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1,020 applications were received under the Seafood Producers Resilience Fund. 911 applications were approved and paid a total of £5,808,112 with 109 applications declined.

In recognition of importance of reducing flood risk the Scottish Government has, since 2007, provided £42 million each year to local authorities through the general capital grant to invest in flood protection measures. In September 2020, the Programme for Government also committed an additional £150 million over five years from 2021-22 to support flood risk management actions. Reducing flood risk is a priority for this Government and we will continue to support authorities to deliver actions that protect our communities.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 (“the Act”) encourages a co-ordinated, plan-led approach to flood risk management, which runs in six year cycles. As part of the first cycle under the Act, 14 Flood Risk Management Strategies were published in 2015 by SEPA and 14 Local Flood Risk Management Plans (LFRMP) were published in 2016 by local authorities. Actions prioritised to reduce flood risk in Newcastleton are included within the 2016-22 Solway LFRMP; this included a flood study for Newcastleton, which has now been completed by Scottish Borders Council. It is for the Council and other responsible authorities such as Scottish Water to take forward and deliver the actions set out in the Strategies and LFRMPs.

SEPA and local authorities are currently in the process of reviewing and updating the Strategies and LFRMPs for the 2022-28 cycle. Once finalised, the Strategies will be submitted to Scottish Ministers for approval.

We also work closely with key partners to promote community resilience and flood preparedness. We have increased our funding to £195,000 for the Scottish Flood Forum, which provides vital support to communities such as Newcastleton. The Scottish Flood Forum offers advice and information to individuals to help them protect their homes from flooding or to recover from flooding.

The main regulated, compulsory carbon pricing market in the UK is the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Agriculture and land-use emissions are not covered by the current scope of the UK ETS. The carbon in Scotland’s deep peat soils is however being traded through the peatland code. This is a voluntary certification mechanism which provides assurances to carbon market buyers that the climate benefits from restoring peat are real, quantifiable, additional and permanent.

Although there is no soil carbon code in place at present, there is UK-wide interest in developing a soil carbon code. This has been most recently addressed by a UK Soil Association conference on 14th July 2021 but this has not yet been translated into a co-ordinated programme of work.

Through Scotland’s Third Land Use Strategy 2021-2026 , we have set out our vision, and objectives to deliver multiple benefits through sustainable productive mixed land-use, including forestry and farming. To achieve our vison, we will continue to support the management of Scotland’s land in an integrated way.

The Scottish Government currently encourages the uptake of agroforestry through the Forestry Grant Scheme within the Scotland Rural Development Programme 2014-20. As we develop future agricultural and forestry support to replace the current Common Agricultural Policy, the Agricultural Reform Implementation Oversight Board will carefully consider the recommendations of the Farming 1.5 report, as well as the Farmer-led Groups, WWF Scotland, Just Transition, NFUS, Scotland's Climate Assembly's Recommendations for Action Report, the Climate Change Plan update and the Forestry Grant Scheme Customer Representatives Group, when devising practical measures for delivery.

NatureScot is developing a Natural Capital Pilot Programme that will run until 2024 and we are working closely with them to ensure linkages are made to the work underway on designing future agri-environment support. This will help deliver a sustainable, long-term approach that addresses the specific needs of Scotland’s rural landscapes.

We also work closely with farming stakeholders to encourage greater levels of woodland planting as part of farming enterprises. For example, facilitated by Scottish Government and Scottish Forestry, a new farmer-led initiative has recently been established called Integrating Trees Network . This network hosts events for farmers and crofters across Scotland and brings them together, along with experts, to share their practical knowledge, experiences and advice about the processes, objectives, challenges and outcomes of planting trees.

The Scottish Government published its Strategy for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Research in March 2021 which sets out future research priorities and governance arrangements. This was informed by extensive consultation including within the agricultural sector. The future governance structure for the research programme will provide for input from a range of stakeholders across the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture.

With regard to your suggestion that support continues to be provided for the Rural Innovation Support Service I would advise that this service was delivered under a procurement contract which concluded on 31 March 2021. Decisions on whether and/or how future funding support will be provided in this area are currently under consideration.

We know how important agri-environment support is to farmers and crofters in helping them to deliver a wide range of environmental measures. That is why we have prioritised agri-environment support in the face of significant cuts to the budget resulting from the UK Government reneging on public commitments that farmers and crofters would not be worse off as a result of leaving the EU.

The latest application round of the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme closed at the end of June, decisions on approvals will be made by the end of 2021 and this will build on the £214 million of support committed to since 2015.

The farmer led groups also considered biodiversity and environmental outcomes and the recently announced Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board will carefully consider these recommendations, and those from other reports such as Farming for 1.5, as they contribute to our work to implement policy reform. We are also working closely with NatureScot on their pilot programme on a range of approaches, including a farmer-led outcomes based approach to inform what rural support could look like after CAP.

The Climate Change Plan update provides a pathway to transform farming and food production in Scotland and to optimise land use. In 2021, we are piloting Regional Land Use Partnerships, which aim to facilitate collaboration between local and national government, communities, land owners, land managers and wider stakeholders. They will enable natural capital-led consideration, at a regional level, of how to maximise the contribution that our land can make to addressing the climate and environment crises.

The proposals set out in the Climate Change Plan update for agriculture are founded on a co-development approach and we will work with the industry to consider the complex issues around multi-faceted land use and decisions that impact on them, while we identify the best way to ensure delivery of these outcomes. This partnership working will be continued through the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board. The Board will carefully consider the recommendations of the Farmer-led Groups, Farming 1.5, WWF Scotland, Just Transition, NFUS, the Climate Change Plan update and Scotland's Climate Assembly's Recommendations for Action Report when devising practical measures for delivery.

We are committed to supporting our world-class producers thrive whilst contributing to our world-leading climate change agenda and response to the biodiversity crisis.

The concept of a Suckler Beef Climate Scheme (SBCS) was one output of the Farmer Led Group initiative, which has been followed by the recent establishment of the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), and the publication of the consultation on a sustainable agriculture transition. The ARIOB will help to develop new proposals for sustainable farm support by considering the Climate Change Plan Update and the Farmer-led Groups recommendations, alongside industry reports like Farming for 1.5C. The group will place farmers and crofters at the heart of a future support framework and help Scottish agriculture become more economically and environmentally sustainable.

The ARIOB has been asked to create a package of measures, which we will fund, that can be agreed as part of our approach to COP 26. This National Test Programme will include early progress on reducing livestock emissions and the package should be implemented by spring 2022, with recruitment of farmers and crofters expected to begin this autumn, advancing the work undertaken by the Suckler Beef Group.