Chamber and committees

There is no scheduled update of the Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) wind farm footprint map. The Scottish Government and SNH are in discussion with the UK Government about securing more comprehensive data on wind turbines supporting better mapping of wind turbines across the country on which everybody can rely. The Scottish Government and SNH are doing this in response to criticism that the wind farm footprint map previously produced by SNH was incomplete. SNH’s wind farm footprint map did not comprehensively capture all small scale wind farms and single turbines primarily as their remit was focussed on commenting on large scale wind farms.

The Scottish Government encourages public bodies to inform it of the publication of reports on the biodiversity duty, however such notification is not a requirement. Therefore, we do not hold complete information regarding which public bodies are still to report on activities under the biodiversity duty. The answer to question S4W-24766 on 17 March 2015 lists those organisations which have informed the Scottish Government that they have published a report.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013 commenced on 16 September 2013. There have been no offences recorded under this Act on the Scottish Government criminal proceedings database. The latest data recorded on the database is for the financial year 2013-14.

The Protection of Animals Act 1911 section 1(1)(c) makes it an offence to bait animals and there were no proceedings under this Act in the period referred to.

The following table presents the number of persons proceeded against for the crime group offences involving badgers, some of which may relate to badger baiting. Section 1 of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 refers to ‘Taking, injuring or killing badgers’, Section 2 ‘Cruelty’, Section 3 ‘Interfering with badger setts’ and Section 11 ‘Powers of constables’.

Persons proceeded against in Scottish courts for related to badgers¹, 2005-06 to 2013-14

1. Where main offence

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area.

The Scottish Government take the threat of the introduction of the small hive beetle (SHB) extremely seriously. The Scottish Government has a contingency plan in place for any outbreak of SHB in Scotland and has taken a number of actions to ensure early detection of SHB which can be found in the answer to question S4W-24690 on 11 March 2015.

In order to prevent the spread of SHB it is important that beekeepers exercise care to ensure that pests and diseases are not imported into the UK. The best defence is for beekeepers to be proactive in making themselves aware of the signs of diseases and to source bees that are healthy.

The Scottish Government maintains close contacts with both UK Government policy colleagues in Defra as well as the National Bee Unit in York which is part of the UK Government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency. The Scottish Government also sits on the Bee Health Advisory Forum where SHB has been discussed at recent meetings.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with other government departments and agencies to learn lessons from the ash dieback outbreak in 2012 and to ensure we have a robust system in place to maintain and improve our resilience to pest and disease threats.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture contains suggested criteria for the treatment of sea lice on individual farms sites rather than limits.

The latest report highlights the ongoing challenge faced by industry in relation to the management of sea lice, particularly when coupled with the unpredictable environmental events experienced in Scottish marine waters during 2014. The Scottish Government and the fish farming industry continue to invest in research into improving sea lice management. The recently launched, and government funded, Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre has identified improved sea lice control as a key priority.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of protecting our pollinators and is involved in a number of actions and initiatives to support pollinators. Through the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity (2013) and the Honey Bee Health Strategy for Scotland (2010) the Scottish Government will continue to work with stakeholders to achieve a sustainable population of honey bees.

In addition, the Scottish Government is contributing to a Defra-led research project which is designing and testing a national pollinator and pollination monitoring scheme. We are also supporting a number of agri-environment options in the new Scotland Rural Development Programme which are beneficial to pollinators.

We are also in the process of developing a national pollinator strategy in collaboration with Scottish Natural Heritage. This will focus on the conservation of wild bees and other insect pollinators, while making linkages to our existing work on honey bees. There will be an opportunity for interested parties to feed into the public consultation for this strategy later in 2015.

The Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture is a voluntary accredited code and is independently audited to ensure membership compliance.

The Scottish Government is commissioning a research project to evaluate the compliance and quality of biodiversity duty reports. It will also revise the guidance available to public bodies. The research project will begin later in 2015.

Although the Scottish Government encourages public bodies to inform it of publication of their reports on the biodiversity duty, it is not a requirement for public bodies do so. From the reports notified to the Scottish Government, a total of 25 local authorities and nine other public bodies have published a biodiversity duty report. The Scottish Government has also published a report.

Links to these reports are listed below:

Aberdeen City Council

http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/web/files/Natural_Heritage/ACC_Biodiversity_Duty_Report_2014.pdf

Aberdeenshire Council

http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/green/BiodiversityDutyReporting.asp

Angus Council

https://archive.angus.gov.uk/sustainability/pdfs/AngusStatutoryBiodiversityDutyReport.pdf

Argyll and Bute Council

http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s96026/Biodiversity%20Duty%20Reporting%20December%202014.pdf

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

http://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/biodiversity/duty.asp

Dumfries and Galloway Council

http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=15493&p=0 .

East Dunbartonshire Council

http://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/content/environment/green_issues/biodiversity.aspx

East Lothian Council

http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/379/countryside_and_wildlife/1498/biodiversity

East Renfrewshire Council

http://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=13410&p=0

Edinburgh Council

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/45061/item_no_77_-_edinburgh_biodiversity_duty_report_2012-14

Falkirk Council

http://www.falkirk.gov.uk/services/environment/docs/biodiversity/Biodiversity%20duty%20report.pdf?v=201412171040

Fife Council

http://publications.1fife.org.uk/uploadfiles/publications/c64_BiodiversityDutyReport-FifeCouncil-2012-2014.pdf

Glasgow City Council

https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=26673&p=0

Highland Council

http://www.highland.gov.uk/info/1210/environment/68/biodiversity

Inverclyde Council

http://www.inverclyde.gov.uk

Midlothian Council

www.midlothian.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/4176/6_appendix

Moray Council

http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_1861.html

North Ayrshire Council

http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/resident/planning-and-building-standards/conservation-natural-environment/biodiversity-and-conservation-information.aspx

Orkney Islands Council

http://www.orkney.gov.uk/Service-Directory/B/Biodiversity.htm

Perth and Kinross Council

http://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/2483/Planning-and-Biodiversity

Scottish Borders Council

http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/info/1225/countryside_farming_and_wildlife/964/biodiversity

South Ayrshire Council

www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk

South Lanarkshire Council

www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk

Stirling Council

http://www.stirling.gov.uk/services/planning-and-the-environment/conservation/conservation-countryside

West Lothian Council

http://www.westlothian.gov.uk/article/2208/Biodiversity-in-West-Lothian

Forestry Commission Scotland

http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/supporting/strategy-policy-guidance/forestry-strategy 

http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/supporting/strategy-policy-guidance/biodiversity

NHS Shetland

http://www.shb.scot.nhs.uk/board/policies/ActivityReportNHSShetlandBiodiversity2011-2014.pdf

NHS Tayside

http://www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk/Publications/index.htm

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

http://www.rbge.org.uk/assets/files/about_us/Corporate_Info/RBGE%20Biodiversity%20Duty%20Report%202011-14%20v1compressed%20copy.pdf

Scottish Enterprise

http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/knowledge-hub/articles/publication/biodiversity-report

Scottish Government

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/Wildlife-Habitats/biodiversity/duty

Scottish Legal Complaints

http://www.scottishlegalcomplaints.org.uk/about-slcc/what-we-do/our-processes/biodiversity.aspx

Scottish Natural Heritage

http://www.snh.gov.uk/about-scotlands-nature/scotlands-biodiversity/snh-and-biodiversity/

Scottish Water

www.scottishwater.co.uk/climatechange

SEPA

http://www.sepa.org.uk/science_and_research/what_we_do/biodiversity.aspx