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The ethical framework will be approved and monitored by the project governance board. NatureScot will make available a draft version to interested parties on request to gather feedback.

Scottish Government officials are not involved in the detail of the individual pilot projects, nor engagement with land managers. In both pilot projects the project team includes local delivery partners such as the Tweed Forum, who will be making introductions to land owners and land managers, not NatureScot.

The Scottish Government continues to make progress to deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to develop a framework for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution, and to support those with experience of it.

Principles to underpin the Framework were published in December 2022. The principles have been adopted across Scottish Government and we will look to have them incorporated within the planned refresh of Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to take action on all forms of violence against women and girls. The principles will also inform relevant policy and practice across the wider public and third sector, in turn supporting Scotland’s collective approach to tackling Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

The key focus throughout 2023 will be to use the principles to define the component parts of a Framework that will improve access to support for any adult with experience of prostitution, and at the same time challenge men’s demand. We anticipate being able to outline the component parts of the framework before the end of the year.

As with the development of the principles, we will continue to work with stakeholders as this work progresses and keep them advised of progress.

The Scottish Government has statutory requirements in the UK Marine Strategy to develop and implement pathway action plans to reduce the risk of introduction and spread of invasive non-native species (INNS), and to improve monitoring and surveillance to detect new non-indigenous species (or INNS) introductions, particularly at high-risk locations. The Scottish Government provides significant funding to tackle INNS, for example this includes part funding the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative, which is an ambitious £3.24 million partnership project tackling invasive non-native species alongside rivers and water courses.

Scottish Ministers, NatureScot, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Scottish Forestry have statutory powers to enforce the Wildlife and Countryside Act UK (1981), using the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act (2011), which make it a criminal offence to release, plant or cause a species to be outwith its native range. This applies across all aquatic environments.

Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) provides funding to farmers to undertake soil testing and analysis. Preparing and implementing a nutrient management plan on the basis of results encourages balanced fertiliser use for all plant nutrients. In addition, the Scottish Government-funded Farm Advisory Service (FAS ) offers a significant amount of high quality advice and support on a range of topics, the vast majority of which is free to the user. This includes the Soil and Nutrient Network, which is considering how to protect and improve farm soils and make the best use of both organic and inorganic fertilisers, saving money, benefitting yields and improving farm efficiency and resilience.

The relevant statutory requirements for land managers fall under the Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2008 and the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (CAR) General Binding Rule 18 – Storage and application of fertilisers.

Objectives/ targets for improving the water environment in relation to phosphorus and nitrogen impacts are set through River Basin Management Planning.

SEPA is responsible for monitoring phosphorus and nitrogen in the water environment. RPID audits farms for compliance with Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) requirements and there are penalties through the cross compliance scheme for non-compliance. SEPA enforces CAR through its priority catchment work and other regulatory activities and can serve fixed penalty notices on land managers for non-compliance or in severe cases take a case to the Procurator Fiscal for prosecution. There can potentially be cross compliance penalties for breaches of CAR GBRs as well.

There is a wide range of legislation which applies to the Scottish Government to protect Scotland’s wildlife and habitats, including specific duties which fall on individual authorities to protect, conserve and restore the protected habitats and species of European sites.

NatureScot’s role as set out in the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 includes securing the conservation and enhancement of the natural heritage of Scotland. All public bodies have a duty under Section 1 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 to further the conservation of biodiversity when carrying out their work, where appropriate and in line with the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity.

Furthermore, for Scotland’s terrestrial and marine environments, the requirements of in the Habitats Directive and the Wild Birds Directive apply, setting out the rules for the protections and management of certain habitats and species, including wild bird species, to ensure their long term conservation.

For example, under Regulation 3A of the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994, Scottish Ministers and NatureScot must take steps in the exercise of their functions to preserve, maintain and re-establish sufficient diversity and area of habitat for wild birds in Scotland.

While there is no explicit legal duty on the Scottish Ministers or its agencies to increase species abundance, this does form one of the key outcomes envisaged in the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-biodiversity-strategy-2045-tackling-nature-emergency-scotland/ . The protected areas networks on land and sea includes sites for nature conservation, protection of biodiversity, demonstrating sustainable management and protecting our heritage. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Special Ares of Protection (SPAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are just a few examples of the protected areas designated under retained European Law, UK and Scottish legislation by Scottish Ministers which go to form a network of protected sites. These sites ensure protection for some of the most vulnerable species and habitats within Scotland.

There is no statutory duty on the Scottish Government to achieve a biodiversity net gain.

