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The PAVR fund has provided much-needed support to a range of performing arts venues to help address the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on operations. In August 2020, 20 venues across Scotland were awarded a total of £7.5 million through the first round of the Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund (PAVR). In total, over £20 million has been awarded to performing arts venues through the Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund through multiple funding rounds.

The recipients of the first round of PAVR funding can be found here, broken down by (a) venue and (b) amount received: Emergency Scottish Government relief funds support performing arts venues | Creative Scotland

A further 59 performing arts venues received funding, totalling £4.74 million, later in September, and these details can be found here: Emergency funds continuing to reach performing arts venues | Creative Scotland

A total of 53 performing arts venues have received a total of £8.56 million from a second round of PAVR in August 2021. A full list of recipients for the second round of PAVR funding can be found here, broken down by (a) venue and (b) amount received: Further £17million emergency funding reaches Culture Organisations and Performing Arts Venues | Creative Scotland

Reviewing and assessing air quality in the vicinity of schools is the responsibility of the relevant local authorities and can take a variety of forms. The Scottish Government is supportive of such monitoring from a data acquisition perspective, the valuable educational role it can play for pupils and also for awareness-raising in wider citizen science and community engagement projects.

In Chapters 4 and 5 of the recently published strategy ‘Cleaner Air for Scotland – Creating a Better Place for Everyone’, the Scottish Government has outlined its intentions for both air quality data collection and use, and public engagement and behaviour change. Further consideration of the role air quality monitoring near schools can play will be part of these proposals.

In light of the tragic incidents over the weekend of 24 th & 25 th July 2021, the LLTTNPA have held a series of urgent meetings with each of the local authorities, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. These partnership meetings are aimed at reviewing existing water safety measures and identifying any potential further actions to be taken both in the short and the longer term.

The next Scottish Government annual budget review will take place in September 2021 for 2022-2023 period. The review will provide LLTNPA with an opportunity to outline to the Scottish Government their planned and committed expenditure and any additional needs for funding taking into account developments and events over the last 12 months.

Across two rounds of the Culture Organisations and Venues Relief Fund (COVR), 511 awards were made, totalling over £21 million. Of this, £11.3 million was awarded to venues through 190 awards. This funding was administered by Creative Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The COVR funds provided emergency support to organisations that provide opportunities for cultural engagement, including but not limited to venues.

The recipients of the first round of COVR funding, awarded in November 2020, can be found here, broken down by (a) organisation and (b) amount received: Scottish Government emergency funds update: Culture Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund (creativescotland.com) .

Within this first round of COVR funding, 82 venues received a total of £7,011,787, as set out in the following table:

The Scottish Government’s air quality grant scheme supports local authorities to deliver any measure that could be included in a local authority air quality action plan. Local authorities seeking financial support to use the Place Standard Tool with an air quality focus, can apply for funding under this grant scheme. All applications will be carefully assessed, both within the Scottish Government and independently, for feasibility, cost effectiveness, value for money, potential effects on local air quality/noise and interrelationships with other measures in the action plan.

In recognition of delays in the negotiation of a new post-2020 global biodiversity framework and associated targets as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government published a high-level Statement of Intent on biodiversity in December 2020. This statement signalled our ambitions for tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, and included a commitment to publish a new biodiversity strategy within a year of CoP15. That is now scheduled to take place in October 2021 in Kunming, China. The strategy will take account of the Dasgupta review alongside a range of other evidence, as well as the new global biodiversity framework, goals and targets and also the emerging EU biodiversity strategy.

The Statement of Intent can be read in full at: www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-biodiversity-strategy-post-2020-statement-intent/pages/1/ .

The majority of new woodlands created in Scotland will, over a 20 year period, sequester more carbon than is released during cultivation, and will continue to absorb carbon for the rest of their growing period. Scotland’s forests are predicted to remain a net sink through the period to 2045 and beyond.

In certain circumstances, where tree growth is expected to be moderate and where the soil is of a particular type carbon accounting can be less predictable and in those situations, greater attention is paid to the method of ground preparation as required through our new cultivation guidance. Scottish Forestry has engaged Forest Research (FR) to examine the impact of carbon release caused by forestry ground cultivation in organo-mineral soils, and is using that evidence to put in place methodologies that will ensure that growing trees will reabsorb carbon released from cultivation as quickly as possible.

Scottish Forestry will no longer approve high impact cultivation techniques, including shallow ploughing and other forms of linear cultivation on peat soils which are over 10cm in depth. Research evidence from FR demonstrates that by doing so there will be no net loss of carbon over a 20 year period, and afterwards the growing trees will continue to sequester and absorb carbon for the rest of the forest rotation.

The Scottish Government takes the protection of its ancient woodlands seriously and there are several existing areas of legislation and policies in place to provide that protection.

NatureScot use the planning system to protect ancient woodland through their engagement with the preparation of development plans. Furthermore, protection for all woodland is in place via felling regulations under the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018 and the Scottish Government’s Control of Woodland Removal Policy , where there is a strong presumption against removing ancient semi-natural woodland.

Anyone wishing to fell trees in Scotland must apply for a Felling Permission and thiswill only be granted if it complies with the principles of sustainable forest management, as set out in the UK Forestry Standard .

The National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) Position Statement , sets out our expectation that NPF4 will strengthen our approach to protecting and restoring the health and quality of Scotland’s natural environment, including considering how we can promote nature based solutions and strengthen policy on woodland protection in association with development, aligned with new provisions on forestry and woodland strategies.

Scottish Forestry and NatureScot are working together to deliver those key recommendations in the Scottish Government’s official response to the Deer Working Group Report relevant to forestry. This includes developing a vision for woodland deer management based on protecting public interests within the context of the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis, and developing actions to deliver these aims through the Wild Deer National Approach.

We are also committed to establishing a National Register of Ancient Woodlands and will work with owners and agencies to maintain and protect them.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-20139 on
‎ 26 August 2021. 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

The process to return Glasgow Prestwick Airport to the private sector continues and decisions have still to be taken in relation to the prospective sale of the business. We have committed to updating Parliament on the sale process at the appropriate stage and to protect the integrity of the process we will not be making any further comment at this time.