Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold all the data required to determine the tonnage of wrasse used by Scottish fish farms in the past 5 years.

Wrasse used in Scottish aquaculture are sourced from hatcheries or from the wild.

Information on the amount of hatchery-reared wrasse in Scotland is available from the Finfish Production Surveys . An extract is shown in the following table.

The Small Woodlands Loan Scheme was launched in March 2021 and currently there have been ten applications. One loan agreement has been agreed (allocated) and its Forestry Grant Scheme contract value was £40,859.60; a loan for £15,800 has been distributed to this applicant in December 2021.

The amount of funding allocated to, and paid to successful applicants to the Forestry Grant Scheme in each year from 2016 to 2021 is shown in Table 1.

Claimed grant is normally lower than the total grant award as a result of contracts that were not delivered on time due to a range of circumstances including weather conditions during the planting season, succession of land ownership during the contract delivery period and requests for contract variation to subsequent years.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. Data on mineral extraction in Great Britain for the period 2009 – 2014 is available online at Minerals surveys - GOV.UK ( www.gov.uk ) and from 1999 to 2008 can be found on the Office for National Statistics website. Further data on UK and export sales of peat sourced from Scotland since 2011 is gathered for the UK Growing Media Monitor ( https://hta.org.uk/associations-committees-groups/growing-media-association/gma-research ) and provides insight into the volumes of peat extracted for horticulture in Scotland, the main end use of extracted peat.

The Scottish Government are committed to banning the sale of peat related gardening products, as part of our wider commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture, and we are currently preparing to consult on this issue. Our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) sets out that development proposals for new commercial peat extraction, including extensions to existing sites, should not be supported unless the extracted peat is supporting an industry of national importance to Scotland.

We will also give consideration, through our peatland restoration programme, to whether and what further data may be required to support future monitoring of progress against targets.

Scottish Government, and its forestry agency, Scottish Forestry (SF) has no plans to create an additional emergency fund to support farmers and landowners in the wake of storms, Arwen, Barra and others. SF already provides grants to manage existing woodlands and prepare forest plans. In addition it is supporting effective clear up operations through the fast tracking of felling permissions, new bespoke guidance on clearing and marketing windblown trees, and the establishment of National Windblow Action Group to help shape and guide a collaborative response for the benefit of farmers and landowners.

Forestry and Land Scotland continually carries out various assessments in regards to all of its deer culling activities. Any issues noted in regards to any deer’s health or welfare are recorded in their Wildlife Management System. Culling of pregnant hinds carried out professionally and following industry best practice, as operated by Forestry and Land Scotland, has no welfare issues associated with it.

The vast majority of deer on Scotland's national forests and land are in excellent condition and are managed sustainably in line with their land management objectives

All Forestry Grant Scheme applications are assessed according to the criteria set out in the guidance available at Scoring criteria and clearing process (ruralpayments.org)

This includes value for money and compliance with the UK Forestry Standard, the governments’ approach to sustainable forestry, which recognises that forests have environmental, economic and social objectives and sets out how these can be achieved.

Scottish Government doesn’t have information on the number of applicants to game keeping courses, and we cannot provide a full picture for each year between 2007 and 2021.

Information on enrolments and qualifiers at Scottish University is collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Enrolments and Qualifiers on Game Keeper Management courses at Scottish Universities, by JACS classification: