Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working closely with SEPA and the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) to communicate the risk of water scarcity to businesses who abstract water.

SEPA have been running a communications campaign since the start of May to encourage agricultural businesses and others to manage water wisely. This involves regular national and local press releases, media interviews, partnership with industry publications and participation in FAS podcasts, providing practical advice and support to farmers. SEPA also directly communicate with license holders if there a risk to abstraction supplies.

A communications stakeholder group has also been set up involving the Scottish Government, SEPA, Scottish Water, Nature Scot and the NFUS to coordinate and ensure the reinforcement of key messages.

Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan (NWSP) sets out how water resources will be managed prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather ensuring the correct balance is struck between protecting the environment and providing resource for human and economic activity.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) latest reporting shows that water scarcity is now affecting all of Scotland and the forecasts indicate scattered showers are expected this week but not in quantities across a widespread area to improve the situation. The rainfall at the weekend provided no significant improvement in the conditions.

SEPA’s communications campaign began at the start of May to provide advice to businesses on water efficiency measures. The Scottish Government sponsored Farm Advisory Service (FAS) is also providing information about the current water scarcity situation and implications to the public, farmers and businesses. Scottish Government have reopened the emergency scheme to provided bottled water to affected households.

SEPA are monitoring the situation and coordinating steps to manage water resources. As areas of the country experiencing prolonged dry periods reach significant water scarcity level farms and businesses are contacted ahead of any temporary abstraction suspensions being introduced and guidance provided to minimise water usage.

Loch Maree has been in significant scarcity since 8 June. This is the level which triggers SEPA’s ability to suspend abstraction licences. The environmental impact of the activity in Loch Maree area is not considered by SEPA to be significant as licences in the area already have conditions to protect the environment in the event of low flows. Hence no licences in Loch Maree are being suspended at this time.

Parts of the Esk catchment in Dumfriesshire are also now at significant scarcity level. Like the Loch Maree catchment, licenses in this area are mainly for hydropower which have conditions to protect low flows so suspensions were not required.

Licences holders in areas likely to reach significant in the coming weeks are being contacted to highlight the risks and to understand their upcoming water needs.

The Scottish Government is committed to an infrastructure solution to address landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful and shares the urgency communities and businesses place on maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route.

The identification of the preferred route option through the Glen Croe valley on 2 June 2023 is a very important milestone in finding a solution to this long-standing problem. The proposed new debris flow shelter will help protect the road and road users from future landslides.

In developing the route options to improve the resilience and operational safety of the A83 and identifying the permanent, long term solution, early consideration has been given to the transportation of abnormal loads. Work is now being taken forward at pace as we move to the next stage of the project where we will continue to develop the design of the preferred option, the detail of which will be informed by consultation with a wide array of stakeholders, including with respect to possible abnormal load transportation requirements.

Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan (NWSP) published in 2014, and updated in 2020, sets out how water resources will be managed prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), is monitoring current water levels carefully across Scotland, collating information on the abstractions, and recording feedback on the impact of likely suspensions on business.

In June 2023, SEPA published guidance which clarifies how suspensions will be implemented. If the dry weather continues it may be necessary to reduce or suspend abstractions licences to protect the environment.

Public Water Supplies are largely operating normally and there is no immediate need for water restrictions. Investment in resilience measures over many years means that Scottish Water is able to maintain supplies during prolonged dry periods to all parts of Scotland. There have been challenges in smaller supplies particularly in rural areas and the Scottish Government and Scottish Water are monitoring the situation very carefully.

During the Cannich incident, SFRS liaised with Forestry and Land Scotland, RSPB and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, who provided personnel and specialist equipment throughout the incident. The involvement of gamekeepers, farmers and other partners at wildfire incidents is always welcomed by SFRS and provides a great deal of capacity and knowledge for Incident Commanders. SFRS is utilising this valuable resource at incidents and recognising the skills, experience and equipment that partners bring to this incident type.

At recent significant wildfires the involvement of partners has been instrumental in successfully managing the incidents, and SFRS will seek to learn lessons from this to identify what worked well, as well as where improvements can be made to ensure it continuously improves. SFRS has contributed to the North of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership’s recent seminar on response to severe weather events (heat in particular) and is in the planning stage of providing the same to the East of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership.

The Scottish Wildfire Forum (SWF), chaired by SFRS, has Civil Contingency Advisors from Local Authorities, Regional Resilience Partnerships and other Agencies as members. The SWF created the Wildfire Risk that is now contained in the Scottish National Risk Assessment. This now requires the Regional and Local Resilience Partnerships (which includes all Local Authorities) as part of the Risk Preparedness Assessment Process to consider the risk, score it for their region/area and consider what mitigation actions can be taken to reduce the risk as well as how the wider consequences of the risk will be managed.

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a privately-owned telecoms network and the decision to upgrade it has been taken by the telecoms industry, and not the UK Government. PSTN migration from analogue to digital telephony services also does not affect the Universal Service Obligations set out in the Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order 2003, which require designated providers to offer telephony services throughout the UK, and providers will remain bound by their existing statutory responsibilities.

However, we are working closely with the UK Government, Industry, Ofcom and other Devolved Administrations through the Electronic Communications – Resilience and Response Group (EC-RRG), a UK Government-supported telecoms industry group, whose aim is to develop and maintain cooperation between the communications sector and Government on issues regarding telecoms resilience and emergency planning.

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a privately-owned telecoms network and the decision to upgrade it has been taken by the telecoms industry. The primary focus of PSTN migration is to switch over the telephony signal from analogue to digital services, not the broadband signal. As such, delivery of the R100 programme will not be impacted by PSTN migration.

The number of staff based in Scottish Government International Offices in the past five years is listed in the following table.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) has reviewed its asset information and has found no reference to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) having been used anywhere within its estate. NRS has not incurred cost for repairs associated with RAAC.

The funding that each Scottish Government International Office has received for the last five years is as noted below.

There are no previous financial records on the table prior to 2022 for Copenhagen as this is the year it opened.