Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03232 on‎ 4 October 2021 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03232 on 4 October 2021 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Scottish Ministers set investment priorities for the Scottish Government. When making investment decisions, Ministers will consider multiple criteria and evidence informed by robust assessments which are in accordance with statutory procedures.

Under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act (2004), all public bodies in Scotland are required to further the conservation of biodiversity when carrying out their responsibilities. The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act (WANE Act) (2011) introduced a further requirement for all public bodies in Scotland to provide a publicly available report every three years, on the actions which they have taken to meet this biodiversity duty.

Scottish Ministers hold regular meetings with SEPA on their strategic objectives, responsibilities and programmes of work, including pollution control, which are central to addressing the biodiversity crisis.

Waste crime has a serious and detrimental impact on our environment, communities and compliant businesses. The Scottish Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy recognises waste crime as a strategic threat.

In respect of an annual appraisal of waste crime impacts, SEPA contribute to the Scottish Multi Agency Strategic Threat Assessment (SMASTA) on an annual basis, which now includes a section on Environmental Crime. This is compiled by Police Scotland with input from relevant partners.

The Scottish Government is taking a range of action to improve digital inclusion across Scotland, including in the Glasgow region.

We know that cost is one of the greatest barriers to getting online, closely followed by a lack of skills. Since May 2020 the Scottish Government has invested £48 million through the Connecting Scotland programme to provide a device, connectivity, and training and support to those on low incomes, allowing them to realise the full benefits of being online. Connecting Scotland is delivered in collaboration with key partners, including local authorities, COSLA, SCVO and third sector organisations, and telecoms companies. The recently published report Connecting Scotland - A Year in View demonstrates the scale of the investment and the impact of the programme so far. To date, Connecting Scotland has distributed almost 7,000 devices to organisations based in Glasgow. As set out in the Programme for Government, by the end of this Parliament, we will ensure Connecting Scotland has supported up to 300,000 households to get online, backed by £200 million of investment.

We are also making substantial investments in Scotland’s digital infrastructure, despite responsibility for broadband being reserved to the UK Government.

Our Reaching 100% (R100) programme – consisting of the £600 million R100 contracts, our Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and commercial coverage – will help to deliver universal superfast access across Scotland.

The Scottish Government engages with the UK Government through the British Irish Council digital inclusion workstream, and officials regularly engage with telecoms companies on digital inclusion issues.

Under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act (2004), all public bodies in Scotland are required to further the conservation of biodiversity when carrying out their responsibilities. The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act (WANE Act) (2011) introduced a further requirement for all public bodies in Scotland to provide a publicly available report every three years, on the actions which they have taken to meet this biodiversity duty.

Protecting habitats, species and Scotland’s ecosystem services is an integral part of SEPA’s regulatory remit. All SEPA’s regulatory decisions take account of potential effects on biodiversity and opportunities for biodiversity enhancement. SEPA is responsible for setting standards in environmental licences that protect and help improve the state of water, land and air and the services that ecosystems provide. SEPA issues environmental licences under a range of regulations, including the following:

• Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012
• Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011
• Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2011

SEPA’s Nature conservation procedure for environmental licensing ensures that its statutory duties to protect designated features in nature conservation sites are incorporated into all environmental licensing regimes in a consistent and auditable manner.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to provide financial support for HVO. However, we already offer a comprehensive support package for domestic heat and energy efficiency measures through our Home Energy Scotland service.

Our Heat in Buildings Strategy, which will be published in due course, outlines four key no and low regrets areas strategic technologies for the transition, including energy efficiency, heat pumps in on and off gas grid areas and low and zero emissions heat networks. It also highlights that here may be a small number of buildings for which bioenergy, including HVO among others, may play a role for home heating if displacing fossil fuels in off-gas-grid areas where electric heating or heat pumps are unsuitable.

We wish to see bioenergy used where it has the greatest value in reducing emissions, however this decision is also dependent on which sectors will make the best use of the bioenergy feedstocks that we can grow sustainably or produce domestically in comparison with those we may need to import. For this reason we have assembled a Scottish Government working group which will develop a strategic framework for bioenergy, taking into consideration the competing demands on land for feedstock production, sustainability, technical capabilities and opportunities of a just transition to net-zero. This will help to inform a more detailed Bioenergy Action Plan by 2023 which will urgently tackle these challenging issues as we begin the next stage of decarbonisation in Scotland.

We have also published a Bioenergy Update paper where we outline how we intend to move forward over the next 18 months to understand the most appropriate and sustainable use of bioenergy resources in Scotland.

As we deliver our Heat in Buildings programme following the publication of the Strategy our delivery programmes and support mechanisms will support the mass move from fossil fuel reliant systems to low and zero emissions heating in tandem with achieving a good standard of energy efficiency across all buildings in line with our strategic priorities.

Hedgerows can support ecological connectivity by joining up nature rich areas across Scotland, contributing to wider nature networks and helping to address habitat fragmentation, which is one of the most significant drivers of biodiversity loss.

The Scottish Government recognises the value of hedges and their creation and supports the this through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme which has committed £11.6 million since 2015.

Telephone and video consultations have and continue to play an important role in ensuring that care and support for new mothers and babies, children, young people and their families continues across Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are many examples of continued, innovative and high quality service provision by universal community health services; maximising opportunities to utilise IT, flexing telehealth capacity, with professional judgement remaining the main driver in determining an individual's level of support. Where face-to-face contacts are necessary NHS Boards are ensuring that they can be carried out safely.

As outlined in the NHS Recovery Plan, published on 25 August 2021, technology enabled care will continue to play an important part in the delivery of care as part of the mix of service provision. NHS Boards should aim to return to normal service provision with increased numbers of face-to-face health visitor contacts and this should be planned for and built into NHS Boards' overall COVID-19 recovery response.