Chamber and committees

Humza Yousaf MSP, the then Cabinet Secretary, wrote to the profession on 7 February 2023 providing an update on the new Determination 1 and indicated the direction of travel for dental reform: Letter to NHS dental teams from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care | Scottish Dental

On 27 July 2023 I provided a further update to the profession on the Scottish Government’s payment reform, which included the revised item of service fees, and will launch on 1 November 2023: PCA(2023)4 – Fees for Determination I | Scottish Dental

Comprehensive and rigorous monitoring of Scotland’s water environment is already undertaken by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). This monitoring shows that 66% of Scotland’s water environment as a whole is assessed as having ‘good’ status and that 87% of Scotland’s entire water environment is assessed by SEPA as having a ‘high’ or ‘good’ classification for water quality.

In its improving urban waters routemap, Scottish Water committed to installing 1,000 new CSO monitors by the end of 2024.

As highlighted in the answer to S6O-02060 on 23 March 2023, the river basin management plans set out our long-term aims for improving our water environment. The plans are supported by Scottish Water’s Improving urban waters route map, which commits up to £500 million of investment to improve wastewater treatment works, address unsatisfactory discharges and increase monitoring. Scottish Water published its first annual report on progress against the route map in December 2022 at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/help-and-resources/document-hub/key-publications/urban-waters-improvements .

All answers to Oral parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the Offical Report can be found at Meeting of the Parliament: 23/03/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

Publicly funded peatland restoration is delivered by Peatland ACTION – a flagship partnership programme established by the Scottish Government with five public sector delivery partners – NatureScot, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, Scottish Water, Cairngorms National Park Authority and Forestry and Land Scotland.

We published our National Peatland Plan in 2015 which can be found here: https://www.nature.scot/doc/scotlands-national-peatland-plan-working-our-future In 2020 we announced an investment of £250 million to restore 250,000 hectares of peatlands over a 10 year period to 2030, and reiterated this commitment in the First Minister’s new policy prospectus ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/equality-opportunity-community-new-leadership-fresh-start ), aiming to deliver up to 110,000 hectares of restored peatland by 2026.

In addition to currently providing up to 100% funding for peatland restoration, we are working on a variety of parallel fronts by leveraging activity across the Scottish Government and through Peatland ACTION to increase restoration rates, this includes:

• developing new models for private finance;
• improving our scientific knowledge base to ensure we target restoration where it can be most beneficial;
• encouraging landowners and managers to participate in restoration through our land and agriculture reform programmes as well as exploring opportunities for restoration on public land;
• signposting to the new National Planning Framework ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-planning-framework-4/pages/6/ ), which strengthens controls on future extraction and on other types of development on peat;
• our consultation on ending the sale of peat in Scotland (closed 12 May 2023) which will support further policy development;
• addressing the skills shortages through the Peatland Skills, Capacity and Training Group which brings together partners from Peatland ACTION, Skills Development Scotland, LANTRA, Confor, Scotland’s Rural Collage and the James Hutton Institute;
• developing a Technical Compendium (published November 2022) ( https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-technical-compendium ) which is providing robust and standardised guidance on how to restore peatland and is helping contractors to specify and plan works more efficiently.

The Scottish Government have discussed peatland restoration with representatives of private investment funds as part of our commitment to develop a values-led high integrity market for responsible private investment in natural capital. This engagement has included discussion on the Peatland Code and on options to increase the rates of peatland restoration.

The Scottish Government regularly discusses peatland restoration with private sector organisations mainly through the Peatland ACTION partnership.

For example, as part of our Peatland ACTION programme NatureScot works with land management representative organisations like Scottish Land & Estates (SLE), National Farmers Union, Scotland (NFUS) and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to communicate the benefits of peatland restoration and financial support available to their members. Peatland ACTION delivery partners have also engaged with many Land Agents, Solicitors and Accountants/Green Finance specialists through demonstration days and attendance at national and local events.

The network of Peatland ACTION officers work with a range of private landowners and land managers to help them consider restoration projects. Peatland Action have also provided training and support for private sector companies who are contracted to design and deliver restoration on the ground including, but not limited to, a regular contractors forum where emerging opportunities and issues are considered and resolved collectively.

It is difficult to make accurate estimates of the proportion of palm oil imported into Scotland that is from sustainable sources. There is no reason to believe that the proportion is significantly different from that for the UK as a whole. The most recent Annual Progress Report from the UK Roundtable on Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil states that "since 2010, the proportion of UK imports of palm and palm kernel oil that can be reported as certified sustainable has increased from 16% to 72% in 2021, with the vast majority of remaining imports likely to be sourced through a form of assurance." The UK Government has consulted about regulations to introduce due diligence on forest risk commodities, which are planned to place new obligations on businesses that import large volumes of commodities that can be grown on newly cleared forest land. Businesses will be required to demonstrate that production of these commodities has respected local laws.

Decisions on oil and gas exploration and licensing remain reserved to the UK Government. However, the Scottish Government does not support the UK Government’s approach to oil and gas policy.

The unlimited extraction of fossil fuels is not consistent with Scotland’s ambitious climate obligations. Our focus must be meeting our energy security needs, reducing emissions and ensuring a just transition for our oil and gas workforce as North Sea resources decline. The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to a Just Transition.

Through our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, we have consulted on a clear pathway to deliver on global climate commitments while capitalising on the enormous opportunities offered by becoming a net zero economy. This approach aims to ensure we take workers with us on our journey to net zero.

The Scottish Government last met the Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland on 28 July 2023 and the next meeting is scheduled for the 25 August 2023.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. There are an estimated 47,000 listed buildings in Scotland. If listed building consent is required for building alterations associated with energy improvements, this is done through local planning authorities.