The Scottish Government expects to consult on the draft Sectoral Marine Plan for offshore wind and associated Sustainability Appraisal later this year. The consultation will last for 12 weeks and will include a number of consultation events across Scotland. The details of the locations and timings of these events will be made available in advance to help maximise participation.

The Scottish Land Commission is key to the Scottish Government’s long-term programme of land reform.

Scottish Government officials meet with Land Commission staff regularly on a range of policy issues and to provide sponsorship support. The Scottish Government works closely with the Land Commission to ensure delivery of its Strategic Plan, which reflects Scottish Government priorities for land reform, as set out in the Programmes for Government (2017 – 2018 and 2018 – 2019).

Since September 2018 the Land Commission has published two major reports which made a number of recommendations to Scottish Ministers. In November 2018 it published a review of community ownership mechanisms, including Community Right to Buy legislation. We are now working with the Land Commission to implement the recommendations, and have established a multi-agency group to provide strategic oversight of this process. Officials are also working closely with the Land Commission and other stakeholders to develop detailed options to progress its recommendations on scale and concentration of land ownership in rural Scotland, which were published in March 2019. These recommendations were supported by the Scottish Parliament in a motion agreed by the Scottish Parliament following a land reform debate on 21 March.

The Land Commission has developed a protocol to support the Scottish Government’s Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement and Guidance on Engaging Communities in Decisions Relating to Land, and is promoting this throughout Scotland. The Scottish Government has endorsed this work, as well as the Land Commission’s work in advising land owners on how to follow the principles set out in the Statement.

The Scottish Government provides ongoing sponsorship support to the Land Commission. This includes supporting it to be an accountable, high-performing organisation with effective governance structures that delivers its objectives in line with Ministerial priorities. For 2018-19 the grant-in-aid provided to the Commission was £1.4 million and for 2019-20 this increased to £1.5 million.

The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform meets formally with the Land Commission twice a year.

On 22 May 2018, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) published the report ‘Scotland’s Biodiversity - Progress to 2020 Aichi Targets’, which found that Scotland was on track to meet seven of the Aichi targets and had made progress towards 12 targets; we do not assess ourselves against Aichi target 18. A further progress report is due to be published this year.

Since the last report, the work being led and coordinated by SNH with a range of public, private and third sector partners has continued to focus on achieving the Aichi targets as part of delivering Scotland’s biodiversity strategy as set out in the ‘2020 Challenge for Biodiversity’ published in June 2013.

There are a number of areas where Scotland is progressing well with mainstreaming biodiversity (Aichi targets 1 – 4), including work to increase public awareness and engagement and embedding biodiversity values through the development of policy and practice on natural capital. Our partnership working is delivering real benefits, with improvements to our marine environment, peatlands, rivers and woodlands over the last few years.

In our 2018 Programme for Government, we established the Biodiversity Challenge Fund of up to £2 million over two years to focus further effort on delivering the 2020 Challenge and the Aichi targets. SNH recently announced that £1.8 million will be shared between 14 projects across Scotland through the Biodiversity Challenge Fund over the course of this year and next. These are large scale projects that aim to deliver rapid change on the ground to our most at-risk habitats and species, including mammals and birds, to improve ecological connectivity and tackle invasive species. The Biodiversity Challenge Fund focuses in particular on projects which will help meet Aichi targets 5, 7, 9 and 10, which were assessed in the published progress report as progressing but at an insufficient rate.

The Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention helps Scotland work towards meeting Aichi targets 1, 2 and 14, by increasing and enhancing greenspace in our towns and cities, especially close to areas of multiple deprivation. SNH is currently delivering seven projects across Scotland that improve or create at least 140 hectares of urban green infrastructure. They are also delivering nine smaller community engagement projects where the focus is on working with people to help them make the most of their local greenspace. Projects like this use infrastructure to benefit biodiversity by providing new habitats and connecting existing ones while tackling physical problems such as flooding or lack of opportunities for walking and cycling.

There has also been good progress made in safeguarding biodiversity (Aichi targets 11 – 13) with the designation of marine and terrestrial protected areas now exceeding the international target. The development of Scotland’s National Marine Plan and the reformed Common Fisheries Policy along with the Marine Strategy Framework are all helping to focus efforts towards sustainable management in the marine environment. Work will continue to 2020 to ensure management, representativeness, integration, and connectivity is improved. Further work is required to identify additional actions for certain species, including seabirds, waders, upland birds and specialist butterflies. The development of a Scotland priority species indicator and metrics for genetic diversity will contribute to this work.

