Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government welcomes creative and innovative tourism solutions and our Programme for Government sets out our plan to work towards delivering a long distance walking and cycling route, offering an experience equivalent to the successful North Coast 500. Officials will also meet with Emma Harper MSP in November in response to her request to discuss proposals for a South of Scotland tourism route. Like the North Coast 500, any initiatives will be developed collaboratively with our tourism industry.

The recording of data relating to criminal offences is governed by the Scottish Crime Reporting Board. Members of this Board, which includes Police Scotland, Scottish Police Authority, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, the Crown Office, British Transport Police and representatives of the Defence, have responsibility for deciding whether any changes should be made in this area.

The criminal law in Scotland is clear in that anyone using acid or other corrosive substances to attack another person can be convicted of assault and receive up to life imprisonment. The sentence in any given case is a matter for the court.

While there is no specific evidence to suggest incidences of attacks using corrosive substances are increasing in Scotland, they are clearly an horrific matter whenever they do occur. Scottish Government officials have recently met with UK Government officials to discuss the actions announced by the UK Government in July. We understand that the actions by the UK Government are a specific response to the recent increase in the number of such attacks, especially in London. Further discussions will be held including specifically possible action in relation to online sales noting that any legislative steps in this area may well be outwith the competence of the Scottish Parliament given it would relate to the operation of the internet.

Natural England is currently considering an application for a licence to release lynx at Kielder Forest on the English side of the border. The Scottish Government has agreed with Natural England that Scottish Government views on the application will be taken into account in considering the application, given the cross-border implications of any decision to release lynx at that location. The likely impacts on livestock will form a key part of the views submitted by the Scottish Government.

The Tourism Development Framework for Scotland will build on existing investment by setting out the action needed to assist and promote future growth in Scotland’s visitor economy. Through our high-level Tourism Working Group, we will continue to work with all of our public and private sector partners to ensure that Scotland will become a destination of first choice, providing authentic and high-quality visitor experiences.

Collaborative working between public and private partners continues to deliver improved infrastructure for destinations. An excellent example is the Moat Brae Trust – supported with a Creative Scotland capital grant of £687,543 and £251,095 funding to date from Historic Environment Scotland and its predecessor body Historic Scotland.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) continues to invest in local regeneration throughout Scotland through its grants schemes of £14.5 million per year and, with an increased capital budget of £3.15 million in 2017-18, to enhance the Properties in the Care of the Scottish Ministers and improve the visitor experience through conserving and maintaining those properties.

An example of Scottish Government supporting community development of tourism infrastructure through partnership working is the award of £150,000 from the Scottish Government Town Centre Communities Capital Fund (TCCCF) to the Fort William Marina & Shoreline Company. FWM&SC is working with Lochaber Chamber of Commerce and The Highland Council to seek to attract smaller cruise vessels into Fort William. Highlands and Islands Enterprise Highlands and Islands Enterprise also provided a further £20,000 for a notice board and shelter

The trunk road section of A7 in Scotland runs from the Scottish Border to Galashiels. The A7 to the north of Galashiels is not trunk road and is the responsibility of local authorities. Following the fatal accident on the trunk road section of the A7 on 7 August at Kirkton Bridge, a site meeting was attended by Transport Scotland, Amey, the A7 operating company and Police Scotland. At this meeting it was agreed that no road issues were identified as a contributory factor in the accident.

Works carried out this year to improve the safety of the A7 route include the construction of pedestrian improvements and crossing facilities to the north of Hawick at Guthrie Drive and new carriageway construction to improve the road surface on the section of the A7 to the south of Hawick. Other safety measures include the A7 Route Accident Reduction Plan which is programmed for construction in October/November 2017 and comprises the introduction of safety improvement measures at a number of bends along the route. These measures will provide a consistent message along the route which will alert drivers to the different layouts of each of the bends and will include signage, road markings and surfacing as appropriate

Transport Scotland will continue to monitor the A7 as part of the Annual Safety Review process and implement measures where necessary.

Information on the number of acid attacks over the last five years is not held centrally. Where someone uses acid or other corrosive substances to attack another person, a range of general criminal offences can be used to prosecute including the common law of assault. The statistics for assault held do not differentiate when corrosive substances have or have not been used.