Scotland’s draft biodiversity strategy published in December 2022 sets out a clear ambition for Scotland to be nature positive by 2030, and to have substantially restored and regenerated biodiversity by 2045. Five year delivery plans will set out the actions we need to take to achieve that ambition. We will consult on the first delivery plan in the summer. We will also bring forward a Natural Environment Bill, which will put in place key legislative changes to restore and protect nature, including, but not restricted to, targets for nature restoration.

The National Planning Framework also places a strong emphasis on securing positive effects for biodiversity as one of its six statutory outcomes (as identified in section 3A(3)(c) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended). The recently adopted National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) includes a cross-cutting theme to improve biodiversity and our strategy and policies support development that helps to secure positive effects for biodiversity. NPF4 Policy 3 sets out that development proposals will contribute to the enhancement of biodiversity, including where relevant, restoring degraded habitats and building and strengthening nature networks.

The Bathing Waters (Scotland) Regulations 2008 Reg 4 states Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) must exercise their relevant functions so as to take such realistic and proportionate measures as they consider appropriate with a view to increasing the number of bathing waters classified as “good” or “excellent”. However, there is no obligation to take measures which would result in disproportionate expense or where any change in classification is infeasible.

Following significant investment and improvements in the first two cycles of river basin management planning, 98% of Scotland’s designated bathing waters now meet ‘sufficient’ or better environmental water quality standards, and more bathing waters are now rated as ‘excellent’ than ever before.

During the third cycle we continue to apply measures to protect bathing waters aiming to achieve further good or excellent classifications, avoiding deterioration and implementing plans to ensure that the health of bathers at designated sites is protected”. SEPA will continue with a focused approach in diffuse pollution priority catchments to drive compliance with environmental legislation to help achieve water quality objectives and improve bathing water quality.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is responsible for monitoring, classifying, protecting and improving designated bathing waters with aim to reduce the risks to human health, where a large number of people bathe, by protecting and improving bathing water quality. SEPA monitors and classifies bathing waters on an annual basis following strict EU standards and publishes the results on its’ website. Bathing Waters : Summary of last season (sepa.org.uk) .

The Bathing Water (Scotland) Regulations 2008 Reg11(4) requires that for bathing waters classified as poor SEPA must take such action as it considers necessary, whether in relation to the regulation of any controlled activity or under any other functions to ensure that the bathing water can be classified as “sufficient”, “good” or “excellent”, unless permanent advice against bathing has been issued.

The following table shows that the number of bathing waters designated as good and excellent has steadily increased in the past three years.

The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (CAR) introduced a comprehensive control regime for abstractions which allows the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), on behalf of the Scottish Government, to manage water resources across Scotland. Under CAR, SEPA is provided with a three-level abstraction authorisation process: General Binding Rules (GBRs); Registrations; and Licences.

GBRs represent a set of mandatory rules which cover specific low risk activities. Activities complying with these rules do not require an application to be made to SEPA, as compliance with a GBR is considered to be compliance with an authorisation. Abstraction activities which do not comply with any relevant GBR must obtain authorisation from SEPA in the form of a Registration or water use Licence to abstract water.

All water users undertaking a controlled activity have a duty to take all reasonable steps to secure efficient and sustainable water use. During periods of prolonged dry weather, SEPA will review authorised abstraction volumes and, where necessary, SEPA have direction from Scottish Government to suspend specific abstraction authorisations using regulations under CAR. When suspensions are applied, abstractors are required to suspend their abstraction activities from Scotland’s water environment, including rivers and underground sources across Scotland and in sensitive habitats, to mitigate impacts the environment.

Further requirements for abstractors are set out by SEPA in their Water Scarcity Plan in conjunction with Scotland’s third River Basin Management Plan 2021 - 2027.

While the Scottish Government does not currently have targets directly relating to soil health, I would refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17413 on 9 May 2023 which provides our current restoration target for peatland soils. The Scottish Government is committed to improving soil health, as shown by the programmes and strategies that contribute to wider soil health both directly and indirectly which contribute to our commitment to becoming a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. These include our Agriculture Reform Programme, Peatland Restoration Programme, the second Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme, the draft Biodiversity Strategy, the Land Use Strategy and the National Planning Framework 4.

Soil health is important for the delivery of our Vision for Agriculture. Preparing for Sustainable Farming under the National Test Programme supports a range of measures including funding for farmers and crofters to undertake soil testing and personal development to improve nutrient planning and nutrient management which will help promote sustainable management of soils. We also support farmers, crofters and land managers with tools, skills, and knowledge to manage and improve their soils through a range of initiatives, for example: Farming for a Better Climate and its farmer-led soil regenerative agriculture network, Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service, the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund and the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are 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