Seòmar agus comataidhean

At the end of August 2024 Scottish Water had installed over 900 new CSO monitors, and is on track to deliver on its commitment.

The loss of agricultural land, including the cumulative loss with other recent forestry projects, is considered as part of the formal assessment of significant woodland creation applications.

An agricultural assessment is also normally carried out as part of any woodland creation application. These assessments are prepared by independent agricultural specialists and incorporate feedback with the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division.

Indicative analysis of schemes under development indicates that over 95% of planting is being proposed on LCA classes 5 and 6.

Neither Scottish Government or Scottish Forestry have had recent discussions with Scottish Woodlands regarding community opposition to the Warblaw planting scheme.

The project developer has recently been seeking feedback on their draft planting proposals and planting scheme may change in response to community views.

The Warblaw proposal is currently going through the due diligence (development) stage of the woodland creation application process. This stage is led by the landowner’s forestry agent, Scottish Woodlands. Public consultation events, focussed on this project, were held in April 2023 and August 2024.

Scottish Forestry officials attended these public consultation events, have been copied into community feedback provided to Scottish Woodlands and are aware of the concerns about the project.

Scottish Forestry hasn’t received a formal planting application. When a formal planting application is submitted Scottish Forestry will assess the proposal including carefully considering how community concerns have been addressed, and there will be a further public consultation exercise to inform this assessment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24486 on 24 January 2024. 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.

As noted in the answer to S6W-24486, there is no central database within Scotland or the UK that provides data on dog attacks, broken down by the breed of dog involved.

Data is available from National Records Scotland on deaths from being bitten or struck by a dog in Scotland. Data is also available from Public Health Scotland on the number of inpatient and day case admissions to hospital where a diagnosis of dog attack (bite or strike) was recorded. Data on the breed or type of dogs involved is not recorded.

Information on the number of suspected XL Bully dogs that have been abandoned or handed in to animal welfare charities is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

XL Bully owners who have taken the decision to have their dog euthanised can claim up to £200 compensation from the Scottish Government.

To claim compensation, the owner of the XL Bully must have arranged to have their dog euthanised by 31 July 2024. The euthanisation itself can happen after this date, but arrangements must be in place by this date. The Scottish Government must receive any claim by 30 September 2024.

The Scottish Government has so far received 25 claims for compensation following arrangements being made for the euthanisation of an XL Bully dog.

Where an XL Bully dog owner has decided to have their dog euthanised without seeking compensation from the Scottish Government, the Scottish Government would not be advised by the owner. Therefore, the number of claims for compensation sent to the Scottish Government may not be a full picture of the number of XL Bully dogs euthanised.

Earlier this year I met with the UN Special Rapporteur and we welcome publication of the report.

Our strategic approach to challenge demand for prostitution and improve support for those with experience of it, published in February 2024, recognises that prostitution cannot be considered in isolation, and sets out the Scottish Government’s collective approach, working with stakeholders across the wider public and third sector.

The Scottish Government is developing the third phase of the Ecosystem Fund, building on the success of previous rounds. This follows a comprehensive evaluation of the 2023-24 phase conducted by Scottish Enterprise. Further information about the next phase will be released in due course.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with key stakeholders involved in ScotWind projects, including a recent developer roundtable which I chaired on 13 August 2024, at which CampionWind and MarramWind were both represented. The roundtable included discussions on the need for targeted investment to ensure that the Scottish market is prepared for the pipeline of projects which will be developed through the ScotWind leasing round.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting the offshore wind industry and maximising the significant opportunities to attract inward investment, generate green jobs and grow our regional and national economies. To that end, we are continuing to engage in crucial public sector and industry partnerships such as the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), and we support the industry-led Strategic Investment Model.

We consulted in 2022 on A New Deal for Tenants – draft rented sector strategy. This set out the Scottish Government commitment to deliver a successful and high quality, affordable and fair rented sector and invited views on how we can deliver this for the rented sector as a whole.We are progressing some elements of the New Deal for Tenants through Housing (Scotland) Bill and we are committed to publishing a final rented sector strategy in due course.

With respect to the effect of legislative change that will affect the private rented sector, the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Housing (Scotland) Bill will be published shortly and considers the cumulative impact of policy covering the private rented sector in terms of costs, benefits and risks of proposed legislation.