Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16876 on 25 April 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Small Modular Reactors use the same nuclear fission technology as the power generating process found in larger traditional nuclear power plants and carry the same environmental concerns.

As set out in our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, the Scottish Government maintains its long standing opposition to the building of new nuclear power plants under current technologies. Therefore, any such analysis on the use of Small Modular Reactors would not be value for money and has not been pursued.

Any form of human trafficking or exploitation is completely unacceptable.

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, which was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament, gives police and prosecutors greater powers to detect and bring to justice those responsible for trafficking as well as strengthening protections for survivors.

In the current financial year, Migrant Help and the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance will share over £2.1m to support adult victims of human trafficking and exploitation. We are also providing funding to Justice and Care to support two Victim Navigators who work alongside Police Scotland's National Human Trafficking Unit; funding to JustRight Scotland to support the work of their Scottish Anti-Trafficking Centre, including the provision of early legal advice to potential victims. Furthermore, we are funding Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland to deliver a long-term support pilot to those recovering and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to provide a national psychological trauma support service to adult trafficking victims.

We will continue to work with partners across Scotland and beyond to provide support to victims and combat those who seek to profit from the exploitation of others.

The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on the 20 April 2023.

The overarching policy objective of the Bill, which builds on the existing regulatory framework, will, if passed, provide a modern, forward-looking regulatory framework for Scotland that will best promote competition, innovation, and the public and consumer interest in an efficient, effective, and efficient legal sector.

The Scottish Police Authority has launched a recruitment campaign on Friday 31 March 2023, looking for a new Chief Constable to lead the second largest police service in the UK, after Sir Iain Livingstone QPM announced his intention to retire in the summer of 2023 at a meeting of the Authority on 23 February.

The deadline for applications is Friday 28 April. The Authority expects to announce a successful candidate in June 2023. This will be a fixed term appointment for a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years.

The appointment process has been reviewed and approved by the Scottish Police Authority’s People Committee. A Selection Panel has been convened which will be chaired by Martyn Evans, Chair of the Authority and will include Fiona McQueen CBE - Member, SPA, Joe Griffin - Director-General, Scottish Government, Angela Scott - Chief Executive, Aberdeen City Council, Independent Member, and Martin Hewitt QPM, Former Chair, National Police Chiefs Council – UK Policing Professional. Craig Naylor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland and Lynn Brown OBE, Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Authority will be advisors to the panel and observe its discussions with candidates.

The appointment is subject to the approval of the Scottish Ministers.

The former Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans met with the Chair of the SPA and the Chief Constable on 22 March and they discussed the arrangements for the recruitment campaign, transition plans and timing.

The Scottish Government has no plans to reduce the period that a person must wait before reapplying for a Minimal Asset Process (MAP) bankruptcy. We have made significant changes to MAP eligibility criteria recently, removing the application fee, removing the minimum debt threshold, and increasing the maximum debt level to £25,000. It is important to assess the impact of these changes before considering further reform.

Previously the public were able to report flytipping via two parallel mechanisms: the Dumb Dumpers system (whereby reports could either be made online to Zero Waste Scotland, or via a telephone hotline hosted by SEPA) and to local authorities directly. From 1 April 2023, the public can continue to report incidents to the relevant local authority through local authorities’ existing mechanisms.

The change has been made in order to streamline and reduce confusion about public reporting of flytipping incidents; and to aid more accurate analysis of the scale of flytipping.

A range of evidence gathered by Zero Waste Scotland and SEPA highlighted that the previous approach was no longer fit for purpose and should be reviewed. Analysis by ZWS and SEPA has suggested that reports submitted through the Dump Dumpers system accounted for a small percentage of the total number of flytipping incidents in Scotland and the majority of incidents are reported directly to local authorities. A survey of local authorities, undertaken as part of a review of the previous litter strategy, Towards A Litter-free Scotland, highlighted a range of concerns including duplicated reports, delays and inaccurate location information.

Scottish Government’s 2022 consultation on the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy included the proposal to review the Dumb Dumpers system to ensure a fit-for-purpose mechanism for citizens to report flytipping incidents. Only 30% of respondents, and 18% of local authority respondents, supported the system’s continued use.

The recent streamlining of reporting mechanisms will not change how incidents of flytipping are investigated, which will continue to be the joint responsibility of local authorities and SEPA with local authorities handling the majority of cases.

The Scottish Government continues to prioritise investment in frontline services, providing an increase of over £730 million to NHS Boards in 2023-24 and taking funding for NHS Ayrshire and Arran to over £850 million – an increase of over 71% since 2006-07.

Despite this record investment there remain significant financial pressures across the system as a result of inflation, Covid and Brexit. The Scottish Government is working closely with all NHS Boards to address these pressures, ensuring patient care and safety remain the priority.

This includes providing additional support and scrutiny to NHS Ayrshire and Arran under the Performance Escalation Framework to support development and implementation of the Board’s financial recovery plan and delivery of sustainable services.

It is not possible to provide exact numbers on either current deer populations or future sustainable populations. For the purposes of protecting natural regeneration, tree-planting and peatland, in order restore and enhance natural systems that will deliver carbon and biodiversity benefits we need to focus on deer densities and impacts. We have already indicated in our response to the Deer Working Group report, that we support an overall density of no more than 10 deer per square kilometre. However we know that in many places we will need to achieve densities significantly lower than this in order to allow nature restoration projects to succeed.

We will aim to achieve the necessary reductions in deer populations through a combination of regulation and incentives. We are working to develop policies in this area, building on existing legislation and grant schemes.

At present our operational priority is to assess and identify priority areas where there is evidence of, or a high risk of deer damage, to ensure deer management efforts are focused and coordinated where there is the greatest need.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is funded primarily by revenue receipts from commercial trading activities such as the sale of timber, renewables, recreation, venison, estates, and other income raised. In addition, an Annual Subsidy Limit (ASL) is agreed with the Scottish Government. This is agreed by Scottish Ministers and forms part of the budget setting and review process and is set out in the annual Budget (Scotland) Act. It is this element of its funding that has reduced.

FLS is classified as a public corporation, for the purposes of its accounts, by the Office of National Statistics. This classification was awarded based on the nature of activity within the business and the high proportion of business trading. The classification enables the agency to build and sustain essential financial reserves across financial years to sustain and deliver outcomes. These are essential in managing the dynamic activity in the forestry sector.

As a result of the level of reserves held by FLS, the ASL allocated for FY 23/24 has been reduced. The FLS Business Plan sets out the main actions that the organisation will take over the period 01 April 2023 - 31 March 2024 to deliver the commitments and outcomes identified in their Corporate Plan. Ministers approved that plan in March 2023.

Business Plan - Forestry and Land Scotland

The plan highlights that FLS will use an element of its reserves to fund its ongoing activities.