Chamber and committees

Local authorities are responsible for the development and delivery of flood protection schemes. The 2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategies included 42 formal flood protection schemes. Local authorities were expected to start work on development of these schemes by 2021. However as flood protection schemes can have significant impacts on individuals, communities and the environment, and so require careful and detailed planning and consultation, it was recognised that construction work may not be completed within the 2015-2021 timeframe.

Schemes (a) under construction are as follows:

Crown Estate Scotland does not have powers to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order.

Flood Risk Management Plans for the period 2022-2028 were approved by Scottish Ministers in December 2021 and published by SEPA in January 2022. They coordinate the efforts of all organisations that tackle flooding to where the risk of flooding and benefits of investment are greatest. They state the objectives, as agreed by responsible authorities, for tackling floods in areas at risk of flooding. Actions that will then deliver these objectives are described and prioritised in six-year planning cycles.

The plans contain proposals for a number of new flood protection schemes. Local authorities are now in the process of preparing Local Flood Risk Management Plans (LFRMPs) which are due to be published by the end of December 2022. The LFRMPs will provide more detail on how, and when, the actions set out in the Flood Risk Management Plans for 2022-2028 will be delivered.

We are currently reviewing the F-gas Regulation jointly with the UK and Welsh Governments. We will publish an assessment report on the efficacy of the Regulation in the coming weeks.

Following the report, we will jointly consider policy options to ensure our regulations continue to support our ambitious Net Zero targets. As part of this, we will also consider other important issues including leakage incidents. We expect to publish a joint consultation on these future policy proposals in due course.

No further flood protection schemes or engineering works have been removed from the list of the 42 formal flood protection schemes since the answer to question S6W-05146.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12543 on 13 December 2022. 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

The proposal for a time-limited pilot of single judge rape trials as recommended by the Lady Dorrian Review continues to be considered. Stakeholders have been engaged through a short life Working Group which brought together partners from across the justice system to give detailed consideration to proposals for implementing any pilot. Broader views on the proposal have also been sought through recent public consultation.

An independent analysis of the consultation responses and the Working Group’s findings will be published in December 2022. This material will be considered along with responses to the earlier consultation on Not Proven and associated reforms. To ensure the package of reforms maintains balance in the system and supports complainers to give their best evidence, the potential reforms will be considered together.

The independent analysis of responses to the consultation on improving victims' experiences of the justice system was published on 12 December 2022. The report can be accessed at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805253235 .

Responses to the consultation, where permission to publish them has been given, can be accessed at Improving victims' experiences of the justice system: consultation - Scottish Government - Citizen Space .

The Lady Dorrian Review Governance Group has met on six occasions since it was established in December 2021 facilitating cross justice sector consideration of the Review's recommendations. The Governance Group established four working groups to conduct detailed consideration of a number of recommendations made by the Review. Three of the working groups have now concluded and their findings have been considered and endorsed by the Governance Group. The findings and recommendations of those working groups will be published in December 2022.

The duty to carry out Island Communities Impact Assessments came into force on 23 December 2020. All ICIAs and decisions not to carry out an ICIA are published by the Scottish Government and are readily available to access online .