Seòmar agus comataidhean

The decision to freeze the non-domestic poundage rate at 49.8p is expected to save ratepayers £308 million in 2023-24, compared to uprating the poundage in line with September’s measure of CPI which would have resulted in a poundage rate of 54.8p in 2023-24. This figure is broken down in Table 1 by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

These tables are based on an imputed Valuation Roll based on an incomplete draft Valuation Roll, as used by the Scottish Fiscal Commission in Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts December 2022, and are therefore subject to change. Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000.

Table 1: Gross savings to ratepayers of poundage freeze compared with maintaining real terms income, by property class

The Enhanced Psychology Practice (EPP) training course was established by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in 2021, with the first round of training commencing in October of that year. Training numbers so far as follows;

• 14 learners from the Adult EPP Cohort 1 have completed training. 5 learners from Cohort 1 are still to complete due to extensions. Cohort 2 commenced in April 2022, with 22 learners currently in training.
• The Children and Young People (CYP) EPP pilot cohort commenced in April 2022 with 10 learners currently in training.
• Interviews concluded for the November 2022 cohorts of EPP-A and EPP-CYP learners in August. NES HAS issued offers for 32 places across both programmes.
• When at full capacity, an annual intake of approximately 100 learners will be possible. This will form a rolling programme of recruitment over several intake cycles.

Table 1 presents the estimated gross savings to ratepayers due to the increase in the rateable value threshold for the Higher Property Rate (HPR) to £100,000. This table does not take into account any reliefs, including Transitional Relief. This is broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

These tables are based on an imputed Valuation Roll based on an incomplete draft Valuation Roll, as used by the Scottish Fiscal Commission in Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts December 2022, and are therefore subject to change.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000.

Table 1: Gross savings to properties removed from HPR in 2023-24 due to the threshold increase, by property class

The business rates incentivisation scheme is temporarily suspended as a result of the additional non domestic rates reliefs package provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. The intention is to reintroduce the scheme in 2023-24. The amount of revenue that will be able to be retained by local authorities in 2023-24 will depend on their collection performance against their 2023-24 collection targets.

On Scotland’s national forests and land, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) constructs roads for use on a multi-purpose basis e.g. timber transport, tree planting, environmental improvement works, recreational access. FLS does not hold data that ascribes a particular use to sections of forest road, nor does it hold specific data as to what lengths of road have been constructed by windfarm developers. Over the past ten years, levels of forest road construction by FLS have been as follows:

2012: 46 Miles

2013: 52 Miles

2014: 43 Miles

2015: 34 Miles

2016: 37 Miles

2017: 37 Miles

2018: 44 Miles

2019: 32 Miles

2020: 27 Miles

2021: 24 Miles

2022: 22 Miles

Scottish Ministers approved new Scottish Environment Protection Agency fish farm Controlled Activity Regulation charges in September 2022. Where an operator achieves a reduction in 80% of expected emissions, SEPA will halve the application fee.

In terms of support for emerging technologies, the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre, part funded by the Scottish Funding Council, was established in 2014 to fund and support collaborative research, applied science and innovation to reduce the environmental footprint and increase the economic impact of aquaculture.

Assistance may be available through the Marine Fund Scotland, where projects require public funding to proceed, and deliver outcomes in Scotland’s Blue Economy Vision.

The Scottish Government will consider how innovation can be further supported through the regulatory review of fish farm consenting, the Vision for sustainable aquaculture and National Marine Plan 2.

No assessment of the potential of semi-closed containment aquaculture to support jobs in rural Scotland has been made by the Scottish Government. Employment opportunities and benefits are considered as part of the statutory fish farm planning process.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13304 on
‎ 5 January 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

Marine Scotland Science, as a statutory consultee in the fish farm planning application process and part of Scottish Government Marine Scotland Directorate, provided advice to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Planning Authority and is available to view on the planning portal; 2021/0357/DET | Installation of a Marine Fish Farm and associated development including shore base, slipway and pontoon and road upgrades | Beinn Reithe Loch Long (lochlomond-trossachs.org).

Advice from Scottish Government aquaculture policy unit was provided to the park authority on the national significance of the project, as the first application for a semi-enclosed marine loch fish farm in Scotland. Advice is available to view on the planning portal; 2021/0357/DET | Installation of a Marine Fish Farm and associated development including shore base, slipway and pontoon and road upgrades | Beinn Reithe Loch Long (lochlomond-trossachs.org).

We published our new draft Biodiversity Strategy on 13 December 2022, which sets out 26 Priority Actions to put us on the path to a nature positive future, and halt biodiversity loss by 2030. We are now working closely with public bodies and other stakeholders to develop the first 5 year delivery plan which will support this strategy. The delivery plan, to be published in 2023, will set out how we will achieve the vision and outcomes in the new strategy, and will include further details of key related policies. The strategy will also be supported by a Natural Environment Bill, which will provide a framework for statutory targets for nature restoration.

We will be undertaking further consultation work on the strategy and delivery plan from early 2023.