Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government does not provide any direct public funding to Scottish universities to carry out projects at CERN. However the Science and Technologies Facilities Council co-ordinates and manages the UK’s involvement and subscription with CERN and provides research funds for Scottish scientists and students working on projects at CERN.

The Native Woodland Survey of Scotland identified that a 14% reduction may have occurred in ancient woodland cover over a 40 year period in unenclosed upland areas. The survey also identified that the current native woodland condition is moderate overall, with 46% of the area in satisfactory conditions.

The Scottish Government is taking action to protect ancient woodland as outlined in Scotland’s Biodiversity – a Route Map to 2020. The actions identified aim to improve the condition and extent of existing native and ancient woodland, through reducing browsing pressure and controlling non-native species, and new woodland planting.

In addition, the Scottish Government has implemented a policy on the control of woodland removal for all types of woodland. The policy is adopted within Scottish Planning Policy and provides guidance to planning authorities on how to minimise inappropriate woodland loss. With regards to ancient woodland, the policy places a strong presumption against removal.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a legal duty for landowners to produce management plans to protect woodland. However all landowners that intend to apply to the Scottish Rural Development Programme Forestry Grant Scheme for the sustainable management of woodland must have long-term forest plans approved by Forestry Commission Scotland that set out the management objectives for their woodland.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a ‘national woodlands plan’ to ringfence money to protect woodland. However it recognises the importance of woodland protection and has allocated funds under the Forestry Grant Scheme. Information on the options available which support this objective under the Forestry Grant Scheme is available at the web link below:

https://www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/all-schemes/forestry-grant-scheme/

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-28752 on 10 December 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Over the past five years the Scottish Government has invested a total of nearly £61 million in the protection of woodlands in Scotland. An additional £3 million was invested as part of the tree health programme over the past two years to protect our woodlands and forests from the impacts of tree pests and diseases.

This investment includes support through the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) Forestry Grant Scheme, where a range of measures is available, such as the removal of livestock, control of non-native species, browsing management and encouragement of natural regeneration. Private land owners also invest considerable amounts to protect their own forest and woodland assets.

Additionally as part of the tree health programme, the Scottish Government supports the management of tree pests and diseases, coupled with longer term resilience building measures, to maintain and expand healthy woodlands in Scotland and to sustain the related ecosystem services.

On the National Forest Estate investment is also made in appropriate protection and management of woodland, including ancient woodland, through actions such as deer management.

A breakdown of this investment is as follows:

The Scottish Government is a partner with the UK Government in commissioning research to support the protection and expansion of Britain's forests and woodlands. The Science and Innovation Strategy for forestry details the activities related to woodland protection.

Forestry Commission Scotland does not routinely collate data on individual protection schemes and is therefore unable to provide a detailed breakdown of expenditure in remote locations. However for example, the SRDP supported £3.4 million of forest protection in the Highlands and Islands Conservancy area over the past five years.

A breakdown of this investment is as follows:

There has been no impact on the implementation of the named person policy.

The only costs incurred were administrative, as part of everyday Scottish Government expenditure on providing the support of officials to set up, organise and support meetings and in providing meeting space in government buildings.

With the passage of the Act in February 2014, the members of the board (including Police Scotland, National Parent Forum Scotland, local authorities, the NHS, Care Inspectorate and COSLA) agreed that the board should be dissolved in September 2014. The focus of activity was on the Getting It Right for Every Child National Implementation Support Group (NISG), which sat under the programme board and provided support for implementation and operational issues. The NISG has acted as the highest oversight group for implementation.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has advised the Scottish Government that it is not possible to determine exactly how stoats first arrived in Orkney and that no significant impacts of invasive stoats on native wildlife in Orkney have been documented as yet. Any impacts, however, are unlikely to be detected until some time after the stoat population has become established.

In June 2015, SNH published the output from research into the risks that the stoat population in Orkney poses to native wildlife. This research concluded it was likely that:

Stoats will reduce the population of Orkney vole to lower than average densities;

This would have a major detrimental effect on hen harriers and short-eared owls, which prey on the voles; and

Stoats will also predate ground-nesting waders.

The Scottish Government allocates a budget annually to SNH, which it is responsible for managing to fulfil its statutory functions and to support the Scottish Government’s commitments with respect to protecting and improving the natural environment. This includes advice and strategies aimed at addressing non-native species, in their role as lead agency on the issue. To date, SNH has spent £60,960 on removing stoats from Orkney. This includes support and training for volunteers who are carrying out trapping and monitoring. Should stoats reach the non-connected islands, which are currently stoat-free, they will be removed rapidly.