Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as this is an operational matter for the independent Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Water. I have therefore asked SEPA’s and Scottish Water’s Chief Executives to write to the Member to provide details.

There are 3652 waterbodies in total in Scotland, as defined by SEPA in the third River Basin Management Plan. A waterbody can relate to whole or parts of rivers, canals, lochs, estuaries, ground or coastal waters of a particular size as defined by the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The Scottish monitoring network was designed within the framework of the WFD with EU monitoring guidance and principles laid down by the UK Technical Advisory Group (UKTAG). In order to monitor and report classification efficiently SEPA utilises modelling and risk assessment to group some surface waters and groundwaters, taking account of factors such as size, altitude and the challenges they face. One waterbody from that group is then monitored, and the classification produced is used for the other waterbodies in the group. This means over 1/3 of the total number of waterbodies have been regularly monitored for water quality.

Approximately 1/10 of all waterbodies are included in SEPA’s long term surveillance monitoring programme, which provides a representative overview of the overall state of the water environment. This is supplemented by additional targeted monitoring at higher risk sites, covering approximately 1/5 of all water bodies.

The frequency of water quality monitoring varies depending on the level of environmental risk, to ensure that resources are targeted at areas where evidence is most needed. Annual assessments at most of the monitored water bodies involves monitoring between 1 and 12 times in the year. The remainder of the water bodies are assessed on every two to six years.

SEPA has also adopted a risk-based approach to the monitoring of Water Framework Directive priority substances. This means that the extent and type of monitoring is targeted to the relevant substance in question. This monitoring is targeted at relevant sectors, where emissions of these substances to the environment occur and is focused on small numbers of waterbodies linked with the locations of these sectors. River Basin Management Planning classification is published annually and includes an assessment of priority substances, which are in general monitored on a quarterly to monthly frequency over the year.

The Scottish Government continues to work with the sector, stakeholders and the scientific community to explore practical ways to address interactions between salmon and seals in rivers.

In spring 2021 Scottish Government in partnership with Crown Estate Scotland published a report which reviewed measures that have been adopted globally and which could assist in developing non-lethal strategies to address seal predation on salmonids in Scottish rivers, as well as setting out a number of assessments and recommendations for use of, or further development of, specific measures - Review of non-lethal seal control options to limit seal predation on salmonids in rivers and at finfish farms | Marine Scotland Data Publications .

Building on the recommendations of the report, the Scottish Government continues to support practical work to investigate and develop non-lethal deterrent tools for use by wild salmonid fisheries. This is an ongoing work programme and, progress reports can be found on the Sea Mammal Research Unit’s Marine Mammal Scientific Support to Scottish Government | SMRU (st-andrews.ac.uk) .

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government. We are committed to improving support for children and young people’s mental health in order to ensure early intervention and prevention of suicide.

Health and wellbeing is a core part of Curriculum for Excellence, and schools play a vital role in supporting pupils’ mental health. The Mental Health in Schools Working Group, on behalf of Ministers, produced a framework to support local authorities and schools embed support for children and young people's mental health and wellbeing across all aspects of the school environment. The group has also developed professional learning for school staff, which includes suicide awareness.

We continue to support local authorities with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services.

The Scottish Government and COSLA published a new Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan in September 2022. These include plans to further develop existing and new resources for schools which build understanding on mental health, self-harm and suicide prevention.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any monitoring that takes place with regards to the release of rehabilitated seals from rescue centres. However, advice from the Special Committee on Seals ( 2019 Report ) is that rehabilitated seals typically behave like wild seals shortly following release. Rehabilitated seals are released back into the wild close to the sites at which they were found. No non-native seals are released in Scotland.

The Scottish Government understands the important issue of emerging contaminates of concern and has been funding research in this area since 2016 through strategic research at the James Hutton Institute, the Centre of Expertise on Water (CREW), and the Hydro Nation Scholars programme. For example, these studies produced the first national assessment of pharmaceutical pollution in Scotland’s water environment, published in 2022, covering existing data on 60 pharmaceuticals between 2014 and 2019.

Building on the earlier studies described above, the Scottish Government continues to support active research, by investing £32m per year overall, under the current RESAS Strategic Research Programme 2022-2027, and the Centre of Expertise on Water. Current plans include work which will further develop the understanding of sources and levels of emerging contaminants in Scotland’s freshwaters and river sediments and recommend priorities and strategic approaches for future monitoring in Scotland.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is currently trialling a new water analysis technique and is considering which chemicals of emerging concern to Scotland’s environment should be built into its surveillance network. SEPA is working with various UK partner organisations to identify and prioritise chemicals of emerging concern in the environment.

For example, Scottish Water has worked in partnership with the SEPA for many years in the Chemical Investigation Programme (Scotland). Through environmental investigation this project identifies contaminants of concern, their sources and concentrations leaving the sewerage system and how they should be addressed in the most sustainable way.

SEPA’s grant in aid funding from Scottish Government has increased over the last five-year period from £34,936,000 to £41,406,000. SEPA determine the amount of resources allocated to water quality testing through their Annual Operating Plan in each year in agreement with the Scottish Government

SEPA Grant in Aid Funding

£34,963,000 in 2018-19

£34,425,000 in 2019-20

£37,098,000 in 2020-21

£44,449,000 in 2021-22

£41,406,000 in 2022-23

The initial phase of the pilot project is nearly complete. This early work has sought to understand how communities which have been affected by repeated water scarcity events should be identified, to establish the proximity to public water mains, to assess the network capacity and estimate the costs associated with extending the mains to potentially allow those on private water supplies to make a connection. Scottish Water has completed the studies for the pilot projects with final report expected soon. I will write to the Member to provide an update once I have considered the final report.

It is not possible for the Scottish Government to introduce legislation to mandate the provision of community benefits through energy regulation because the relevant powers are reserved to the UK Government. Through our existing guidance for onshore renewable developments, we continue to promote community benefits of the value equivalent to £5,000 per installed megawatt per annum, index linked for the operational lifetime of the project.

The Scottish Government is in the process of reviewing its Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Offshore Renewable Energy Developments. We will consult on revised draft guidance in Spring 2023, and as part of this process we will gather evidence to help inform the need for further updates to our Good Practice Principles for: Community Benefits from, and Shared Ownership of Onshore Renewable Energy Developments.

We are progressing the recommendations made in the independent Deer Working Group (DWG) report , published in December 2020. The DWG report made recommendations to improve deer management and included recommendations 19-21 which propose legislative amendments to modernise the licensing of venison dealers and improve information gathering. The Scottish Government response to the DWG report is at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/news/deer-working-group-response/ .

The recommendations relating to game and venison dealer licensing are being taken forward via the legislative work stream of the Deer Management Strategic Board which has been established under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Programme. We will provide further information on timing of changes to the legislation on venison licensing in due course. We expect to consult on any proposed changes to primary legislation in the normal way.

Regular updates on all of the work from the Deer Management Strategic Board can be found at the following website: https://www.gov.scot/groups/strategic-deer-management-board/ .