Chamber and committees

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has a dedicated web page and advisory service in place to give landowners advice and it also has a contract with a beaver expert who provides free advice on mitigation measures. In the last 12 months, SNH has offered specialist support 7 times which included the beaver expert visiting the landowners in question. Of these 7 cases, 3 were on farmland and none were for forestry, although a number were concerned about felling of mature trees on land beside lochs or rivers and 4 were associated with waterways, including 1 where the concern was associated with the impact on a fishery.

The Scottish Government will provide funding towards demonstration mitigation projects and SNH is actively seeking suggestions for demonstration sites from members of the Scottish Beaver Forum. So far, there is only one demonstration project on land near Alyth piloting solutions to erosion of soft banks. Funding for this is available from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Funding for adaptive management such as wetland creation/enhancement or woodland creation is also available through Scottish Rural Development programme or SEPA funding.

The Scottish Government met with representatives of the Electronic Collar Manufacturers Association (ECMA) on 25 June 2015 and 27 October 2016. On 10 December 2015 ECMA representatives attended a Scottish Government stakeholder meeting involving trainers and animal welfare organisations.

The Scottish Government supports action to deter people from flytipping, regardless of whether it is on public or privately-owned land. SEPA and local authorities have powers to fine people who are caught flytipping, with a minimum fixed penalty of £200 up to a maximum fine of £40,000 if prosecuted.

Through Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS), we launched FlyMapper in March 2015 – a new system to record, manage and report flytipping, making it easier to catch offenders and to deal with illegal dumping sites. So, far 27 Local Authorities have registered.

Private land owners, who often include farmers, are responsible for the removal of waste from their land. The guidance ‘Flytipping in Scotland: A Guide To Prevention and Enforcement’ is designed to support local authority and SEPA waste enforcement officers. The guidance recognises that the owners of flytipped land are often the victims of crime. It encourages local authorities and/or SEPA to investigate flytipping on public and private land and to offer assistance, which could include advice to prevent the problem in the future.

Over the next 3 years the following works will be undertaken on the Erskine Bridge, subject to budget provision and competing priorities:

• Installation of central reserve manholes to improve the safety and accessibility of the bridge deck box girder.

• Replacement of the life expired south abutment bridge bearings.

• Completion of the inspection and painting of the main cables.

• Completion of planned re-tensioning of main cables.

• Commence the repainting of bridge superstructure and main towers.

• Miscellaneous isolated deck surfacing repairs, as required

• Potential dehumidification system installation to the main cables.

• Main tower top inspections and other routine maintenance.

Over the next 3 years the traffic management associated with the above works required is as follows:

• The above planned maintenance works shall be undertaken during overnight, off-peak and weekend lane closures.

• There will be no planned peak-time lane closures.

• Emergency services will be permitted through any planned closures.

• Where possible works will be combined under any planned closures.

• The south abutment bearing replacement work will require the complete closure of the bridge overnight over 3 weekends commencing in February 2018.

• Full consultation will take place with stakeholders prior to any works being undertaken.

• Where work cannot be undertaken overnight for safety reasons work will be undertaken utilising weekend lane closures or off-peak lane closures. No peak-time closures are planned thus avoiding serious disruption to commuter traffic.

Of the two businesses subject to fixed monetary penalties, one was inspected on 18 May 2017 and found to be compliant at that time.

The second business was scheduled for re-inspection on 17 November 2017 and its compliance status will be advised when the information is available.

The Scottish Government has met with a number of stakeholders regarding the regulation of electronic dog training collars. These include the Kennel Club and Scottish Kennel Club; Dogs Trust; the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; and the Electronic Collar Manufacturers Association.

Scottish Government requires that fish farms submit information on treatments administered to farmed fish for which they are in withdrawal, in addition to site disease information and mortality rates, in order to inform the fish health inspectorate of fish health at the time of escape. Scottish Government is considering adapting its current publication system to include this information.

The risk to the public of consuming treated escaped farmed salmon is negligible.

The minimum criteria businesses must meet to be considered "fully compliant" with the duty are to:

• take all reasonable steps to ensure the separate collection of dry recyclable waste, and/or

• take all reasonable steps to ensure the separate collection of food waste produced by the food business (where a rural exemption is not applicable).

As defined in amendments made by the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 to Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, this can be summarised as:

• Segregating all target dry recyclables (plastics, metal, glass, paper & cardboard) generated. Businesses will be expected to have and use an internal material segregation system that matches an external recycling collection service from an authorised provider. Recyclables should be free of contamination, e.g. glass should be separately collected from paper and cardboard.

• SEPA’s Food Waste Management Guidance sets out the expectations across the food waste supply chain in order to achieve high quality recycling. Only food waste managed in accordance with this guidance will fulfil the waste acceptance permit condition at food waste treatment facilities. https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/219841/wst-g-049-food-waste-management-in-scotland.pdf.

• All businesses must be compliant with duty of care for waste as set out in the Scottish Government's statutory Duty of Care Code of Practice.

The Scottish Government has no position on those investigating actual or potential animal welfare crime publishing information of these activities, other than to advise them strongly to remain within the applicable law, notably the Contempt of Court Act 1981. Such organisations may publish information as they see fit, although they are unlikely to do so if this will prejudice investigations or potential prosecutions. Organisations whose investigations have resulted in a successful prosecution often publicise the decision of the Courts.

The Scottish Government does not maintain a central register of reports as there is no single definition of a report. We have not conducted a review of reports published or unpublished. We have a commitment to open government including pro-active publication where possible. Scottish Government also follows the Model Publication Scheme developed and approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner.