Chamber and committees

As per a duty placed upon Scottish Ministers through the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 the Scottish Government shall publish its first annual progress report on the current Land Use Strategy 2016 - 2021 this summer.

This report will demonstrate the progress made by the Scottish Government on the nine policies and five proposals that feature within the current Land Use Strategy 2016 - 2021. The third iteration of Scotland’s Land Use Strategy is due for publication by 31 March 2021 and preparations for its development are currently underway.

Across areas of Scotland, land use and river catchment/basin management are intrinsically linked. The river basin management plan for the Scotland river basin district: 2015–2027 highlights the importance of this relationship and the potential risks.

The Scottish Government understands that the condition of the water environment can be threatened by wider scale changes including shifts in land uses or practices that may increase diffuse pollution risks.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering improved and enduring benefits to Scotland’s natural environment. This is a commitment that has been re-iterated in the first outcome of The Environment Strategy for Scotland: vision and outcomes document which was published in February of this year.

As preparations for the development of Scotland’s third Land Use Strategy are currently underway, however, we are not in the position to identify what role a single action or data set may have at this time.

The Scottish Government is however committed to taking a holistic view of the evidence and data relating to land use in Scotland and shall work closely with the relevant sectors and stakeholders throughout the development process.

As per a duty placed upon Scottish Minister through the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 the Scottish Government shall publish its first annual progress report on the current Land Use Strategy this summer. This report will demonstrate the progress made by the Scottish Government on the nine policies and five proposals that feature within the current Land Use Strategy 2016-2021.

Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry remains Scotland’s largest source of carbon sequestration and commitments made within the Land Use Strategy 2016-2021 continue to contribute to this. This carbon store will be vital as Scotland moves towards being a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions nation by 2045.

With regards to biodiversity, Scotland has and continues to address biodiversity loss through our biodiversity strategy and is on track to achieve seven out of the twenty targets agreed by the international community in 2010, which compares favourably with the global average of 4 out of 20, and is progressing towards meeting the remaining twelve targets.

However, despite our efforts, global, UK and Scottish reports published in 2019 showed ongoing declines in biodiversity and we have acknowledged that more still needs to be done both domestically and internationally. The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (ECCLR) wrote to the ECCLR committee in December 2019 about our plans in this area.

The physical deployment phase of the R100 contracts and voucher scheme have not yet commenced, although survey work has been progressed and we are keen to proceed with physical build in a manner that is consistent with the Routemap as we emerge into a new normal following the COVID-19 pandemic. We are engaging with BT and Openreach on planning for physical build, to minimise the disruption to the programme.

As I informed Parliament on 9 January, the R100 contracts will deliver an exceptional outcome, particularly in the South of Scotland – including Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire. The planned contract build, alongside commercial coverage, will reach well over 99% of eligible premises, leaving only around 200 properties across the whole region that will require a voucher solution to deliver a superfast connection. All the R100 new build in the Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency, as across the South of Scotland as a whole, will be in the form of full fibre connectivity (FTTP) with connection speeds of up to one gigabit per second, which is the current gold standard.

This will build on progress to date as a result of Scotland’s £400 million Digital Scotland Superfast broadband (DSSB) programme which has over achieved against deployment targets. Ofcom’s latest update to their Connected Nations report for spring 2020 indicates that 90% of premises in the constituency of Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire are now able to access speeds of 10Mbps and above, with 83% currently able to access speeds of 30Mbps and above. This compares with just 78% of premises in Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency that could access speeds of 10Mbps or better in May 2017, i.e. an increase of 12% over this period, while superfast access has increased by 13%.

Independent broadband analysis site, thinkbroadband, states that 87.8% of premises in the Scottish Borders local authority area are now able to access superfast broadband speeds of 30Mbps and above. This is an increase from just 20.8% in 2014, when DSSB deployment began, reflecting the underlying failure of the UK-wide market to deliver for Scotland’s rural communities.

The Scottish Government has received copies of UK Hospitality's draft protocols. We welcome the work that has been done across the tourism and hospitality sector to develop guidance for safe workplaces once restrictions are lifted. We are working in partnership with UK Hospitality and other stakeholders on the issue of guidance through the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group and will be publishing Scottish Government guidance for the sector soon to assist stakeholders to finalise comprehensive and compliant guidance.

The Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund (CTHEHF) provides support, not available elsewhere in the UK, for small creative, tourism and hospitality companies who have experienced at least 50% loss of current or projected revenue as a result of COVID-19 and are experiencing hardship. Due to significant demand we increased the fund from £20m to £30m. The fund is administered by our enterprise agencies, which are currently progressing applications. The fund is now closed.

Each enterprise agency administers the fund in its respective area. The performance data are compiled by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of all three agencies. As applications are still being processed the fund’s performance data are incomplete. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to write to you this month as soon as the data you have requested can be reported.

Once all applications have been appraised and funding distributed, the intention is to publish information relating to the demand for CTHEHF and our other business support funds, including volume and value of applications.

Our targeted support funds to the creative, tourism and hospitality sector, along with support to SMEs who are vulnerable but vital to their local economies, and the newly self-employed have resulted in awards totalling £104m as of 2 June; that is grant offers to over 2500 businesses and 4160 self-employed people to date.

Our commitment to address market failure in the GB-wide telecommunications market and ensure, through our £600 million R100 programme, that all premises in Scotland can access superfast broadband services will be delivered via three strands of activity: the three R100 contracts; a new, Scotland-wide Scottish Government voucher scheme; and through continued commercial build.

The new, Scottish Government funded voucher scheme forms a key part of the R100 programme to complement the R100 contracts – it is not a separate entity, although funding for the voucher programme is additional to that committed to the three R100 contracts.

As I informed Parliament during my statement of 9 January, any property which we identify, through the online checker that will not benefit from superfast broadband access by the end of 2021, will be eligible for a voucher to help deliver a superfast connection by the end of 2021. We are on track to deliver an online checker this summer, which will provide information at the premises level, and are currently working through the details of the voucher scheme itself. I will keep Parliament up to date on progress in due course.

Progress on work for the R100 contracts covering Central and South Scotland has been maintained – despite COVID-related lockdown measures being introduced. This is, in large part, due to much of the work undertaken to date being desk based, with a limited amount of outdoor survey work being possible while remaining consistent with Scottish Government guidance on social distancing. We are continuing to monitor impacts of the pandemic and how this could affect timescales, as we move into the physical deployment phase, although significant work has been undertaken, in partnership with the industry and trade unions, to develop guidance on safe working practices in the context of the need to prevent transmission of the coronavirus.

As members may be aware, the award of the contract for the North lot of the R100 procurement remains subject to a legal challenge from Gigaclear Ltd. Until this challenge is resolved, we are unable to award this contract.

The Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund (CTHEHF) provides support for small creative, tourism and hospitality companies who have experienced at least 50% loss of current or projected revenue as a result of COVID-19 and are experiencing hardship. Due to significant demand we have increased the fund from £20m to £30m. The fund is administered by our enterprise agencies, which are currently progressing applications. The fund is now closed.

Each enterprise agency administers the fund in its respective area so no guidance was issued to Local Authorities.

Prior to launch of CTHEHF, the Scottish Government provided guidance on the purpose and eligibility criteria to the enterprise agencies. This covered, for instance, which sectors were included within the fund rather than detailed guidance on allocating funding to sporting businesses. Each application is assessed by trained assessors with awards made based on need.