Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not to date sought a derogation from the EU prohibition on fishing with electricity. A public consultation about whether such a derogation should be sought closed on 30 September 2016, and Ministers are considering views offered through the consultation.

In the event that a regulated razor clam fishery, by means of electrofishing, were permitted, it would be subject to the provisions of domestic and EU legislation. The Government would also consider necessary preparatory steps, including the possibility of an area based stock assessment of razor clam biomass.

The Scottish Government publishes annually the quantity and value of fish landings for individual International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) statistical rectangles on its website. This follows the annual publication of each Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics report. Data is available going back to 2001.

Local governance and scrutiny of Scottish Safety Camera Programme activity and operations is realised through existing Community Planning structures, associated Community Safety Partnerships, or other relevant bodies (e.g. Local Authority-led Road Safety Forums) as agreed at a local level with partners in the Local Authority area. Police Scotland is responsible for the operational delivery of the Programme, through Units in three enforcement Areas.

Local policing plans ensure that policing activity across Scotland is directed at local issues and reflects the needs of the community. In their meetings to discuss these plans with Local Authority Chief Executives, Police Scotland Commanders may address any concerns regarding local safety camera activity. Area Safety Camera Managers must liaise with their Police Scotland colleagues and address emerging concerns as they arise.

Area Safety Camera Managers must also be available to address any specific concerns raised by partners with a road safety interest regarding the activity and operation of the Programme in their area.

Information is provided proactively about safety cameras, including their deployment and performance, as part of the wider approach to road safety-related communications. Information about sites is updated on relevant web pages and through social media and press releases.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 requires SEPA to carry out a National Flood Risk Assessment (NFRA) every 6 years, and from this identify Potentially Vulnerable Areas (PVAs) where a significant flood risk exists. SEPA is now starting the process for reviewing the NFRA and the designation of PVAs as part of the next cycle of flood risk management planning and will be considering new evidence and information that has emerged since the last cycle of planning was completed.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S5W-04790 on 29 November 2016. All answers to written parliamentary are available on the parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government publishes annually the total number of fishermen employed on Scottish registered vessels in the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics report. Data is also reported for each Scottish district and region. The 2016 report includes data from 2011 to 2015.

The SPICe publication showed that Scotland remained the best performing of all four UK countries with the highest proportion of employees paid the Living Wage or more (79.9%). Whilst this is welcome news, there remains more to do and the figure for Dumfries and Galloway reflects that. The Scottish Government is willing to work with other local MSPs and the Poverty Alliance to help promote the Living Wage locally and to encourage more employers to pay it.

We continue to fully support the Poverty Alliance to run the Scottish Living Wage Accreditation Initiative, having this year increased funding to £300,000, and continue to work closely with them to meet the target of 1,000 Living Wage Accredited employers across Scotland by Autumn 2017.

Health and safety is a complex area of law and is not the responsibility of any one organisation alone. Land managers owe a duty of care to people entering onto their land whether or not this is a core path and may, for example, restrict access when machinery is being used. Members of the public also have a duty of care to land managers and to other people, for example by not riding or cycling too fast.

The Scottish Outdoor Access Code (http://www.outdooraccess-scotland.com/) sets out the access rights and responsibilities of the public and land managers. Scottish Natural Heritage has also published "A Brief Guide to Occupiers' Legal Liabilities in Scotland in Relation to Public Outdoor Access" (http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/heritagemanagement/occupiers.pdf) and "A Brief Guide to Laws Relevant to Outdoor Access In Scotland" (http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/heritagemanagement/lawsrelevanttosoac.pdf).

Local authorities have no statutory obligation for the upkeep of core paths but under Section 19 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 they have the power to do anything that they consider appropriate for the purpose of maintaining a core path or keeping a core path free from obstruction or encroachment.

VisitScotland is actively engaged in promoting Scotland to visitors from Northern Ireland and undertakes a range of marketing activities.

In April and May 2016, VisitScotland ran a destination campaign encouraging Northern Irish visitors to come to Scotland by ferry, promoting the Larne to Cairnryan route and the ease of access that this gives to Ayrshire and Arran as a short break destination.

In May and June, VisitScotland engaged directly with commuters in Belfast to promote weekend breaks in Scotland.

More recently, VisitScotland, along with Stena Line and Stranraer Development attended a familiarisation trip in November to see the tourism product on offer on the Cairnryan to Belfast ferry route, and to explore opportunities to engage with visitors arriving at Cairnryan from Northern Ireland.

The number of planning appeals received in respect of wind turbine applications in Dumfries and Galloway in the last three years* are set out in the following table:

*Figures shown relate to the period 23-11-13 to 23-11-2016.