Chamber and committees

The period a transport appraisal or business case, undertaken in accordance with STAG, is valid and relevant is dependent on the evidence and information provided in the report. The purpose of this evidence is to reflect the current conditions in the study area and other aspects of appraisal as set out in current STAG guidance, such as the problems and opportunities. Therefore, the appraisers and decision makers must take a view on whether that evidence base is sufficient to make the investment decision, which includes the relevance of the data used in the analysis.

As set out in the STAG Managers Guide , STAG is a key part of a transport related business case needed to inform decision making on transport interventions. A transport appraisal in accordance with STAG aligns with the Strategic Business Case (SBC) stage, the initial stage of business case development in line with Transport Scotland’s Guidance on the development of Business Cases .

If there is an intervening period between evidence gathering and decision making, appraisers would be expected to update an existing STAG report, where appropriate, to take into account any changes in the intervening period affecting the evidence and information in the report. Examples may include: changes in transport demand or provision in a study area; changes in demographics and needs of an area; newly published and relevant national policies, strategies and plans; and updates to STAG.

Local authorities have the lead role in tackling nuisance caused by urban gulls. Where property is council-owned, local authorities are expected to respond to statutory nuisance complaints, such as where the deposit of bird droppings may have an effect on public health. The responsibility for dealing with nuisance gulls on private property lies with the owner. Local authorities can provide advice and assistance to property owners, and have powers under environmental protection legislation to tackle nuisances.

NatureScot provides advice regarding gull management and licenses gull management actions such as nest removal or lethal control, where necessary, and in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

A UK seabird census is currently being carried out, organised by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The aims of the census include producing estimates of the populations of the different gull species that breed in urban environments. The findings of this research will help inform future actions in dealing with urban gull populations

The Scottish Government is aware of the impact the necessary public health restrictions have had on businesses and our £375 million package of support for businesses was targeted at those who were the most immediately affected by measures introduced to control the spread of Omicron.

We announced an £80 million Covid Economic Recovery Fund for local authorities to support local economies and cities recover from the pandemic. This fund empowers councils to consider the needs of local businesses, communities and households and to target support to maximise economic recovery in their areas The flexibility of this fund ensures councils can provide support where they know the need is greatest and this has been welcomed by COSLA. Officials are working with local authorities on delivery arrangements, and funding will be transferred to local authorities in their General Revenue Grant in the last two weeks of March.

The recruitment and appointment of children’s panel members is the statutory responsibility of the National Convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS). A 2022 recruitment campaign is underway. The 2021 recruitment campaign for panel members won a Scottish Public Services Award for communications.

Scottish Government officials hold regular sponsorship and accountability meetings with CHS. Monitoring information on performance against agreed indicators and finance are routinely provided to the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government has received no information that would indicate that there are significant concerns regarding the recruitment of new volunteers, or regarding any CHS internal processes.

Although Scottish Ministers are not responsible for day to day operational matters of public bodies, and Ministers neither direct nor guide the National Convener in relation to specific statutory functions, I have asked officials to make enquiries with CHS for any further information.

CHS have advised that they are not aware of anyone raising concerns regarding this year’s recruitment process, or any failures of internal processes. CHS reported some minor revision activity on internal policies, which has either been completed or is on schedule.

Legal aid applications are prepared by an applicant’s solicitor, who provides all the details of the case to the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB). Solicitors have professional duties not only to their client, but to SLAB and to the court; therefore it would not be professionally appropriate for a solicitor to submit an application for legal aid if they were of the view that a client’s case was “spurious”.

Legal aid is granted only if the applicant meets the strict eligibility criteria set out in legislation, which apply to all civil cases, including family law matters. This includes the merits of a case. Applicants need to demonstrate that they have a sound legal basis for their case, and that it is reasonable for legal aid to be made available. When looking at the reasonableness test, The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) considers a range of factors including whether the application is premature and whether there are reasonable prospects of success. If the criteria are not met then legal aid will be refused.

Opponents will generally be notified when an application for legal aid is submitted and have the opportunity to make representations to SLAB prior to legal aid being granted. Opponents can also provide any additional information which may affect the merits of the case during its lifetime after legal aid has been granted and does not require legal representation.

The Scottish Government is aware of a small number of people who have raised concerns based on how they see rights requirements pertaining to volunteer roles with Children’s Hearings Scotland.

Officials and Ministers have extensively engaged on this subject with individual correspondents and Members on multiple occasions over the course of the last Parliament. Detailed information and reassurance on the context of relevant legislation, the autonomy of statutory office holders like the National Convener and the appropriate demarcation of roles in relation to the sponsorship of Non Departmental Public Bodies have been covered extensively. Children’s Hearings Scotland have communicated their position. Ministers have no locus in these matters.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises me that, as of 02 February 2022, there are 79,831 dispositions undergoing registration. RoS receives and processes over 550,000 applications on average every year, of which 90% are completed in 20 days. In the Land Register the legal effect of registration backdates to the date on which the Keeper entered the application onto the application record (the date of receipt) and properties undergoing registration can still be transacted upon in the usual way.

Performance data is published regularly on ros.gov.uk.

COSLA recommended that a “non-legally committed” scheme is defined, for this purpose, as a scheme that has not been notified under schedule 2 of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. This did not mean that current contracts should be immediately stopped but they should be paused at an appropriate time, where practicable, for example when a key project milestone is reached. Local authorities should not begin the notification process for Cycle 1 schemes if they have not already done so.

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places the statutory responsibility for local roads improvement, maintenance and repair with local road authorities.

As such, the local authority road network condition is assessed via the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey, which is organised by the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS).