Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-29354

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to its announced review of Community Right to Buy, which stakeholders and community groups it plans to invite for informal discussions and how these were selected; whether the review will consider previous independent reviews of community right to buy, and what role it envisages for the Scottish Land Commission in the review process.

The Scottish Government issued a general call for evidence on the Scottish Government’s X Account on 10 July. In addition, since announcing the review on 6 March at a visit to the Heart of Newhaven project in Edinburgh, we have emailed stakeholder and community groups who have engaged with Community Right to Buy to seek their views.

This initial call for evidence will inform a full formal consultation in summer 2025, which will give everyone the opportunity to comment. The response to which will be published and summarised in accordance with standard consultation practice.

The review will consider all of the previous work that has been carried out in exploring the various community rights to buy. The Scottish Land Commission will be involved in discussions along with a wide range of other stakeholders and community groups, throughout the review.

Question reference: S6W-29109

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its agriculture reform programme will meet the recommendation set out in the 2021 report, Just Transition Commission: A national mission for a fairer, greener Scotland, (a) for "a new model of farm advice, with advisory services upscaled and upskilled to help farmers and land managers identify suitable climate action for their land holdings", (b) "to redirect money towards activity that better protects and maintains our land, and supports more sustainable food production" and (c) "to rebuild the connection between consumers and local produce, through integrated food policy, to reward farmers who implement more sustainable methods".

The Agricultural Reform Programme (ARP) will deliver the Vision for Agriculture which makes clear that Scotland will have a robust and coherent framework to underpin our future agricultural support regime from 2025 onwards, that delivers climate mitigation and adaptation, nature restoration and high quality food production. The Agricultural Reform Route Map provides further clarity on how we intend to deliver the ambitions set out in the Vision.

Enhanced direct payments will launch first, as a mechanism to incentivise farmers and crofters take meaningful action for climate and nature. The Enhanced tier is key to deliver the policy outcomes of the Vision and to meet the public commitment that 50% of direct payments will be ‘conditioned’ by 2025. New conditions will be introduced, with revised Greening and Cross Compliance rules, and the introduction of measures such as the Whole Farm Plan. Whole Farm Plans (WFPs) were a recommendation of the Farmer-led Groups. The foundations of the Whole Farm Plan will go live in 2025. The Foundations are 'productivity baselines': soil testing, animal health and welfare declaration, carbon audits, biodiversity audits, and the support for effective business planning. We are committed to delivering a Just Transition and the WFP will be developed with this at the forefront. That is why we will continue to work with the industry to deliver a 'just' sequencing of this requirement, ensuring that those able to contribute the most will drive this change, whilst support is put in place for those who need it.

Preparing for Sustainable Farming(PSF) is already helping businesses prepare for these changes with support for conducting carbon audits and soil sampling, support for animal health and welfare activities and access to herd data for Suckler beef producers through MyHerdStats. This support includes £500 for a Carbon Audit, financial support for soil analysis and up to £1,250 for animal health and welfare. More information about this support can be found on the Rural Payments but, in addition to that, we will be working closely with the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) on communicating with customers impacted by these changes.

It is also vital to consider the food system as a whole, not only in terms of nutritional benefits but in regard to sustainability too. Partnership was key to delivering the Good Food Nation Act, which places duties on Scottish Ministers, local authorities and health boards to produce plans of their food-related policies and set out what they will do to make them a reality. The Good Food Nation Plan will provide the direction for these and was subject to a recent consultation. The National Plan is due to be published next year, with local authority and health board iterations to follow the year after.

Question reference: S6W-29117

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether any of the policies within the Fourth National Planning Framework (NFP4) are prioritised over the others.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) should be read and applied as a whole. A plan-led approach is central to supporting its delivery and it is a legislative requirement that planning decisions must be made in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Annex A to NPF4 outlines how to use the document, It states that it is for the decision maker to determine what weight to give to individual policies in the circumstances of each case.

Question reference: S6W-29105

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment in the Bute House Agreement to "support public sector bodies, as part of their statutory duty under the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018, to identify and implement opportunities to increase tree cover on land they own and manage, with an emphasis on native woodland and natural regeneration" and to "explore if further legislative changes are required to strengthen the duty on public bodies".

