Chamber and committees

Landowners and managers actions when carrying out muirburn is covered by the Muirburn Code which also sets out the criminal offences associated with irresponsible muirburn.

Decisions on whether any muirburn was reckless and requires prosecution would be a matter for Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Where there is any indication that wilful or reckless fire raising has caused a wildfire, the SFRS will support colleagues within Police Scotland to investigate the circumstances, as is the case across all fire types the SFRS attend.

Such actions could also be classified as wilful fire raising, a common law offence which could result in imprisonment if any perpetrator was found guilty.

I would urge anyone carrying out muirburn to be very mindful of the Code to ensure our natural heritage is not put at risk by wildfires and anyone who feels that a crime has been committed should report this to Police Scotland for investigation.

The vast majority of Ramsar designated land in Scotland is also designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and all land within Ramsar sites is designated as a SSSI and/or as a Natura 2000 site (a Special Protection Area and/or a Special Area of Conservation), appropriate to the site. Our policy remains that Ramsar sites are also Natura 2000 sites and/or SSSI sites and are protected under the relevant statutory regimes.

Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) has been developed through a full public consultation process and subject to all statutory and other assessment requirements as appropriate. In particular, SPP 2014 and any significant policy changes in SPP 2010 were subject to an environmental assessment, with an environmental report published and views invited.

The Scottish Government published guidance in January 2019 on the implementation of Scottish Government policy on protecting Ramsar sites. This guidance restated and explained existing policy contained within Scottish Planning Policy 2014.

The Scottish Government is committed to meeting its obligations under the Ramsar Convention and to providing a high level of protection for Ramsar sites in Scotland, through co-designation with Natura 2000 sites and/or Sites of Special Scientific Interest and protection under the relevant statutory regimes. The guidance published in January 2019 on the implementation of Scottish Government policy on protecting Ramsar sites restated and explained existing policy contained within Scottish Planning Policy 2014, and did not change the level of protection for Ramsar sites.

Ramsar sites have been protected through co-designation with other regimes since they were first designated in Scotland.

The answer referred to does not relate to renewable energy developments. Current policy on renewable energy developments and nature conservation is available on the websites of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Natural Heritage.

The projects receiving funding in 2019/20 can be found here: https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/sustainability-climate-change/climate-challenge-fund/ccf-in-action/funded-projects-map/ .

The total overall spend for 2019-20 is £8 million, from which a total of 87 projects will receive funding.

As the issuing of licences is delegated to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the responsibility falls to them, as the appropriate authority, to ensure compliance with this requirement.

SNH has previously gathered information, including from public consultations, literature review and its own commissioned research, in order to inform this legal test.

In view of the legal challenge in England, SNH is consulting with legal advisers and will consider if any changes may be required to its licences. SNH has also decided to bring forward its consultation on general licensing, originally planned for 2020, to later this year.

If SNH conclude that they need to revise their approach, they have made clear that they will seek to work collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure there is an effective, proportionate and legislatively compliant approach to licensing in Scotland.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-23115 and S5W-23116 on 22 May 2019. 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.