- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what commercial benefits it anticipates that financial partners, including Hampden & Co and Lombard Odier Investment Managers, will receive as part of the private finance investment pilot to mobilise £2 billion in landscape scale restoration of native woodland.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15873 on 24 March 2023. 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 .
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates the first private finance investment pilot, focused on the Borders Forest Trust "Wild Heart" project in southern Scotland and expected to begin in spring 2023, will conclude, and how much funding it will provide to fund this pilot.
Answer
There is not a fixed completion date for the Borders Forest Trust pilot project. The project will continue for as long as financing is available from the investment partners and land managers choose to receive it.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it was able to determine that £2 billion in funding could be leveraged from the private finance investment pilot that was announced on 1 March 2023 on the NatureScot website.
Answer
The £2 billion figure reflects the current appetite from the investment partners to finance projects in Scotland. It is not a fixed figure and additional capital may be available if a sufficient pipeline of investment projects can be created and a successful investment model proven.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 19 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will undertake a review of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045: Tackling the Nature Emergency in Scotland, in light of the new assessment report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and, if so, when it anticipates any such work will take place.
Answer
The draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy reflects the interdependence of climate, biodiversity and the close linkages between climate change adaptation, mitigation, ecosystem health, human well-being and sustainable development in the same way as the IPCC’s 6 th Synthesis Report. We are currently reviewing the draft Strategy in light of the outcomes of COP15 and in doing so, we will take into account other significant developments such as the IPCC’s assessment report. A consultation on the Strategic Framework for Biodiversity in Scotland, comprising the Strategy and its first Delivery Plan, will take place in summer 2023, followed by publication of the final Strategy later in 2023.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether it
plans to make road improvements to increase road safety at Toll of Birness on
the A90; what the evidence base is that indicates that any such road
improvements will increase safety specifically at that junction, and, if
(a) it has no such road improvement plans and (b) no evidence base exists,
whether it will confirm this.
Answer
Transport Scotland undertakes an annual assessment of the safety performance of the entire trunk road network, including the A90. This assessment considers accident patterns and rates in the form of Route Accident Reduction Plans (RARP), and screens all locations where three or more personal injury accidents have occurred in a three-year period. This ensures that full consideration is given to accidents that may be spread along a specific corridor. Further investigations are then carried out and, where appropriate, mitigation measures are prioritised for delivery.
Two interactive signs were erected in 2017 with a third interactive sign to supplement the northbound signs erected in 2021. These signs alert drivers to vehicles turning at the junction and encourage drivers to drive within the speed limit. Other work involved an additional northbound advance direction sign. There are currently no further road safety improvement plans at A90 Toll of Birness, however, this will be monitored through the Annual Road Safety Review.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 19 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what the timetabled dwell time at (a) Usan and (b) Montrose junction (signals MN39 and MN5) is, and on how many occasions in the last 24 months the dwell time has been exceeded to the extent that trains were officially "delayed" on this section of the railway.
Answer
This is an operational matter for Network Rail and ScotRail and as such Transport Scotland does not hold the information requested.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 14 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on what it classifies as "maintenance and safety schemes" on each of Scotland's A roads in each year since 2007, also broken down by individual A road.
Answer
The Scottish Government spend on “maintenance and safety schemes" on each of Scotland's A roads in each year since 2007, also broken down by individual A road, is in SPICe at BIB 6412.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 12 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the proposed Legal Services Regulation Reform Bill, what progress it has made towards (a) establishing a panel to review the future of the legal profession and (b) engaging with stakeholders representing the (i) consumer and (ii) legal perspective, as committed to in its response to the findings of the consultation analysis report on legal services regulation reform.
Answer
A working group to consider the future of the of the legal profession in Scotland has been convened and will be jointly chaired by the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, the Law Society of Scotland, and the Faculty of Advocates. The purpose of the group is to examine the evidence and propose improvements to address the challenges of recruitment and retention within the legal profession and to provide support for the planning, collaboration, and improvement of legal services in Scotland.
The first meeting of the short life working group will be held on 25 April 2023, and invitations have already been issued to members of the Group. Future meetings of the Group have been confirmed for 30 August 2023 and 5 December 2023.
The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on the 20 April 2023. This was developed in response to a consultation that was developed in collaboration with consumers and the legal profession and responses to that public consultation.
As the Bill progresses through parliament, we will continue to engage with key stakeholders from the consumer and legal side, to collaboratively consider reform of the regulation of legal services, to provide for a modern regulatory framework for Scotland that will best promote competition, innovation and the public and consumer interest in an efficient and independent legal sector.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 12 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the announcement of 13 projects being selected as part of the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process on 24 March 2023, whether any (a) funding and (b) polices will be introduced to increase skills development and recruit and train any workers required to support the anticipated energy projects.
Answer
INTOG provides significant support to the delivery of the oil and gas sector’s decarbonisation targets in the North Sea Transition Deal and offers the opportunity for the transfer of skills from one sector to the other.
With INTOG projects, we are supporting growth in the supply chain to service ScotWind and promoting the transfer of knowledge and skills across the energy sectors. We are working with the energy sector to plan for a multi-skilled workforce, one that can benefit from opportunities across the energy system.
Our £500m Just Transition Fund is providing financial support to help energy workers reskill and find good jobs and to build confidence in the potential for a just transition. Funding from the Just Transition Fund has already been allocated to support development of the energy skills passport; to create an advanced manufacturing skills hub in Aberdeen and a pilot scheme with the National Energy Skills Accelerator to determine the skills required for an energy transition.
Our National Strategy for Economic Transformation makes clear that we will launch new skills guarantee for workers in carbon intensive industries and together with Skills Development Scotland, we launched the Green Jobs Workforce Academy, a national long term programme to support the retraining and upskilling needed for the transition to net zero.
INTOG will further support the transfer of skills between renewables and oil and gas sectors, with the 2021 Robert Gordon University's Workforce Review suggesting that more than 90% of the UK’s oil and gas workforces have medium to high skills transferability and are well positioned to work in adjacent energy sectors, and that a majority of offshore workers could be delivering low carbon energy by 2030.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 11 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how human rights will be monitored in the supply chain for developers that have been offered exclusivity agreements as part of the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process announced on 24 March 2023.
Answer
The Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing is administered by Crown Estate Scotland who are responsible for completing the process of due diligence in line with relevant guidance.
Crown Estate Scotland advises that all INTOG applicants were required to confirm their compliance with all legal obligations regarding human rights. INTOG applicants were also required to make specific commitments ensuring that they, their group companies, and their supply chain partners have the appropriate policies and mechanisms in place regarding human rights.
Crown Estate Scotland reserves the right to void any application which is found to have provided false information in these commitments. If any companies have been found to have made false declarations on these matters Crown Estate Scotland will take the appropriate action including termination of Exclusivity Agreements.
The Scottish Government is clear that both public authorities and private enterprises have a responsibility to ensure human rights are respected and protected in the workplace. Scottish Ministers remain committed to defending the vitally-important legislation which protects human rights in Scotland and in the UK – including both the Human Rights Act 1998 and the constitutional protections built into the Scotland Act 1998.
