Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to the creation of a Scottish Veterinary Service (SVS) to ensure there are highly trained staff to provide Scotland with good animal health and food safety to meet all our needs across the public and private sector for animal health issues.

Animal health and welfare matters are devolved, and were so before the creation of an Scottish Veterinary Service was considered. The Scottish Government is satisfied that any future changes to the arrangements for the delivery of veterinary controls will be purely operational and have negligible implications for the operation of the Internal Market Act 2020.

Nevertheless, animal diseases do not respect borders, and there will be areas where communication, cooperation and interoperability between the future Scottish Veterinary Service and its counterparts in the rest of GB or the UK will be required for effective delivery, such as data sharing, science and research, contingency planning and mutual assistance for major incidents and disease outbreaks.

Scottish Government Officials liaise regularly with the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations on animal health and welfare matters, including the SVS, through the mechanisms established under the UK Framework for Animal Health and Welfare.

The Scottish Government delivered this commitment on 12 July 2023 when the enhanced Forestry Grant Scheme support for planting trees around rivers and streams was announced and became operational. The ‘Woodlands for Riparian Benefits’ grant is targeted to areas of land around rivers which has the greatest potential to deliver multiple benefits. Approximately 175,000 hectares are now eligible for enhanced grant support for tree planting where there can be benefits for enhancing biodiversity and reducing river temperatures, diffuse pollution, and flood risk.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Local authorities may hold this information.

The Scottish Government’s guidance ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1: a positive approach to the promotion and management of attendance in Scottish schools’ makes clear the need for schools to follow up absence immediately, and to continue to follow up absence for those for whom there are welfare concerns.

Local authorities are expected to have robust processes and guidance for children who do not attend school from the first day they are missing until they are re-engaged with education. Where children are missing for extended periods of time, or are not on a school roll or being educated otherwise, the Children Missing from Education Guidance and Service can support local authorities in this.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19534 on 24 July 2023. 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 .

The Forest Research National Forest Inventory (NFI) provides ecological data on all types of woodland using data drawn from the Woodland Ecological Condition (WEC) assessment. This is a systematic and statistically robust evaluation of ecological condition in all types of woodlands.

The Woodland Ecological Assessment is based on 15 measures of ecological condition, including the amount of deadwood, proportion of favourable land cover around woodland, vegetation and ground flora, herbivore grazing, and invasive non-native species which all provide an indication of biodiversity value. Measures that relate to habitat connectivity, such as proportion of favourable land cover around woodland are also measured. A WEC score is produced against each of the indicators and aggregated to produce an overall score. The benchmark is an Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland in good condition. Results are produced approximately every five years, with next cycle of reporting is due in 2024-25.

As with the powers Scottish SPCA inspectors currently have under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, powers will be authorised by Scottish Ministers. Scottish Ministers will also have the ability to remove powers from a Scottish SPCA inspector if necessary.

There are no plans to appoint an independent body to oversee the Scottish SPCA’s use of enhanced powers in relation to wildlife crime.

The Scottish Government will be consulting over the summer on provisions to allow for a limited extension of the Scottish SPCA’s current powers to investigate wildlife crime. We will consider whether there is a requirement to update the BRIA following the outcome of this consultation.

Scottish SPCA inspectors currently undertake training to enable them to carry out their duties as part of their current responsibilities provided through the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. This includes internal training courses, on the job training, and externally audited training during and after their probation period.

We expect that any additional training would be incorporated into current training. The details of the training and the associated costs will be developed after the public consultation on the proposals this summer.

The total cost of the independent taskforce charged with conducting a review of Scottish SPCA powers was £2834.20.

Transport Scotland, acting on behalf of Scottish Ministers, is a statutory consultee in the planning process on developments that affect the trunk road network, including the A1 at Reston. In support of the Reston station development, Transport Scotland undertook a review of the submitted Transport Assessment prepared by the developer.

The results of the junction assessment showed that there were no significant adverse operational impacts on the A1/B6438 junction as a result of predicted development traffic associated with the Reston Station development.

Each year Transport Scotland, through its Operating Companies, undertakes a review of collisions on the trunk road network to identify cluster sites, or routes with recorded collisions that may be worthwhile of further investigation. This evidence led approach ensures that resources can be targeted at locations where the greatest potential for casualty reduction is available. The most recent screening process did not identify the A1/B6438 junction as a priority site for further investigation, however Transport Scotland will continue to monitor road safety at this location.