Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government publishes updates on progress against its peatland restoration targets in its annual Climate Change Plan monitoring reports each May. The latest of these reports was published on 27 May 2021 and it is available at www.gov.scot/publications/climate-change-plan-monitoring-reports-2021-compendium .

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.

The Scottish Government is committed to protecting Scotland’s marine wildlife. The current regulatory framework provides a high level of individual and site based protection measures for our iconic marine wildlife with processes in place to ensure that action can be taken where required. It is an offence to deliberately or recklessly disturb European protected species, including whales, dolphins and porpoises. Under the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020 these offences could result on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine not exceeding £40,000 (or both) or on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or a fine (or both).

The Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code provides advice on how to minimise disturbance to marine wildlife, when enjoying the Scottish coast. We would encourage anyone watching or encountering marine wildlife to follow its advice at all times.

There are voluntary agreements in some parts of Scotland around the use of jet skis, including duration of use and timings. We are not aware of a specific agreement covering Wardie Bay. These agreements are not a statutory requirement. If someone suspects that a wildlife crime has been committed, they should report the incident to Police Scotland.

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.

The Scotland Act 1998 requires the Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament to include provision that if a Bill in the Scottish Parliament contains provisions which would, if it were a Bill in the UK Parliament, require the consent of the Queen, Crown consent is required.

Rule 9.11 of the Scottish Parliament’s Standing Orders therefore stipulates that if a Bill requires Crown consent, the Parliament cannot debate whether a Bill should be passed unless Crown consent is signified by a member of the Scottish Government. In most cases, where Crown Consent is required and as has been the case since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Crown consent is sought and obtained by the Government shortly before Stage 3 proceedings. On occasion, it may be obtained prior to Stage 1 when the matter is central to the Bill in question.

Members have – and have always had – the opportunity to raise questions as to whether and why Crown consent is required for a particular Bill during its parliamentary passage. Information about the number of times Crown consent has been sought and obtained, and for which Bills, is already available through the Parliament's Official Reports.

In line with the Scottish Government's commitment to transparency we will explore options to provide Parliament with further information about the application of Crown consent in relation to future Bills.

The Parliament’s Standing Orders are required, in accordance with the Scotland Act 1998, to set out that should provisions within a Bill require the Queen’s consent if the Bill were an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, the Bill requires Crown consent. This means that since the establishment of Scottish Parliament in 1999 the interests that determine this matter in the UK Parliament affect the application of Crown consent in the Scottish Parliament. Guidance prepared by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for the United Kingdom Government – Queen's or Prince's Consent – explains details of these interests and is taken into account by the Scottish Government. This guidance is accessible here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-or-princes-consent

The Scottish Parliament's guidance on Public Bills, available on its website, also outlines the interests that would determine the requirement for Crown Consent, notably at paragraphs 2.51-2.54: https://archive2021.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/GuidanceonPublicBills_S5v2_FINAL.pdf

No guidance has been received from representatives of the Crown on the issue of Crown consent.

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 First Minister’s Environmental Council encompass a diverse range of global experts. The group’s membership and remit was announced on the 22 nd of August (details here ). Appointments were made in line with the guidance and requirements set out in the Scottish Government’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, People Strategy and guidance on arranging advice for Ministers. Whilst the First Minister’s Environmental Council is an ad hoc group we have also aligned to the Code of Practice published by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

The aim that 21% of Scotland will be afforested by 2032 was informed by the targets for woodland creation set out in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan 2018-32. The Plan is informed by the legislative targets set out in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019.

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. With the process to return Prestwick Airport to the private sector continuing, it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment further at this time.

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.