Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government and NatureScot have been focused on the development of the final draft of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and supporting Delivery Plans, which will be published later this year. The Scottish Biodiversity List remains an important part of this framework. NatureScot has already undertaken some preparatory work which will help inform this task, and we will continue to work together to produce a revised list in due course.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS welcomes the inspection report from HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS), and we are encouraged to hear that the Chief Inspector believes that Scotland is ‘leading the way when it comes to managing women in custody’.

SPS acknowledges that it has been just over a year since the opening of HMP & YOI Stirling, and although the report highlights many areas of good practice, there are areas where further development is needed. We are in the process of working through these areas for those in our care, our staff, and our neighbours.

SPS will work collaboratively with HMIPS on the recommendations made and will provide updates to HMIPS on the actions taken forward in the areas that require further development.

We are confident that our transformative and groundbreaking Strategy for Women in Custody, supported by significant investment from the Scottish Government, has delivered a step change in how we support the rehabilitation of women in our care.

On 22 July 2024, the Scottish Government announced that Galloway has been proposed as the location for Scotland’s third National Park. A detailed investigation will now be carried out on its suitability including extensive engagement and consultation with local communities, businesses, interest groups and representatives from the agriculture, forestry and other land-based sectors given their importance in the area. NatureScot has been asked to take forward this investigation and to provide a report to Scottish Ministers by 28 April 2025.

New National Park nominations were also received from groups in Loch Awe, Lochaber, Scottish Borders and Tay Forest.

I have written to all of the groups that submitted nominations, including for Tay Forest, to offer meetings with Scottish Government officials to discuss the outcome of this process and any reflections they may wish to share following its conclusion.

These meetings with officials will offer an opportunity for groups to make the case for such proposals and, where relevant, groups may wish to explore particular elements of their nominations that would merit further consideration. For example, they may wish to explore potential opportunities to support nature restoration and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) Scotland was contracted by Scottish Government in 2014 to help support the delivery and development of BIDs across Scotland. Scottish Government published a report in December 2016 outlining research findings on the impact of the support they provided. The report can be found on the Scottish Government website. Research Findings 9/2016: Review of Business Improvement Districts Scotland (www.gov.scot) .

Since September 2018, Scottish Government has funded Scotland’s Improvement Districts (SIDs), which forms part of Scotland’s Towns Partnership, as the lead organisation for supporting and encouraging the development and success of the nation’s Improvement Districts. Though there are no plans to undertake a formal analysis of their performance, we review progress of BIDs activity with SIDs on a regular basis.

In October 2023, communities were invited to explore and develop proposals for their local area to be considered for designation as Scotland’s next National Park. The nomination phase closed on 29 February and nominations were received from Galloway, Loch Awe, Lochaber, Scottish Borders and Tay Forest.

The appraisal process concluded in May and the appraisal panel’s report has been published on our website: Scotland's New National Park Appraisal Panel: final report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . On 22 July 2024, I announced that Galloway has been confirmed as the proposed location for Scotland’s next National Park. A Reporter process will now be undertaken by NatureScot to consider this proposal. That process will include extensive public consultation and engagement with local communities, stakeholders, businesses, landowners and managers and public bodies to discuss, test and further shape and refine the National Park proposal.

I have written to all nominating groups to offer meetings with Scottish Government officials to discuss the outcome of this process and any reflections they may wish to share following its conclusion.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, I would like to offer our thanks for the considerable time, effort and commitment that all the nominating groups and members of these local communities have invested in exploring and developing their nominations.

Noting the answers previously provided to questions S6W-19916 on 31 July 2024, S6W-26193 and S6W-26194 on 28 March 2024 on this topic, I can confirm it remains our intent to review standard 7.1 (statement of sustainability) to consider further opportunities for building regulations to make a positive contribution to biodiversity within new developments. As this standard sets out additional voluntary actions a developer may adopt, it would promote but not require specific provisions, such as the use of swift bricks, in new buildings.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Urban areas typically have the highest concentrations of roads and as a result any significant road water run-off into rivers usually occurs in these areas. A mix of oils, chemicals and tyre particles from vehicles builds up on urban roads during dry spells and is washed off into drainage systems and watercourses during rainfall events. The resulting runoff can have an impact on our water environment if it enters watercourses before going through any mitigating treatment processes. For example sediment traps, such as road gulleys, or sustainable urban drainage systems designed to filter out as many “first-flush” pollutants as possible.

The widespread, diffuse and sporadic nature of this issue means it has the potential to impact our water environment in a range of ways and makes it challenging to monitor and to address.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) assess the aquatic environment in Scotland through the Water Framework Directive classification. SEPA carries out a range of surveillance, operational and investigative monitoring to assess Scotland’s water bodies and to prioritise and drive improvements and action where needed. SEPA’s monitoring strategy for Scotland’s water environment can be seen here: Scotland's WFD Aquatic Monitoring Strategy (sepa.org.uk)

SEPA has assessed two water bodies (sections of rivers) as having failed to have met the water quality standards, where the reason has been ascribed to road transport.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of managing urban run-off to protect the water environment and to reduce flooding in our towns and cities. The Scottish Government is working to improve how we manage surface water and drainage, including how we can bring in more sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) and blue and green infrastructure into our urban environment to help manage pollution and flooding from urban run-off and reduce pressure on piped urban drainage systems. This is part of our developing policy for the future of the water industry in Scotland in response to the climate emergency. We are also currently consulting on Scotland’s first Flood Resilience Strategy which will focus on actions needed to make our communities more flood resilient over the coming decades. Part of this is looking at how we can make the most of urban green spaces and natural water bodies to capture rainwater where it falls and to reduce run-off and water flowing into our drainage systems. This too will help to reduce the impacts of road run-off on the water environment.

More details on the consultation paper and how to take part can be found here .

Bus operators use their own commercial judgement to decide on service routes, frequency and fare structure, including booking procedures. Any changes must be consistent with the processes enforced by the Traffic Commissioner.

Day to day operational activity and booking processes are the responsibility of individual bus operators in line with their conditions of carriage. The choice to offer advanced booking and charge a fee to passengers including National Entitlement cardholders is at the operator’s discretion.

Where a booking fee is charged it is not part of the National Concessionary Travel Scheme reimbursement process and the Scottish Government does not cover the cost.

Development of a national pilot scheme to provide travel support for people seeking asylum and not currently eligible for the existing National Concessionary Travel Schemes continues with the Working Group. Further information will be published on the Scottish Government website and provided to third sector organisations as preparations for the pilot to open are made.

The scheme will build on learning from the small local and regional pilots that have been delivered by third sector organisations over recent years. Expected learning from the scheme includes impact of providing free bus travel, demand for this concession, the cost of providing this concession, and the practicalities of delivery of such a scheme at the national level.