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Sustainable agriculture in Scotland has a vital role in producing high quality food for the nation, helping to reduce carbon emissions, delivering wider environmental benefits and improved biodiversity, and ensuring we use appropriate land to allow us to meet our climate change targets.

We are taking a partnership approach to addressing climate change within agriculture. We are building on the work of the farmer-led groups, through the establishment of the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board which is co-chaired by the President of the NFUS and has a number of farmers on the Board, and we are seeking wider stakeholder views through our consultation on ‘Agricultural Transition in Scotland: first steps towards our national policy’ which is open until 17 November 2021. We also have other existing networks through which we engage with farmers and land managers, including the Agriculture and Rural Development Stakeholder Group, the Farm Advisory Service, Farming for a Better Climate initiative, the Crofting Commission, the Integrating Trees Network and new initiatives being established for new entrants to farming.

An overview of the expected phases of the external review of the current regulatory processes involved in fish farming can be found on the Scottish Government website at: Aquaculture: external review of the current regulatory processes involved in fish farming - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Terms of Reference for the independent review is available on the Scottish Government website at: Aquaculture: external review of the current regulatory processes involved in fish farming - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We asked the Salmon Interactions Working Group to consider the conclusions of the 2018 report by the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, Salmon Farming in Scotland , and to provide recommendations on a future interactions approach.

As committed to in the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party shared policy programme, we will respond to the Salmon Interactions Working Group Report this month and there will be a consultation on the spatially adaptive sea lice risk assessment framework for fish farms which has been progressed by the technical working group of statutory bodies.

The regulatory review will help to inform what more can be done within the current regime to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the regulatory framework and consider options on how to deliver further reform in the longer term.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Farming for 1.5 report and will consider the recommendations carefully along with the other reports recently received, including the five farming sector farmer-led groups.

We have established the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board which will contribute to the Scottish Government’s work to implement policy reform, incorporating the relevant recommendations of the farmer-led groups to cut emissions across agriculture, support the production of sustainable, high quality food, and design a new support system and approach.

The Board will create a package of measures, which we will fund, that can be agreed as part of our approach to COP 26. This National Test Programme will include early progress on reducing livestock emissions and the package should be implemented by spring 2022 with recruitment of farmers and crofters expected to begin this autumn. It should also be noted that Mike Robinson, co-chair of Farming 1.5, is a member of the Board.

The Scottish Government recognises the heavy impact of the pandemic on city centres.

We have supported many city centre businesses through our investment of more than £3.7bn in business support across Scotland.

The City Centre Recovery Task Force started its work in March this year, as a partnership between the Scottish Government and our seven cities. We kick-started that work with investment of a £2m City Centre Recovery Fund, which has already supported a range of projects including virtual cultural events, marketing campaigns and support for businesses to make more use of outdoor areas. That is in addition to our £2m Regional Recovery Fund, which cities also benefitted from.

The Task Force will allow our cities to put forward proposals that meet their own individual needs, and it present its recommendations for action this autumn. In the meantime, we continue to work with the cities individually as well as collectively. I will attend a meeting of Glasgow’s own City Centre Task Force on 27 October, following engagement by the Deputy First Minister who has attended previously.

The Scottish Government supports Scottish Canals to conserve Scotland’s canals as part of our heritage, and transform them to play a vital role in local communities and as an asset for all of Scotland.

Scottish Canals is engaged in regeneration projects across the canal network as part of how it delivers wider public value and is a key partner working with local authorities, local communities and funders to deliver projects that will bring about a wide range of benefits for many communities which sit along the canal network. Recent projects include The Claypits, Bowling Harbour and the Ardrishaig Egg Shed.

Our Position Statement, published in November 2020, confirmed that we expect National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) to contribute to meeting our target of net-zero emissions within an overarching goal of addressing climate change. The draft NPF4, which will be laid in the Scottish Parliament this autumn, will set out a draft spatial strategy and proposed national planning policies to achieve this.

Heating engineers are vital to the success of our Heat in Building Strategy which sets out how we will achieve our Net Zero Emissions in Scottish buildings by 2045. Ensuring heating engineers are sufficiently trained in the repair and installation of zero emissions heating are a key part of this. Our support for this includes:

• A doubling of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund to £20m - enabling employers to access up to £15,000 each to address skills gaps in their workforce. This fund is available to all Scottish employers, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

• Providing funding to support apprentices with zero emissions heat skills with 95 apprentices applying for funding across five Scottish colleges.
‎• Funding zero emissions training equipment (e.g. heat pumps) for colleges in the north of Scotland to ensure pan-Scotland training provision (colleges in the south of Scotland have benefited from Scottish Power’s Green Economy Fund). By the end of this financial year there will be 13 training centres - including the North East Scotland College (currently installing their equipment) - across Scotland covering repair and maintenance of heat pumps.

In addition, we have also been working with industry, the sector skills bodies and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to develop skill requirements for zero emission technologies that will help professionalise the sector and provide career pathways for young people. We have also set up an independent group to provide recommendations to Scottish Ministers on the potential scope and content of a heat pump sector deal with an interim report published in June and we will respond to final version once published.

Finally, we are working hard to unlock workforce investment by driving up the demand for products and services in the zero emissions heat and energy efficiency sector. This includes investing almost £1.8bn to build upon, expand and improve our heat and energy efficiency funding programmes over the next five years, and a proposed framework of regulations to require action from building owners.

This information is not held centrally.

As part of our ongoing review of existing land value capture mechanisms, we commissioned independent research on the value of developer contributions in Scotland. The research, which was published in July 2021, estimated that the value of contributions agreed by Scottish authorities in 2019-20 was approximately £500m.

However, the research highlighted a lack of consistency between authorities in terms of the way information on planning obligations is recorded at the local authority level.

Scottish Ministers have powers under the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 to require the publication of, and annual reporting on, planning obligations entered into by planning authorities. The implementation of these powers forms part of the Scottish Government’s planning reform programme, much of which has been delayed by the pandemic. Nevertheless, we remain committed to introducing new reporting requirements for planning obligations in order to improve transparency around their use. We are currently in the process of updating the implementation programme for the remaining aspects of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and will publish this in due course.