Chamber and committees

Migrant Help and the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) were awarded a combined £1,484,606 for the current financial year to support adult victims of human trafficking and exploitation across Scotland. Support can include accommodation, assistance with day to day living, medical advice and treatment, language translation and interpretation, counselling, legal advice, help accessing other services and, if the victim wishes, repatriation.

Both Migrant Help and TARA maintain crisis accommodation which is available to potential victims of trafficking and exploitation.

The Scottish Government works with communities and the local authority in Glasgow, and across Scotland, to support our just transition to net zero emissions in a number of ways. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Committing £1.3 million of grant funding to 8 Climate Challenge Fund projects in the Glasgow area. The Climate Challenge Fund supports communities across Scotland to take action on climate change and make the move to low carbon living. The Glasgow projects cover a range of themes including helping communities to reduce their reliance on car travel, cut waste, grow local food, improve household energy efficiency and tackle fuel poverty.
• Commissioning a study, as part of the Clyde Mission, into climate adaptation pathways along the tidal reach of the River Clyde. That study will conclude in early 2022.
• Supporting the installation of a river source heat pump at a community hub in Govan, through the Clyde Mission Fund. A further £25m will be allocated to riverside heat decarbonisation projects along the Clyde in the current Parliamentary term.
• Awarding a £128,000 grant, through the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, to Southside Housing Association. The project is applying Passivhaus (Enerphit) principles to the retrofit of eight pre 1919 sandstone tenements in the south side of Glasgow.
• Providing £4.5 million of grant funding from the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme to the NG Homes Air Source Heat Pump Project in Springburn, which will reduce emissions and heating bills for nearly 600 homes.
• Investing over £60 million in active travel routes in Glasgow through the Scottish Government funded Places For Everyone Programme including projects such as Glasgow Avenues Plus and the South City Way. These will contribute towards tackling climate change by supporting a modal shift away from cars and towards walking, wheeling and cycling.
• The Early Learning and Childcare 1140 hours expansion is driving Glasgow City Council’s construction of four new nurseries, which will incorporate innovative green technologies, including receiving their hot water and heating from electricity, to help mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. The inclusion of sustainable solutions – is being delivered through match-funding from the Scottish Government’s ‘low carbon infrastructure transition programme’ (LCITP).

Within the current control period, 2019 – 2024, it is the intention to (a) deliver the full electrification of the existing single track route between East Kilbride and Glasgow central and b) to deliver the relocation of Hairmyres railway station approx. 600 m to the west transforming it into an active travel hub.

In addition the project will c) enhance passenger facilities and circulation at East Kilbride with a new station building and d) continue to operate a four trains per hour service at peak times using cleaner, greener trains offering a zero-emissions service between East Kilbride and Glasgow Central.

Booster vaccinations in Scotland started as soon as possible once the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provided their advice on boosters, which stated that the booster dose should be offered no earlier than six months after completion of the primary vaccine course.

627,898 people have received a booster to 29 October, and we are working as quickly as we can, prioritising those most vulnerable.

Data on boosters by JCVI priority group is not yet published. We continue to work closely with Public Health Scotland to develop the vaccination data to provide robust statistics that enhance public understanding.

Since 2019, data relating to the National Referral Mechanism has been released by the Home Office Single Competent Authority. Information is published quarterly and in an end of year summary.

Data relating to 2018 was released by the National Crime Agency and can be found at:

https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/282-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-end-of-year-summary-2018/file .

Data relating to 2019, 2020 and 2021 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics 

National Referral Mechanism (NRM) First Responder organisations play a key role in the identification and recovery of potential victims of human trafficking and exploitation. First Responders in Scotland include Police Scotland, UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force, Home Office Immigration Enforcement, National Crime Agency, local authorities, Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), Migrant Help and the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance.

In March this year, we launched a toolkit for NRM First Responders which aims to improve the formal identification of victims in Scotland. We are also establishing a working group to ensure the ongoing consideration of training and awareness raising resources.

