Chamber and committees

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has a dedicated web page and advisory service in place to give farmers one-on-one advice and help on the ground. Farmers can get more information at: http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/beavers/beaver-management-advice

Advice to farmers and others was formalised with the creation of the Tayside Beaver Study Group in 2012 when the field officer provided a bespoke service. This service has been carried forward to the present with a specialist contractor working for SNH. SNH will continue to work with stakeholders to seek to develop solutions and mitigation measures which will underpin further advice to those landowners that are affected by beaver activity.

A range of detailed studies were undertaken at Knapdale, Argyll as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial. Monitoring took place from 2009-2014, and reporting was concluded in 2015. The independent monitoring programme was coordinated by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and involved a number of partner organisations. Beaver interactions with species and habitats, such as aquatic macrophytes, woodland habitat (including Atlantic hazel woodland), river habitat, otter, fish, and odonata were monitored. Individual monitoring reports can be found at www.snh.gov.uk/beavers-in-scotland and a summary is provided in the SNH ‘Beavers in Scotland’ report published in 2015.

Measures of biodiversity change have not been monitored in the Tayside area to any significant extent at the catchment scale, partly because the presence of beavers there was unplanned and limited baseline information is available.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has had extensive and wide ranging discussions with numerous beaver specialists and managers, country agency staff and academics over the 21 years since it started investigating beaver reintroduction issues.

This has resulted in the development of a wide network of specialists from across North America and Europe that the Scottish Government can now draw on for advice. Much of the advice provided so far has been incorporated within a range of publications produced by SNH, which can be viewed at www.snh.gov.uk/beavers-in-scotland. This includes the substantial ‘Beavers in Scotland’ report published by SNH in 2015.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Scottish Natural Heritage, and other partners are presently developing a proposal to undertake a full census of breeding seabirds. In addition, the JNCC are developing a UK wide marine biodiversity monitoring strategy for consideration by the Scottish Government and other UK administrations. This will include the monitoring of marine birds.

Identification of communities with no or inadequate public transport in the West of Scotland is under the responsibility of the local authorities and SPT who, through their Regional Transport Strategy, must take account of the differing strategic needs in the area and look opportunities to make improvements.

The Scottish Government has discussed animal welfare with stakeholder organisations throughout 2016, but there have been no specific discussions on the gifting of animals at Christmas. Independent animal charities, such as the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Dogs Trust, have issued a seasonal reminder that pets are not suitable gifts.

The Scottish Government endorses the view that owning an animal entails a lifetime welfare commitment and that all animals should go to permanent, loving homes.

The Scottish Government is taking action on improving the condition of Scotland’s Native Woodlands including Caledonian woodland through its commitments in the Scottish Biodiversity 2020 Route Map. There is not a specific target or stated optimum level of native Caledonian woodland restoration.

While the Scottish Government recognises the important contribution our existing National Parks make to tourism, conservation and the wider Scottish economy, any new national parks would incur significant costs. At a time of pressures on public finances, we do not believe that it is right to raise expectations regarding the designation of new national parks. We will therefore continue to focus our support on our existing Parks so that they can continue their track record of success.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The ownership and management of Scotland's network of National Nature Reserves (NNRs) is shared between a range of public, third sector and private interests and there is no centrally-held record of funding.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is directly involved in the management of 30 of Scotland’s 41 NNRs. Of these, SNH is the sole manager of 24 NNRs and manages 6 in partnership with an None Governmental Organisations (NGO) and/or a public body or private landowner. NGOs and other public bodies manage 11 NNRs.

SNH does not hold information on its expenditure on NNRs but its overall land management expenditure (the majority of which is on NNRs) is provided in the following table.

Approved funding for NNRs from Forestry Commission Scotland forestry grants in each of the last five years is provided in the following table.