Chamber and committees

SESplan 2 is an important and complex case requiring detailed and very careful consideration prior to a decision being issued. As that consideration is ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.

I have been advised by Scottish Government Officials supporting the review that the information gathering phase of review is complete and the compilation of the review report is in the final stages, however with many organisations still actively involved in finalising the detailed work of this review, it is not yet possible to give an exact date for publication.

Whilst it is not possible to give an exact date for publication, the expectation of the review team is that a submission containing the report will be forwarded to myself and other ministers with portfolio interests within a few weeks, whereupon the process to publication will be initiated. I will keep you updated and write to you when the review is published.

The results of the Climate Challenge Fund review are currently being analysed. We will provide further information in due course.

In all previous years, the Climate Challenge Fund administrator Keep Scotland Beautiful were given an indicative budget for the Climate Challenge Fund. The independent Grants Panel made recommendations within that indicative budget and in every year from 2014 to 2018, all projects recommended for funding by the Panel were funded.

In 2019, the process for agreeing and adopting the Scottish Government budget had not concluded by the time of the panel meeting. This meant that it was not possible to provide an indicative budget to KSB and unlike previous years it was therefore necessary for the panel to rank all projects, with no budgetary cut-off. When budgets were confirmed, there were 43 projects that were deemed to meet the minimum criteria for funding that were not funded.

Continued participation in the work of the European Environment Agency would offer benefits in terms of continued access to long-term data sets, monitoring information and expertise, with benefits for Scottish organisations including our research institutions. At a recent Defra and Devolved Administration Inter-Ministerial Group, I asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to confirm the UK Government’s position on UK membership.

The Scottish Government’s Consultation on Environmental Principles and Governance in Scotland, which closes on 11 May 2019, highlights the important role currently played by the European Environment Agency and seeks views on the impact of the loss of engagement with the EU on monitoring, measuring and reporting on environmental outcomes should the UK exit the EU. Following this consultation, we shall continue to develop our policy for future environmental governance in Scotland.

The report of the examination of the proposed SESplan 2 Strategic Development Plan was submitted to Scottish Ministers on 20 July 2018 and was followed in September 2018 by an addendum to the report.

SESplan 2 is an important and complex case requiring very detailed and careful consideration. While Ministers cannot presently confirm a timescale for completion, we will complete handling as soon as possible.

An independent panel makes recommendations to Ministers on which projects to support through the Climate Challenge Fund. The Panel has representatives from community groups, the third sector and local government and includes two representatives of young people. The Panel assesses each project to ensure that minimum funding criteria are met.

Officials are not involved in the decision-making process, but attend the Panel meetings as observers, and prepare the Panel’s recommendations for Ministers, including an assessment of affordability.

Scottish Ministers take the final decisions about which projects to support based on the advice from the Panel. To date, Ministers have accepted the Panel’s recommendations and funded all projects for which funding was available.

The amount awarded from the Climate Challenge Fund to organisations in each of the last five financial years is set out in the following table:

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21904 on 21 March 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 .