The Scottish Government is committed to doing whatever it can within our powers to ensure our communities are safe from harm. This includes any steps that can be taken in relation to the availability of corrosive substances that can have such real and lasting harm if used against another person or property.

The UK Government has announced plans to prepare an action plan to tackle the use of acid or other corrosive substances in violent attacks. This follows a spate of such incidents in London. The action plan focuses on:

Effective law enforcement;

Ensuring legislation covering the use of acid and other corrosives in attacks is understood and consistently applied;

Working with retailers to restrict access to acids and other very harmful products; and

Ensuring effective support for victims through both the Criminal Justice System and health services.

Along with considering the operation of the criminal law of Scotland in this area, I can advise that the Scottish Government will be working closely with the UK Government on such issues as the online sales of corrosive substances as it is apparent that effective steps in that specific area will need to be taken on a consistent basis across the whole of the UK if possible.

In legislative terms we intend to introduce primary legislation in this Parliament to bring into effect a new public body, the South of Scotland Enterprise Agency. Recognising the time required for the parliamentary passage of a Bill, which is, of course, dependent on the will of Parliament, we are planning for the new Agency to become effective from 1 April 2020. In advance, we want to ensure that the South of Scotland benefits from a new approach and are working with stakeholders to put interim arrangements into place.

Latest figures show that 78.9% premises in the Scottish Borders have access to fibre broadband, with 76.4% capable of receiving superfast speeds. These percentages assume that commercial rollout is completed on time and in line with plans submitted to the Scottish Government through the 2012 Open Market Review (OMR). Without the programme’s investment, commercial coverage in Scottish Borders would have reached only 39.3%.

The Highlands and Islands represent some of the most remote and rural areas in Scotland. Latest figures show that across the Highlands and Islands region 75.8% of premises have access to fibre broadband, 70.3% with access to superfast speeds. Without this investment, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles would have no access to fibre broadband at all, and access in the Highlands would only be at 21%.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to deliver 100% superfast broadband access by 2021 is the only one of its kind in the UK. Yearly coverage targets have not yet been set. Deployment timescales and related targets will be determined through the procurement process, which will launch later this year.

The Scottish Government has never committed to delivering 100% superfast broadband by 2020.

An online Reporting Framework has been developed to provide easily accessible information on the progress being made with the delivery of the Land Use Strategy 2016 – 2021. This framework will be available on the Scottish Government website this summer.

The Land Use Strategy 2016 – 2021 is a high-level strategic document and does not contain proposals for specific areas of Scotland. However, the Scottish Borders Council participated in a Land Use Pilot from 2013 – 2015 which explored the development of a regional land use framework for the area. Since then, further related work has been undertaken by Scottish Borders Council and the Tweed Forum.

On 23^rd March 2017 we published our Blueprint for 2020 Action Plan. This sets out 31 key steps we will take in 2017-18 to progress delivery on our commitment to nearly double funded early learning and childcare entitlement to 1140 hours a year by 2020, for eligible 2 year olds and all 3 and 4 year olds in Scotland. This will ensure that the expansion of early learning and childcare is rooted in a high quality experience for our children and will support our delivery partners in building additional capacity. We are on track to deliver these actions and we are working closely with local authorities to produce ELC Expansion Plans, due for submission in September 2017.

The Blueprint is clear about the key role childminders and community childminders have to play in delivering the expanded entitlement, especially for younger children. This could be through, for example, increased use of ‘blended models’ which involve children spending time in both a nursery setting and with a childminder.

A key part of this policy framework will be the introduction of a new funding follows the child model, which is built upon a ‘provider neutral’ approach, by 2020. This will be built upon a national standard which will create a more open, proportionate, and consistent process for providers (including childminders) to deliver the funded entitlement.

We are currently supporting a programme of delivery model trials which will provide helpful learning on making optimum use of childminders in delivering the funded entitlement. 10 of the 14 trials in the programme, which is running during 2017-18, involve childminders. The learning from these trials will be shared with local authorities on an on-going basis and will be embedded within an evaluation framework for the expansion to 1140 hours.

We are committed to delivering a new standard of best practice for childminders. As part of this we will work with the Care Inspectorate and other partners to launch a new Learning and Development Pathway for childminders in September 2017.