Chamber and committees

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) produces passenger rail usage figures for all Train Operating Companies. All figures can be obtained from the ORR’s website, noting that for the most recent passenger rail usage data set (October 2020) Caledonian Sleeper was not included due to high levels of uncertainty around actual usage as a result of Covid-19:-

http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1836/passenger-rail-usage-2020-21-q1.pdf

Scotland currently contributes to assessments for both OSPAR and as part of the UK Marine Assessment on the extent of physical damage to predominant seafloor habitats. These assessments include a component relating to scallop dredging for all vessels over 12m in length.

OSPAR assessment: https://oap.ospar.org/en/ospar-assessments/intermediate-assessment
-2017/biodiversity-status/habitats/extent-physical-damage-predominant-and-special-habitats/

UK Marine Strategy assessment: https://moat.cefas.co.uk/biodiversity-food-webs-and-
marine-protected-areas/benthic-habitats/physical-damage/

Ministerial oversight of the activities of the Security Service is reserved to the UK Government .

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner is statutorily responsible for providing independent oversight and authorisation of the use of investigatory powers by intelligence agencies (including the Security Service), police forces and other public authorities across the UK.

The Scottish Government has been in regular dialogue with the UK Government as the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill has been developed.

I do not intend to publish the correspondence at this time as disclosing it would likely prejudice substantially relations between the Scottish and UK Governments while discussions are ongoing, and it is important that we remain able to engage constructively with the UK Government.

The Scottish Government pressed the UK Government to extend the Undercover Policing Inquiry for England and Wales (the Pitchford Inquiry) to cover English and Welsh police activity in Scotland. This was consistently refused by the UK Government .

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill seeks to amend both the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ( RIPA) and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000 (RIP(S)A), to introduce a Criminal Conduct Authorisation under which certain public authorities listed in the Bill may, if person authorising it believes that the authorisation is necessary in terms of the Bill and proportionate to what is sought to be achieved, authorise criminal conduct in the course of, or otherwise in connection with, the conduct of a covert human intelligence source.

The legislative consent of the Scottish Parliament will be required in relation to the proposed amendments to RIP(S)A and in so far as it will be possible for agencies under RIPA to authorise conduct as necessary for the purpose of the prevention and detection of crime and of preventing disorder in Scotland.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and myself have engaged, and continue to engage, directly with the United Kingdom Government to ensure, among other things, that my position as the independent head of the system of prosecution in Scotland is understood, and to preserve the potential for independent prosecutorial action, in the public interest, where criminal conduct is not properly or appropriately authorised under the Criminal Conduct Authorisation scheme. Such potential prosecutorial scrutiny is important: as a key safeguard against abuse; to maintain the integrity of the criminal law in Scotland; and to maintain the fundamental principle that Government and all its agencies are subject to, and act in accordance with, the law.

The West of Scotland MPA covers waters subject to fisheries management measures under the EU Deep Sea Fisheries Regulation 2016/2336 that bans deep sea trawling in waters at depths greater than 800m. The site is therefore already covered by existing enforcement capacity, including three marine protection vessels and two surveillance aircraft, which are deployed following assessments against risks and priorities at any given moment of time.

Scottish Government guidance to public bodies on their climate change duties has, since 2011, set out that impacts on climate change and sustainability should routinely be part of the decision-making process, and suggests major bodies use carbon impact assessments.

The Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020, laid in Parliament on 14 September, will significantly strengthen the requirements on around 180 listed public bodies, including local authorities, by requiring them to report a target date for achieving zero direct emissions from their own operations or such other targets that demonstrate their contribution to Scotland’s national emissions targets.

To help drive the decarbonisation of the public sector estate, as detailed in our 2019-2020 Programme for Government, we are committed to engaging with public sector partners, including local authorities, to further develop and implement a Net Zero Carbon Standard for new public buildings, which will achieve a step change improvement in net zero carbon and operational energy.

Under the terms of our Operating Company maintenance contracts, our Trunk Road Operating Companies are contractually required to visually inspect all road markings every 12 months and undertake night time reflectivity safety inspections every 6 months. Weekly safety inspections are also undertaken to identify safety critical defects.

These inspections are used to identify road marking defects which are risk assessed and prioritised for repair, taking into account the site characteristics at individual locations, including roundabouts. For road marking defects that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to road users (Category 1 defect), the Operating Companies are required to carry out temporary repairs by 6am the following morning and permanent repairs within 28 days. General deterioration including road markings which do not necessitate such an immediate safety-led response, are programmed and considered against competing priorities across the trunk road network.

The Scottish Government works with a wide range of partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to implement Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime Strategy which aims to reduce the harm caused by serious organised crime across all of society. Progress in implementing the strategy is set out in the annual progress report published in March 2020, a copy of which can be found at: https://socaware.scot/progress/SOC-Task-Force-Progress-Report-2020.pdf .

It is for each partner to determine the level of resources required to deliver on its commitment to implement the SOC Strategy. During the current coronavirus crisis for example, several partners have provided guidance and advice on how to identify threats and what can be done to protect against or mitigate the risks. These include initiatives such as Police Scotland’s Shut out Scammers campaign and Trading Standards Scotland’s Scam Share e-Bulletin.

As more of our daily lives move online, The Scottish Government, the National Cyber Security Centre and Police Scotland are working together to provide organisations and individuals with advice and guidance on the cyber fraud threat.

Taskforce members continue to work together with other organisations at home and abroad to tackle the threats from organised crime groups. This multi-partnership approach has delivered notable successes during lockdown such as Operation Barricade / Venetic with significant quantities of drugs and cash seized.

The activity of malevolent state forces is a matter of national security and a reserved issue.