Grant funding of £2million was awarded in the current financial year to organisations providing support for recovery to adult and child victims. It is not possible to accurately cost the wide range of activity undertaken by the Scottish Government and partners to improve identification and recovery, or to express this as a percentage of overall activity to deliver the Strategy.

Section 36 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 requires Scottish Ministers to review the Strategy within three years of its publication and following that review, publish a report on the review. The Scottish Government published a review of the Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy in May 2020 in line with this requirement.

The Scottish Government published its Draft Hydrogen Action Plan for consultation today. This follows the publication of the Hydrogen Policy Statement in December 2020 which outlined the Scottish Government’s policy position on hydrogen and our vision for Scotland to become a Hydrogen Nation.

Draft Hydrogen Action Plan

This Draft Hydrogen Action Plan sets out what the Scottish Government will do and how we will work with others over the next five years to support the development of the hydrogen economy in Scotland which will further our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our energy system, industry, homes and transport, while ensuring a just transition to net zero.

We are seeking views on the Draft Hydrogen Action Plan and the accompanying Strategic Environmental Assessment and Partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment. Responses are invited by 19 January 2022 and can be submitted at the Scottish Government's consultation platform, Citizen Space:

Hydrogen Action Plan consultation platform

The Scottish Government will review responses to the consultation to inform development of the final version of the Hydrogen Action Plan.

FLS takes an evidence-led approach to its deer management activities. On the National Forests and Land (NFL), FLS has a target of not incurring more than 10% deer damage to young trees. In 2020 the 3 year rolling average of deer damage impacts was 18% for the leaders on young trees, i.e. trees planted for 1 year in the ground. This is well above the FLS target. The regional variation for damage impacts ranged from 7% to 38% in 2020. Results at site level in 2020 ranged from 0% to 100% damage of young trees.

Along with monitoring deer impacts on biodiversity, FLS also monitors deer populations (densities). Over the past 5 years approximately one third of NFL have been surveyed as part of a rolling programme. The mean average deer density in these survey areas have ranged from 4.2 deer per km2 to 64.7 deer per km2. The FLS target range as published in the FLS deer management strategy in 2014 is between 2 and 7 deer per km2. Of the land surveyed in the last five years, 89% has deer density well above this widely accepted.

FLS works in partnership with neighbouring land managers with similar management objectives and FLS operatives therefore do, in specific locations or project areas carry out collaborative deer management operations on neighbouring ground. FLS data will therefore reflect this. Occasionally an FLS operative may make a simple numerical error when inputting a grid reference into the Wildlife Management System.

FLS takes an holistic approach to its management of land, forests and deer on NFL. It manages around 630,000 ha of land (9% of Scotland), of which approximately one third is open ground including open hill. Its aim is to protect a wide range of habitats and environments across NFL whether forested, riparian or open hill in order to deliver Scottish Government land-use priorities such as climate change mitigation, carbon capture through growing trees, peatland restoration, ecosystem services and biodiversity enhancement, all of which have added immediacy, impetus and focus to our deer management operation. FLS therefore has a very clear need to use Out of Season authorisations on the open hill as well as in forest and woodland areas. FLS always aims to achieve the highest standards of animal welfare when undertaking all deer culling operations, in line with best industry practice; i.e. when culling adult female deer prior to the start of the official open season all efforts should be made to cull associated juveniles first, if in any doubt about leaving a dependant young then the adult should not be culled.

Officials have taken cognisance of the outcomes from a variety of 20 mph schemes across the globe and the lessons learned from the Restricted Roads (20 mph Speed Limit) (Scotland) Bill, which have highlighted that the implementation of 20 mph limits and zones across Scotland is complex.

They are liaising with a range of stakeholders to develop a national strategy for 20 mph zones and limits, considering additional measures which have the potential to enhance a range of policy objectives across the Scottish Government. The national strategy will support the 2021 Programme for Government commitment: “We will ensure all appropriate roads in built-up areas have a safer speed limit of 20 mph by 2025, forming a task group to plan the most effective route for implementation”.

The intention is to convene the first meeting of the 20 mph task group early in the new year.