Chamber and committees

The Programmes for Government 2017-18 and 2018-19 list the areas of animal welfare legislation that the Scottish Government is taking forward as a priority. The licensing of exotic pets will be considered further in due course, and may be informed by matters raised during the ongoing consultation of the breeding and sale of dogs, cats and rabbits.

The Scottish Government has commissioned the outline business case for the public energy company. This will inform the consultation that we have committed to undertaking in early 2019. Key stakeholders will be invited to participate in workshops that feed into the outline business case later this year.

The Scottish Government has noted the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Research Report 1013 - Survey of the Tayside area beaver population 2017-2018, which highlights the increased number of beavers and their expanding range in the Tayside area.

While it is acknowledged that beavers can have a positive effect on biodiversity, their ability to modify their environment can have a detrimental impact on some types of land use, in particular farming systems where growing crops depends on effective field drainage and flood protection.

The Scottish Government and SNH have been working closely with agriculture and other land management and conservation stakeholders on an approach to the management of beavers and, where necessary, their licensed control when they are given protected species status. This work is nearing completion.

A Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) which will provide protection to beavers will be laid before the Scottish Parliament in due course. The SSI will add beavers to Schedule 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with Ofgem at ministerial and official levels on a number of issues, from developing price controls for electricity and gas network providers, to network charging and access reform, and the development of our network vision.

We use these engagements to stress the importance of these processes and reforms, most of which apply across Great Britain, taking Scottish Government ambitions into account, such as those set out in the 2017 Scottish Energy Strategy. Our engagement also specifically covers our commitment to phase out the need for petrol and diesel vehicles by 2032, and the related need for network infrastructure and regulation to accommodate growing demand for, and numbers of, electric vehicles.

There are matters on which Scottish Goverment is activitly engaging with wider stakeholders as part of our Networks Vision Statement.

The Ambulance Service has been trialling a new clinical response model since November 2016.

The new model is focussed on improving outcomes for patients with immediately life threatening conditions whilst ensuring patients with lower acuity conditions receive the best response to match their need.

An independent evaluation of this new model has been conducted by Stirling University and we will assess this in the coming weeks.

The evidence and data from this evaluation may be used to look at ambulance service targets moving forward.

The vacant and derelict land taskforce will seek to remove the barriers that prevent such land being brought into productive use. It will do so using all available tools that can address the systemic problems that often result in land being unused or underused.

As set out in the answer to question S5W-19082 on 8 October 2018, the Scottish Government is committed to bringing forward proposals to introduce a Compulsory Sales Order (CSO) mechanism to help tackle the blight of abandoned buildings and small plots of land in our towns and communities during the course of this Parliament. We are currently considering the Scottish Land Commission’s proposals on CSOs and will make an announcement on next steps in due course. Should a CSO mechanism be brought into force, it potentially could help the vacant and derelict land taskforce achieve its aims in relation to small plots of vacant or derelict land.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

We are committed to bringing forward proposals during the course of this Parliament to introduce a Compulsory Sales Order mechanism to help tackle the blight of abandoned buildings and small plots of land in our towns and communities. The Scottish Land Commission submitted their proposals for how a Compulsory Sales Order process might work on 13 August of this year. We are currently considering their proposals and will make an announcement about next steps in due course.

The details of the Biodiversity Challenge Fund are currently being developed by Scottish Natural Heritage and an announcement will be made in due course.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) commissioned a survey of impacts of beavers on agricultural land in Tayside in late 2017 / early 2018. SNH also monitors beaver impacts on agricultural land through advisory visits by SNH staff and specialist contractors to farmers experiencing problems. SNH will continue to collate this information through its Scottish Beaver Mitigation Scheme.

The ‘Survey of the Tayside area beaver population 2017-18’ report will be published by SNH in October and the results and progress of ongoing monitoring and the Mitigation Scheme will be reported to the Scottish Beaver Forum and the Scottish Government.

A working group was in place from late 2016 until recently to plan the transition towards a position where the ban could be enforced, with membership from NFUS, SEPA, Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Government and waste plastics collectors and reprocessors.

Through the work of the Group, it has been established that in most areas of the country there are waste collection services available, and that the network will expand further once there is a clear timescale for the ban to be enforced. SEPA is providing full guidance to farmers on what they need to do in any given set of circumstance, (see https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/waste/agricultural-waste/burning-on-farm-waste/ ) and will provide assistance where needed.