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The SPCB offers a range of benefits to SPCB staff and similar or identical benefits also underpin the employment relationship between MSPs and their staff.  These benefits include generous annual leave, sick pay and maternity, paternity and adoption pay entitlements which exceed statutory provisions and which are competitive when compared with other public sector employers.  Other benefits include pension schemes with employer contributions, a cycle to work scheme, interest free season ticket loans and discount schemes for selected retailers. 

Scottish Government officials have had limited engagement with UK Government officials about the UK Government’s plans to introduce legislation to prevent public institutions from imposing their own international boycotts.

The Scottish Government view remains that any legislation should be developed in a way that respects Scotland’s devolution settlement and the autonomy of Scotland’s institutions. We will continue to engage with the UK Government on the detail of the proposed Bill provisions and will consider carefully how this impacts on devolved competence.

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission has established a working group to consider the microchipping of cats alongside the UK Government’s recently published draft legislation. Scottish Ministers will carefully consider their findings once published.

The Scottish Government’s Code of Practice for the Welfare of Cats recommends that all cat owners should consider neutering and microchipping their pets as the best way of being reunited with their rightful owners, should they be separated.

The Scottish Government remains willing to consider areas where consistent changes to legislation in all GB administrations will improve the welfare of kept animals and strengthen the prospects of separated animals being returned to their owners.

No decision has yet been taken with regard to Scottish Government funding to support student mental health services within colleges and universities beyond the end of the current Academic Year.

We have met our manifesto commitment to provide more than 80 additional counsellors in Further and Higher Education over four years.

In this, the final Academic Year of the commitment, despite an extremely challenging fiscal environment, we have confirmed a further £2 million to the end of this financial year and are committed to provide further funding for the remainder of this Academic Year, which falls into the Government’s next financial year. Details of this will be confirmed in due course, as part of the budget setting exercise for 2023-24.

We are producing an evidence and evaluation-informed Student Mental Health Plan. The Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group, which I chair, is driving this work forward. The Plan will provide a framework for mental health services in colleges and universities, recognising the existing eco-systems of services available for students, and will be linked to the wider Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Transport Scotland officials have been in discussions with UK Government officials regarding regulatory and legislative requirements for a range of future vessel technologies and fuels, including hydrogen. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is responsible for shipping regulations in UK waters, to ensure that vessels are meeting UK and international safety rules, promoting and enforcing compliance with maritime regulations and best practice, and making sure that legislation is proportionate.

In the most challenging budget settlement since devolution, we are providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement. The settlement includes £436.9 million for Aberdeen City Council to fund local services, which equates to an extra £27.1 million to support vital day to day services or an additional 6.6 per cent compared to 2022-23. All local authorities will also receive a fair share of the currently undistributed sum of £329.8 million and have a range of revenue raising powers that are not available to other public services.

We are proud to have supported Sistema Scotland with annual funding since 2012, contributing to the Government-wide priority of tackling child poverty.

We are pleased to confirm that the Scottish Government will ensure that Sistema will get the funding they need to continue to deliver their programmes, including Big Noise Torry, which we understand is around £1.5 million.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked Douglas Millican, Chief Executive, to respond. His response is as follows:

Scottish Water completed an exercise with the James Hutton Institute in 2021-22 to understand the current carbon capture on its landholdings and to baseline performance. This has enabled Scottish Water to identify areas where it can improve carbon performance. Scottish Water is planning to survey and restore all circa 4400Ha of poor condition peatland on its land that were identified in the baseline exercise. In addition, it is working with other landowners to identify peatland for restoration where the poor condition peat has an impact on raw water quality. This programme of work has been underway for several years with a focus on water quality, and now has added benefit of carbon reduction.

In parallel, Scottish Water has been reviewing all of its landholdings for their potential for woodland creation. In 2021-22 they created 100ha of new woodland and are developing several schemes to increase this. In developing the plans for each site, Scottish Water engages with its tenant farmers to ensure that the plans integrate with the needs of the tenant. Scottish Water’s largest land holding is the Loch Katrine estate, where over the last two years it has been working in partnership with Forestry and Land Scotland to develop a 10 year land management plan. This was submitted to Scottish Forestry for approval in February 2023. The draft plan proposes the creation of some 4600Ha of new woodland. This landscape scale plan has involved close working with communities and stakeholders such as the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority.

Both the Final Report (May 2022) and the Action Plan Assurance (October 2022) for the Gateway Review for the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme were published on the Scottish Government website on 14 December 2022.

The Scottish Government has provided funding of over £520,000, over the past four years, to support the establishment of an FASD Hub in Scotland with the aim of providing support, training and advice to families, carers and professionals supporting children affected by FASD. This is the first national FASD Hub of its kind within the UK.  

There are no current studies on the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in Scotland. We have provided funding of over £1 million, over the past four years, to the FAAST team at Edinburgh University to support research, evidence and training for professionals, including diagnostic training. As well as improving supports, this work may have contributed to an increase in the reported number of people with FASD who were not previously known to services.

To support public authorities compliance with the duty created under Section 2 Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018, the Scottish Government and its forestry agencies have consulted on and published Scotland’s Forestry Strategy 2019-2029, which provides an overarching framework for sustainable forest management.

We have maintained and promoted the UK Forestry Standard, the technical standard supporting the delivery of sustainable forestry in Scotland. To ensure this framework remains relevant we are working with the other UK Governments to update the Standard including inputs from public bodies in Scotland such as NatureScot and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The Scottish Government has put in place planning policy and legislation that supports the delivery of this duty through the National Planning Framework 4, the implementation of the Control of Woodland Removal Policy and the requirement under the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 for planning authorities to prepare Forestry and Woodland Strategies. These strategies should include setting out how planning authorities will protect, develop and expand forestry and woodlands in their area. Scottish Forestry will shortly be working with partners to review the guidance to support the preparation of these local strategies.

The Scottish Government is also working directly with public authorities including statutory consultees and local authorities to actively support sustainable forestry management through partnership initiatives such as the Clyde Climate Forest, Rainforest Alliance, Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust and Cairngorms Connect.