Chamber and committees

The seaweed sector is being considered as part of our broader regulatory review on aquaculture, beginning with the independent report by Professor Russel Griggs published earlier this year. As a next step and in response to the recommendations set out by Professor Griggs, I have set up and Chair the Scottish Aquaculture Council, which represents a range of stakeholders interested in the aquaculture sector and its environmental, economic and social impacts.

We are committed to taking action on aquaculture regulatory reform, which will include the seaweed sector. A consenting task group is being set up by officials that will examine possible improvements in processes and procedures including consultation mechanisms for all aquaculture consenting, while maintaining current roles and responsibilities.

The Scottish Government introduced the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament on 20th June 2022. As part of the approach to the National Care Service, ethical commissioning and ethical procurement will be used to shape all commissioning and procurement decision making.

Local bodies will be required to have a strategic plan, setting out their arrangements and vision for how services will be provided, this will include an ethical commissioning strategy in relation to those services.

Company law and corporation tax are reserved to the UK Government. This means the Scottish Government has no powers to legislate in these areas or to discriminate against firms who take tax avoidance measures that UK rules allow.

The Scottish Government supports measures to ensure that businesses pay a fair amount of tax, such as the development of international, multilateral measures to combat tax avoidance and protect national tax bases. We believe that businesses have an ethical obligation to deal openly with their tax affairs and to avoid engaging in artificial arrangements simply to reduce their tax liabilities.

We are committed to bringing forward an ambitious new Land Reform Bill in 2023, which will build on our land reform measures to date and will further tackle Scotland’s historically unequal patterns of land ownership. The public consultation on the Bill, “Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation” , launched on 4 July, and will be open until 25 September.

The consultation includes measures to regulate the market in transfers of large-scale landholdings, including through the introduction of a Public Interest Test. This measure will ensure that the public interest is considered on transfers of large-scale landholdings.

As we develop the proposals for the Land Reform Bill, we will consider measures regarding the acquisition, use and management of land in place in other European countries, taking into account the rationale and legal basis for these measures, and consider other sources of evidence.

We will work with all stakeholders to develop the proposals outlined in consultation document, and welcome views on the proposals. The public consultation will play an important role in building the evidence base to support the development of our proposals.

Our proposals will be fully compliant with the ECHR, including the right to private property, and the terms of the current devolution settlement. But they will also be ambitious, and designed to ensure that land plays it full part in delivering the vision set out by the Just Transition Commission - a fairer, greener future for all. This reflects the principled position of the Scottish Government, and our explicit commitment to respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights for every member of society.

I am pleased to advise Parliament that the Scottish Government is continuing to deliver on its commitment to give people the information they need to make an informed choice about their future, and is today publishing Renewing Democracy through Independence .

As our second scene-setting paper for the Building a New Scotland prospectus series, the paper sets out the evidence in support of the democratic case for independence. Renewing Democracy through Independence sets out the Scottish Government’s view that the people of Scotland have the right to choose their own future, and the opportunities for democratic government offered by Scotland becoming an independent country.

Building a New Scotland: Renewing Democracy through Independence is available to view on the Scottish Government website from today:

• https://www.gov.scot/newscotland

The Scottish Government has committed to the introduction of a Human Rights Bill within this Parliamentary session (2021-26) and we will consult on proposals this year.

The Human Rights Bill will incorporate the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which includes a right to adequate food as an essential part of the overall right to an adequate standard of living, into Scots law, as far as possible within devolved competence.

Scottish Government requires local authorities to assess, set out and monitor delivery against affordable housing priorities through Local Housing Strategy and Strategic Housing Investment Plans, which should be available on the relevant local authority websites. Planning authorities are responsible for the determination of planning permission in accordance with the development plan and relevant material considerations. Development plans set out where new development should and shouldn’t happen in the places they cover, enabling delivery of the right development in the right place.

Work to develop the establishment of Scottish Cities of Refuge will start later in this Parliamentary term.

The development of Cities of Refuge will align with the approach of our New Scots refugee integration strategy, which sets out the vision of a welcoming Scotland, where people seeking protection are supported to rebuild their lives from the day they arrive.

The INTOG Initial Plan Framework has set out a series of geographic areas where no projects will be considered. This primarily affects the Innovation category of projects as Targeted Oil and Gas projects would naturally be located further offshore. These exclusions will help by ensuring projects are not located in areas that are more likely to negatively interact with other projects and on already sensitive receptors and thus delay adoption of the plan. Additionally, the planning and leasing processes have been designed to overlap to allow projects to progress as quickly as possible.

More specifically, all Innovation projects will also be required to deliver Supply Chain Development Statements setting out and committing to investment in supply chain for the project. Like ScotWind, these commitments will be subject to penalties if not met. Applications to Marine Scotland Directorate for relevant consents and licences for INTOG will also benefit from the streamlining work currently underway .

The Investing in Scotland’s Future: Resource Spending Review confirmed that the Scottish Government will work closely with COSLA to agree a New Deal for Local Government, in advance of the next financial year. This will be based on the twin pillars of a new Fiscal Framework and an accompanying partnership agreement with Local Government. The New Deal will also build on the Local Governance Review, and help to bring a sharpened focus on ensuring the review arrives at a set of findings which can transform local democracy in Scotland.