Scotland recently established the United Kingdom’s first Gene Conservation Unit at Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. The work is part of a wider effort to conserve genetic diversity in Scotland's wild species, and is helping Scotland to be on track to achieve Aichi Target 13, which is to drive to preserve and develop the world's biological diversity.

Marine Scotland regularly engages with fishing industry representatives through the Marine Litter Strategy Steering Group which is currently working on a review of the Marine Litter Strategy.

Reflecting the importance of the issue of fishing litter and lost gear, a dedicated session on marine industry waste was included at the International Marine Conference, 21 February 2019 in Glasgow. Attendees included those from industry, academics, coastal communities, policy and NGOs.

On 22 February, I chaired the first British-Irish Council Marine Litter Symposium. Invited experts from across the region’s fishing sectors discussed how best to establish a recycling system for end of life fishing gear. A second expert group considered how to improve marine litter education within the industry. We are working with representatives from industry and the BIC administrations to take a number of recommendations forward.

In addition, Marine Scotland has hosted multiple industry workshops around the coast to inform policy development following publication of the Future of Fisheries Management discussion paper in March 2019. This paper included reference to exploring mechanisms under which we will establish it is an offence to throw overboard any type of litter whilst at sea.

Scottish Water currently has 10 refill points across Scotland with plans to deliver up to 70. Further information on the rollout of refill points is available at https://www.yourwateryourlife.co.uk/ . Other refill points are available in public spaces, such as railway stations, but the Scottish Government does not hold a record of these locations.

The current Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme was published in May 2014. Scottish Ministers have reported on progress in May each year and we commissioned independent assessments of the Programme from the Adaptation Committee of the Committee on Climate Change in 2016 and 2019. In developing the new outcomes-based Programme we have conducted digital engagement sessions, stakeholder workshops, climate conversations, and a full public consultation. Scottish Ministers' Programme for Government 2018 committed to publish the new Adaptation Programme in 2019.

The Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee made several recommendations to the Scottish Government in their 2018 report on Biodiversity and Biodiversity Reporting Duties. The Scottish Government has committed to taking forward these recommendations and, in a letter to the Committee on 26 February 2019, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform outlined the steps we are taking in response. The letter is available at:

https://www.parliament.scot/S5_Public_Audit/General%20Documents/20190226_Letter_from_Cabinet_Secretary.pdf

Scottish Government officials are continuing to work with Scottish Natural Heritage to implement recommended changes to the reporting duty guidance, with the aim of making the process easier for public bodies and improving compliance. We plan to have these changes published by the end of 2019.

Scottish Government was the first in the UK to propose introducing legislation on single-use plastic-stemmed cotton buds in 2018. We are delighted that the UK Government has followed our lead and that the EU Single-Use Plastic Directive published this summer also includes action on these products. Our Regulations are expected to be laid in Parliament following recess, and come into force 40 days later.

The Marine Conservation Society has consistently reported plastic-stem cotton buds amongst the top 10 items found in Beachwatch surveys of litter of Scottish beaches. While the impact of this legislation will take time to materialise due to residual plastic-stemmed cotton buds remaining both in homes and in the ocean, the proposal has encouraged businesses to switch products and we are pleased that now all major retailers sell plastic free alternatives.

The Scottish Government is undertaking scientific research on seabird populations to help understand the pressures and threats they face including seabird colony surveys, tracking research, an analysis of climate change, and other impacts. This research will inform the Seabird Conservation Strategy, as well as regulation and planning of marine developments and activities to minimise likely impacts on seabirds.

Marine Scotland has established a working group with Scottish Natural Heritage, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, RSPB Scotland and British Trust for Ornithology Scotland to develop the Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy. The working group is presently developing sensitivity assessments and species accounts for the Strategy to provide the evidence base from which potential actions will be developed. A stakeholder workshop will be held before the end of 2019 to discuss the first draft of the Strategy. Following consideration of the feedback from that event and any amendments, I expect there to be a public consultation in early 2020.

There is no cost for tuition fees for Scottish or EU National Students. Students apply to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) for means tested funding. In addition they can apply to SAAS for placement expenses which is also means tested.

There are no plans for the Scottish Government to introduce a bursary to enable students to be funded to study radiography.