The Scottish Government, through its various public bodies is increasing woodland cover on the land that they own and manage and are looking for further opportunities. This includes the landscape scale native woodland creation work being explored by Forestry and Land Scotland at Glen Prosen, and the delivery of significant new woodland by Scottish Water at Loch Katrine. At this time there are no plans to amend the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018 with regards to this policy area.

Question reference: S6W-29118

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) affords more or less weight to the climate and nature emergencies than the previous planning frameworks.

National planning Framework 4 (NPF4) signalled a turning point for the Scottish planning system, placing climate and nature at the heart of decision making. For example, Policy 1: Tackling the climate and nature crises, encourages, promotes and facilitates development that addresses the global climate emergency and nature crisis to achieve zero carbon, nature positive places.

NPF4 integrates these matters into its policies and decision-making processes more comprehensively than previous national planning frameworks.

Question reference: S6W-29108

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2024
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress against each of the recommendations on land use, particularly relating to agriculture, in the 2021 report, Just Transition Commission: A national mission for a fairer, greener Scotland.

The work, advice, and recommendations of the Just Transition Commission (JTC) continue to be an important part of the Scottish Government’s drive towards a Just Transition to our net zero future. We are committed to providing an annual statement to update on the progress of just transition activity, with the date for the next statement yet to be confirmed. The upcoming statement will include information about land use and agriculture as well as the other sectors of importance highlighted by the JTC.

Question reference: S6O-03668

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its reported decision to instruct local authorities to divert money from the Nature Restoration Fund towards local government pay settlements, what discussions the finance secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding action that can be taken to mitigate any impact of this decision on projects aimed at reversing nature loss.

Question reference: S6W-28743

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 23 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on people in Scotland who are refugees, what representations it has made to the UK Government regarding applying the lessons learnt from the schemes to support people from Ukraine and explore ways to offer safe routes to others seeking sanctuary.

Safe and legal routes are crucial to enabling people to seek safety when forced to flee war and persecution. We will continue to engage with the UK Government on issues which impact people living in Scotland, including refugees, people seeking asylum and displaced people. This engagement includes sharing lessons from the experience of over 27,000 Homes for Ukraine visa-holders arriving in Scotland, over 21,000 of which were sponsored by the Scottish Government. We also hope other governments can learn from our work implementing the pioneering New Scots refugee integration strategy; which is a UK-leading integration approach built on a partnership led by the Scottish Government, COSLA and Scottish Refugee Council. We look forward to working closely with the UK Government to deliver a system that is effective and more humane.

Question reference: S6W-28744

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 22 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reports that the salmon farm operator, Bakkafrost, is proposing an extension of its temporary closure of the Arnish Harvest Station and Marybank Processing Facility in Stornoway, putting around 80 employees at risk of redundancy.

The Scottish Government recognises the significant and wide-ranging impacts of the decision by Bakkafrost to temporarily close its Arnish Harvest Station and Marybank Processing Facility in Stornoway.

I met with representatives of Bakkafrost Scotland on 12 July and highlighted the importance of the aquaculture sector to the islands and the negative impact on jobs, the local communities and supply chains and asked whether any further support could be provided to reverse this decision. Officials from the Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have continued in dialogue with the business over recent weeks to consider all viable options to ensure that high value jobs are secured in the region.

The Scottish Government is making arrangements to speak with Bakkafrost’s senior management team, based in the Faroe Islands, as soon as possible to explore ways to mitigate the effects of this decision.

The Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) team has met the company to offer its full range of support to any employees who may be facing redundancy. PACE organised a group meeting for affected staff which was held on 7 August, with further CV/Employability workshops held on 14 and 15 August and a Jobs Fair on 16 August.

Question reference: S6W-28745

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 July 2024
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 August 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on commissioning a review of climate risks to salmon farms, in light of reports suggesting that higher sea temperatures will have serious implications for the viability of these businesses, which could put jobs at risk.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to commission a review of climate change risks to salmon farms, specifically in relation to higher sea temperatures. The Marine Directorate is currently collaborating with partners on a revision of the 2022 Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership’s review on the impacts of climate change on aquaculture, https://www.mccip.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-11/Aquaculture%20Formatted_updated%20and%20returned%20by%20authors.pdf which explores key challenges and emerging issues in this area.

Scotland’s National Adaptation Programme 3 (SNAP3) is due to be laid in Parliament later this year and will set out specific commitments to support the Fisheries and Aquaculture sectors to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

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