Chamber and committees

Section 24 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 places an obligation on conservation bodies to review every five years Schedules 5 and 8 and advise Scottish Ministers whether, in their opinion: (a) any animal should be added to, or removed from, Schedule 5; (b) any plant should be added to, or removed from, Schedule 8.

Revised criteria for the review process were agreed by the Chief Scientist Group representing the three statutory nature conservation organisations, including NatureScot. It is not for the Scottish Government to approve the method by which the review mentioned above is undertaken.

The Fuel Poverty Strategy was laid in Parliament on the 9th November and, as set out in the Programme for Government 2021, will be published by the end of this calendar year.

The public appointments process for the independent statutory Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel has been progressed and an announcement on the appointment of the Chair and members of the Panel will be made shortly.

The Scottish Government does not hold that information. Annual school cycle training performance figures for 2021-22, including delivery data from all participating local authorities, will be available in September 2022.

Through Bikeability Scotland, cycling training is available to every primary and secondary school in participating local authorities via a named coordinator. The programme is run by Cycling Scotland and delivery has now resumed following Covid-19 related disruption. Cycling Scotland is now supporting Bikeability coordinators to implement and update their pre-pandemic delivery targets, with the objective that every child has access to on-road cycle training as a life skill.

Through funding from Transport Scotland, Cycling Scotland provides free access to resources and instructor training, and supports local authorities with grant funding totalling over £600,000 per annum to overcome local barriers and increase access to the programme.

There are no plans to hold a further Ferry Industry Advisory Group (FIAG) meeting. Ministers are grateful to former FIAG members for their contributions to the work of the group, which was wide ranging. But by mutual consent of the parties following the last meeting on 17 October 2019, a more targeted approach is now adopted to stakeholder engagement. This continues to ensure that policy decisions are informed by the knowledge and experience of international ferry industry best practice, alongside views of local authorities and the communities served by the ferry services operated on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

Our significantly improved approach to community engagement for new vessel projects is evidenced in positive feedback from the Islay community on their new vessels. We are also working closely with Ferries Community Board to ensure community input into policy development such as regarding fares and managing demand.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a globally respected organisation and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the world’s most comprehensive data resource on the status of species. The List does not however, include all Scottish species and for most of those that are included, assessments are for Great Britain as a whole.

In addition to Red List accounts, NatureScot also considers other factors when providing advice on priority setting, including information on species’ status in Scotland, as well as social and economic factors. This enables the inclusion of species for which there are not yet IUCN assessments available, and allows the Scottish Government to respond to new threats that may not yet be recognised in the Red Lists, which are typically updated every 10 years.

Up-until 2020 100% of sheep flocks selected for inspection had to have a full head count.

For 2020 in order to minimise Covid-19 related risks for farmers/crofters and Scottish Government inspectors the requirement to undertake a full head count at every inspection was removed.

For 2021 a partial head count was reinstated but only for sheep maintained on a farmer/crofter's main holding and sheep maintained on other land within a 5 mile radius of the main holding.

For 2020 and 2021, for farmer/crofters primarily with small flocks or where significant errors are found, some of the inspection controls have the same effect as undertaking a full head count.

The percentage of full flock head counts undertaken in each of the last five years which relate to inspections carried out in Shetland are set out in the following table. Figures for the current year aren't available as inspections are ongoing.

In total, 107 organisations applied to either the first round of funding (2019-2020), the main PIMH Fund (2020-2023) or the Small Grants Fund (2021-2023). Some organisations applied more than once. 33 organisations were successful across all funding rounds (31%). 74 were unsuccessful .

To October 2021, £1,815,641.09 has been distributed to successful organisations via these Funds.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the total number of on-street bike hangers across Scotland, or on the demand for bike hangers. Individual local authorities may hold this information for their respective areas.

The Scottish Government aims to facilitate a constructive relationship between fishers and offshore wind developers in relation to the development of offshore wind energy in Scottish Waters. This is led by Marine Scotland through ‘Commercial Fisheries Working Group’ meetings where the interests of fishers are represented by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA), Community Inshore Fisheries Alliance (CIFA) and Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (rIFGs).

In addition, the Scottish Government’s sectoral marine planning process for offshore renewable energy, which identifies potential areas for future development, involves fishing representatives being invited to join the relevant governance groups, in order to help inform the location of any resultant development areas. Furthermore, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and regional Inshore Fisheries Groups also facilitate the collection of wider views of the fishing sector to support plan development.