Seòmar agus comataidhean

Provisions to introduce a licensing scheme for certain wildlife traps and provisions relating to glue traps have not yet been implemented. We will be commencing these provisions over the coming months, with stakeholders given sufficient time to make any necessary changes.

Provisions relating to the licensing of muirburn and the Muirburn Code are expected to be brought in ahead of the next muirburn season in autumn 2025.

Through the Peatland ACTION partnership we are funding the restoration of our peatlands. We are also working hard with our Peatland ACTION delivery partners to tackle the many barriers to upscaling peatland restoration in this relatively young sector.

The Scottish Government wants the people of Scotland to see maximum benefits from Scotland’s energy transition, including the scaling up of the hydrogen industry.

Petroineos first approached the Scottish Government in early 2024 to seek support for Project Willow. The Scottish Government has supported this with £799,000 of funding and has successfully leveraged the UK Government to do the same.

The Project Willow cross site study is examining the enablers and blockers to deploying low carbon technologies at Grangemouth that will support our commitment to secure a long term and sustainable future for the industrial cluster. Petroineos has contracted Ernst & Young Parthenon (Ernst & Young) to undertake this study which commenced in August and is due to report early in the New Year.

The Scottish Government, UK Government, Scottish Enterprise, Petroineos and INEOS have a joint governance function for the study and Unite the Union engage via regular standing committee meetings.

The programme of work has undertaken extensive stakeholder engagement including businesses, sector specialists, the local community, and the public sector.

Consideration was given to over 80 technologies at different levels of readiness before developing a shorter list of viable alternatives - including sustainable aviation fuel, e-fuels, and low carbon hydrogen - which are now being scrutinised through the following lenses: technical; economic; commercial; regulatory; climate/environmental; community; and skills. Feedstock availability and scalability are two of several key criteria being considered by Ernst & Young.

The Scottish Government will provide an update to Parliament on the findings of Project Willow upon its conclusion.

The Scottish Biodiversity Delivery Plan 2024-2030, which was published on 27 November 2024, is the first in a series of rolling Delivery Plans which set out in detail the range of actions needed to deliver the step-change required to address the biodiversity crisis and become nature positive by 2030.

Under the Plan, wild salmon will benefit from both targeted action (for example through the Plan's explicit connection with the Scottish Wild Salmon Strategy) and through broad-scale activities such as the restoration of degraded upland habitats, improving and extending riparian woodlands, embedding nature-positive farming, fishing and forestry and ensuring that at least 30% of land, fresh water and sea is protected or conserved and effectively managed to support nature in good health by 2030.

Achieving our Hydrogen Action Plan target of 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030, and wider plan aims, requires significant investment.

Through the Peatland ACTION partnership, the NatureScot-led Peatland Skills Action Plan focuses on increasing workforce capacity for design of restoration schemes and growth in the contracting sector to ensure delivery towards our future restoration targets. The current focus is being directed towards supporting ongoing skills development and ensuring the most effective use of the workforce available.

The Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009 already places a legal obligation on salmon producers to report increases in mortality levels to Scottish Ministers or a veterinarian. This applies to unexplained mortality, and there is a voluntary agreement in place with aquaculture production businesses for any instances of mortality above specified thresholds to be reported to Scottish Ministers as part of wider aquatic animal health surveillance. This agreement is a requirement of the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture. Fish farm operators are also legally obliged to keep records of site mortality levels and these are periodically inspected by the Fish Health Inspectorate during their risk-based inspections.

Following reports from members of the public on 11 November of a number of dead fish found in Linlithgow Loch, SEPA officers inspected the site on the morning of 12 November. During the inspection, no visible signs of pollution were identified and water quality samples, taken at various points around the loch, did not reveal any pollutants. SEPA is satisfied that there is no ongoing pollution incident within the loch.

The Scottish Government wants patients to get the help they need, when they need it, and we understand how important a timely ADHD diagnosis is for individuals.

While local Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) have responsibility for putting in place services to meet local needs, including the needs of adults with ADHD, we fund the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to support HSCPs to consider best practice and improve services in the redesigning of neurodevelopmental diagnostic services.

NAIT provides HSCPs with resources to help them support these adults, and works with them to ensure that Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways, which provide diagnostic services and support tailored to the needs of each neurodivergent individual, are implemented.

We also provide funding to NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to deliver training resources to meet the needs of staff working in ADHD services across health and social care. These include webinars on Assessing ADHD and Understanding ADHD in Girls and Women, which are available to all NHS and Social Care staff via an online knowledge hub.

Our intention is that these steps will help streamline diagnostic and support processes, thereby reducing existing backlogs.