reviews
to increase ambition; 2 - Set a ‘stretch’ target for a reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions of 90% by 2050, potentially
accompanied by a net-zero CO2 target for 2050. The advice
stated that “A net-zero target for all greenhouse gases should
not be set now, but the possibility to set one in the future should
be allowed in the new Bill”. Target levels of 56% emissions
reduction for 2020, 66% for 2030, and either 73% or 78% for
2040, depending on whether Ministers opted to maintain the
80% target for 2050 or raise it to 90%, were advised.

The Scottish Government considered the advice carefully,
including by discussing it with stakeholders, and conducting
internal analysis using the Scottish TIMES model, which
reached conclusions consistent with the CCC’s advice. We
then consulted on the proposal to raise the target levels to
be consistent with the Paris Agreement.

In light of responses to the consultation, the Scottish
Government considered how it would be possible to achieve
a 100% reduction of all greenhouse gas emissions prior to
there being a credible pathway to doing so. This analysis,
set out in “When to set a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions
target year: Information and Analysis to support discussion
of the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets)
(Scotland) Bill”, concluded that Scotland would need to
compromise its existing framework in one or all of the following
ways:

• by paying other countries to reduce emissions on our
  behalf through the purchase of international carbon
  credits, instead of focussing purely on domestic effort
• by removing some sectors from the target
• by making legally binding commitments that are
  dependent on as yet undeveloped technological
  advancement and cannot be properly scrutinised
• by taking steps that would have a substantial detrimental
  impact on people’s wellbeing and the economic growth of
  Scotland.

Comparisons between Scotland’s target framework and that of
other jurisdictions was conducted internally, in direct liaison with
counterparts in other leading countries, and was supported by
work commissioned through ClimateXChange, reports of which
can be seen at https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/media/1325/
international_climate_change_target_frameworks.pdf

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/media/2964/greenhouse_
gas_accounting_for_national_climate_change_targets.pdf

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/media/3098/review-of-
comparison-of-international-climate-change-target-frameworks.pdf

The Scottish Government is unaware of any other country that
has such an ambitious, comprehensive and stringent set of
statutory targets that must be met through domestic effort
alone, as are set out in the Climate Change (Emissions
Reduction Targets) Bill and therefore considers that the targets
set out in the Bill are world leading. The answer to S5W-19585
on 7 November provides further detail.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available
on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can
be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness
/28877.aspx .

Climate change is a global challenge requiring co-ordinated action across all countries and jurisdictions. As a devolved nation, working in partnership with other national and sub-national Governments is of particular importance to Scotland in achieving high ambition.

The UK Government’s emission reduction targets are currently 34% for 2020 and 80% for 2050, excluding a fair share of international aviation and shipping. Without the full set of levers to implement all the policies necessary, Scotland could do more if the UK were to follow our lead and increase its long term targets. For example, the gas grid is controlled by the UK Government and it is not possible for the Scottish Government to unilaterally decarbonise the Scottish section of the grid. Similarly, both the UK Government and Scottish Ministers have roles to play in the regulatory frameworks which allow for the geological storage of carbon dioxide.

The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform has written to the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth encouraging the UK Government to work with us towards a net zero emissions reduction target. In response to the recent IPCC report, the Scottish Government joined the UK and Welsh Governments, in requesting advice from the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on the implications of the report for emissions reduction targets levels. It is important that the CCC consider UK and Scotland’s emission reduction targets as part of the same assessment, in order that the interactions between what is possible at a UK level and what is possible at a Scotland level can be fully considered.

The more countries that are working to reduce emissions, encouraging innovation and identifying low-carbon solutions, the more learning and knowledge can be shared, to the benefit of greater decarbonisation globally.

The advice was requested by the end of March 2019. This is set out in the request to Lord Deben, Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, on 15 October which can be read at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment
_data/file/748489/CCC_commission_for_Paris_Advice_-_Scot__UK.pdf .

The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill proposes targets to reduce actual emissions of all greenhouse gases by 56% by 2020, 66% by 2030 and 78% by 2040. The Scottish Government is unaware of any other country that has statutory targets for all greenhouse gases as ambitious as these for the years outlined.

The Bill also proposes a target to reduce actual emissions of all greenhouse gases by 90% by 2050. That will mean achieving 100% reduction of carbon dioxide by the same date, which means that Scotland will be carbon-neutral.

In addition, the Bill proposes that annual targets are set mechanistically by calculating percentage figures that would create a “straight line” of targets between the 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050 targets. Annual targets mean that progress has to be immediate and constant. The Scottish Government is unaware of any other country that has statutory annual emission reduction targets.

There are several other factors that make Scotland’s climate change targets world leading:

• all of the targets include all greenhouse gases.
• all of the targets include emissions from land use, land use change and forestry.
• all of the targets include a fair share of emissions from international aviation and shipping.
• none of the targets can be met through the use of international off-set credits, unless Ministers bring forward affirmative procedure secondary legislation, which the Parliament then approves. The proposal in the Bill is that a maximum of 20% of the year on year change to be accounted for by credit purchase. Based on current information, that limit means that less than 0.2 megatonnes per year can be accounted for in this way for any year from 2020 to 2050. (Sweden’s legislation allows for up to 15% of the overall target to be made up through credits. If Scotland followed this approach, come the 2040s more than 50 times the limit proposed in the Bill could be accounted for through credits.)

The Scottish Government is unaware of any other country that has such an ambitious, comprehensive and stringent set of targets that must be met through domestic effort alone, and therefore considers that the targets set out in the Bill are world leading.

It is imperative that the advice from the Committee on Climate Change is considered by the Scottish Parliament prior to the Bill being finalised. The Scottish Government is aiming for the Bill to complete its passage during this Parliamentary year, which is why we asked for the advice by March 2019, but we would not want the Bill to proceed without that advice.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the importance to Orkney’s economic wellbeing of sustaining a high quality tourism product.

Following a report commissioned last year by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Orkney Islands Council to examine the general impacts of high-volume tourism in Orkney, a number of key partners including HIE, the Council, Historic Environment Scotland (HES), Scottish Natural Heritage, VisitScotland and the local tourism industry (Orkney Tourism Group) are working together under the auspices of a new partnership body, Destination Orkney, which will develop a more dynamic and strategic approach to tourism in Orkney.

Orkney was one of the initial beneficiaries of our new £6m Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund, from which they received £80,000 in the spring of 2018 for improved parking at the Stones of Stenness.

The wellbeing and safety of children and young people in Scotland is a key priority for the Scottish Government.

Section 1 of the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005 provides for an offence of 'meeting a child following certain preliminary contact'. This is commonly referred to as a 'grooming' offence.

This offence is intended to catch those who develop relationships with young people under 16 in order to gain their trust and persuade them into vulnerable situations where they can then be sexually assaulted. The preliminary contact can take any form, and as such it would include contact with a child who is 'live-streaming'.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review existing legislation concerning 'grooming' at this time. However, the Scottish Government monitors the effectiveness of legislation on an on-going basis in conjunction with justice system partners and if concerns were expressed this would be reconsidered.

The power to legislate to regulate the internet is currently reserved to the UK Parliament.