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The current target for native woodland planting is 3 - 5000 hectares a year and is set in the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity. This will be reviewed when the Biodiversity Strategy is updated. In the period April 2019-2020 approximately 4,500 hectares of new native woodland was created, which is approximately 40% of the overall woodland created.

All woodland creation proposals are required to contain a minimum of 5% native species, and an additional 10% of the area is required to be open ground or ground managed for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity.

Scotland is leading the UK in new woodland creation; 84% of all new woodland creation in 2019 and 65% of softwood production in 2018. All this forestry activity is based in Scotland creating jobs here.

The ambitious targets to increase woodland creation and the £150 million over the next 5 years announced as part of the Programme for Government support this investment in forestry infrastructure, services and the domestic supply chain offering a real opportunity for growth and jobs. The programme also includes an ambition to increase the annual volume of Scottish timber going into construction from 2.2 million cubic meters (2018) to 2.6 million cubic meters in 2021-2022.

Additional funding has also been secured for timber transport in Scotland which supports the movement of timber to processing plants and funding for investment in forest nurseries based in Scotland. The Scottish Government is acting directly as well and both Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland will double their youth employment offering for next year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31493 on 10 September 2020. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31492 on 10 September 2020. 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 .

Financial support to those farming and crofting in our most fragile and remote areas is a priority for the Scottish Government. It is not possible to circumvent EU rules and reinstate payments to 2018 levels for the 2020 scheme year, which will instead be at 40%. We are currently considering options for the year 2 Upland Uplift part of convergence payments which will provide additional support to those farming and crofting in our less favoured areas.

The Scottish Government have engaged with NFUS and we support their point of view in keeping the LFASS running. The passing of stage 3 of the Scottish Agriculture Bill is the first step in ensuring we have the legal powers to continue all CAP schemes. It is now essential that the UK Government give us clarity of future funding so that plans can be progressed for the delivery of CAP schemes in 2021.

The Scottish Government has put in place over £2.3 billion of support for Scottish businesses across a wide range of sectors to support them during the pandemic.

The Events Industry Support Fund is in place to provide support to businesses or individuals who organise, stage and deliver events. Eligibility was developed with input from the events sector. Where a trader or crafter can demonstrate that they meet the eligibility criteria then would be able to apply for support on the same basis as other businesses or individuals in the events sector.

If a trader or crafter is not eligible for this particular fund then they may wish to consult https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/ to see whether they are eligible for any other sources of support.

The Scottish Government considered a range of factors when developing the criteria for the Events Industry Support Fund. This included online forums that EventScotland hosted with geographical and sub-sectoral representation from across the events sector; an events supply chain survey; and with input from the Event Industry Advisory Group, which includes representation from rural events.

The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme has delivered fibre broadband access to more than 950,000 homes across Scotland, with over 31,000 premises benefitting from that investment in Dumfriesshire constituency alone. To date, 76 premises in the Mouswald area have been assisted by DSSB.

However, there were some areas, including in the community of Mouswald, that we couldn’t be reached within the funding and timescales available. An exacerbating factor in Mouswald is that there are some premises within the settlement where build could not be progressed within the timescales available due to wayleave (or access agreement) issues, despite exploring all options to resolve these with the relevant landowners. Seeing agreement being reached on this key issue, to ensure the support of landowners, would be enormously beneficial for the community.

For those remaining properties that were not reached by the DSSB programme itself, some in the area are expected to benefit from build through either the £133 million R100 South lot contract, or will be delivered through commercial coverage. Any properties which are not going to receive investment through these two principal routes, would be eligible for a main voucher – offering a subsidy worth up to £5,000 per premises to deliver a superfast solution at 30 Megabits per second or faster - through the Scottish Government’s Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS).

The Borders Historic Route on the A7 is promoted on the dedicated route section of VisitScotland’s website. This is linked into four other pages promoting the South of Scotland. In addition, the route features in VisitScotland’s blog showcasing Scotland’s five fantastic driving routes and also in the Scottish Borders Regional Explore Guide 2020-21.