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The map and associated wording on VisitScotland.com makes clear the route begins near Carlisle: “The only tourist route that begins outside Scotland, the Borders Historic Route picks up near Carlisle before passing into the lush countryside of the Scottish Borders.”

The route is also clearly signposted where it crosses the Border at J44 of the M6 with brown tourist signs. Of course visitors may choose to deviate from the route and head to Gretna first.

The driving routes and the accompanying itineraries on VisitScotland.com are suggestions to help visitors make the most of their trip around Scotland. With the increased focus on encouraging visitors to see and do more as part of their trip, VisitScotland is keen to see visitors take in more of our country. These routes can be enjoyed by following them from the official start to the official end point or can help visitors in planning a wider journey.

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.

The Scottish Government provides support to land managers wishing to create small-scale woodlands through the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS). This includes grants for each hectare of new woodland and support for fences and gates, which are often a higher proportion of the cost of small-scale woodlands. More detailed guidance on the financial support to land managers is available at https://forestry.gov.scot/support-regulations/forestry-grants

The Forestry Grant Scheme also includes grant options specifically designed for small-scale projects. The Small and Farm woodland option and the Islands woodland option. Up to the end of July this year, of the 1184 tree planting projects supported, 339, or 28%, were small scale and less than 5 hectares in size. A simpler FGS application process for projects under 3 hectares was also introduced in 2018 and Scottish Forestry works with Woodland Trust Scotland to provide additional advisory support for small scale projects through a team of advisors.

An additional £1 million has been made available to support woodland creation in 2020 from the Scottish Government Agricultural Transformation Programme, to support the creation of more farm woodlands, particularly riparian and shelterbelt planting.

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 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 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 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.