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Responsibility for the management of the police estate sits with the Scottish Police Authority and the Chief Constable.and as such are the holders of this information. The SPA’s Chief Executive, Lynn Brown, can be contacted at The Scottish Police Authority, 1 Pacific Quay, Glasgow, G51 1DZ.

The Police Scotland Estate Strategy, approved by the SPA in May 2019, provides a framework for planning the future of the police estate to support the long term vision of policing which includes enhanced partnership working, and seeks to respond to the changing needs of communities while maintaining public visibility and confidence.

The Scottish Government expects the Bank to publish its Gender Equality Strategy later this summer. As part of a wider Equality Strategy, we expect this to set out the Bank’s approach to advancing equality in Scotland across its activities and in line with legislative requirements, including those of the Scottish National Investment Bank Act.

The additional revenue funding provided to local authorities under the Bellwin Scheme in each year since 1998-99 is set out in a document that has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib number 63530.

Scottish Government does not hold information on flytipping incidents in each local authority. This detailed information can be obtained by contacting local authorities directly.

There is no single dataset of all flytipping incidents in Scotland, as there is no legal requirement for duty bodies or landowners to report on flytipping externally.

The recent National Litter and Flytipping Strategy consultation covered proposals to improve data collection and reporting mechanisms, including mandatory reporting of flytipping incidents for statutory bodies. We are analysing responses in advance of publishing a final National Litter and Flytipping Strategy later this year.

This information has been placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (BIB number 63508 ).

Under Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012, SEPA may only grant a permit in respect of a specified waste management activity if it is satisfied that planning permission is in force under the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1997 where the use of the site for the activity requires such permission. As such, SEPA are unable to issue permits if a facility does not have planning permission.

That is why, in line with Dr Church’s recommendation that no further planning permission is granted unless balanced by an equal or greater closure of capacity, (with limited exceptions for remote and rural areas, if fully justified) we will keep in place the Energy from Waste Notification Direction. This requires planning authorities to alert Scottish Ministers of new planning applications that involve incineration facilities and to notify Scottish Ministers if they are minded to grant planning permission to such facilities. This gives Ministers the opportunity to decide whether there are national interests at stake which would merit Ministers calling in an application for their own determination or to allow the local authority to issue the decision at local level.

On 8 July 2022, the First Minister and I represented the Scottish Government at the summit meeting of the British-Irish Council hosted by the Government of Guernsey in St Peter Port. The meeting was attended by Ministers from all eight of the BIC Member Administrations and was chaired by the Chief Minister of Guernsey, Deputy Peter Ferbrache.

The Summit focussed on Collaborative Spatial Planning: The revitalisation of Towns, and included a site visit to a regeneration area of St Peter Port which I attended with fellow Planning Ministers from the BIC member Administrations. I also participated in a meeting of Planning Ministers on the CSP theme ahead of the main summit to discuss the work being carried out in this area in our own jurisdictions.

During the main Summit meeting the Council reflected on the latest political developments, with the First Minister communicating views on the cost of living crisis, the Northern Ireland Protocol and the war in Ukraine.

The Communiqué that was issued by the British-Irish Council after the meeting can be found on its website at: britishirishcouncil.org.

37th British-Irish Council Summit, Government of Guernsey

08 July 2022

Communiqué

The British-Irish Council (BIC) held its 37th Summit meeting today hosted by the Government of Guernsey. The heads of delegation were welcomed by the Chief Minister of the Government of Guernsey, Deputy Peter Ferbrache. Deputy Ferbrache extended a particular welcome to Alfred Cannan MHK who attended his first British-Irish Council Summit as Chief Minister of the Isle of Man. A full list of Ministerial participants is attached.

Latest Political Developments

The Council reflected on the latest political developments across their administrations, and took the opportunity to engage on a number of topics of mutual interest. These included the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the impact of the rising cost of living particularly in the areas of fuel and housing, shared climate and decarbonisation objectives, ongoing relations with the EU, and the continuing challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cooperation on matters of mutual interest

In advance of the Summit meeting, Ministers with responsibility for collaborative spatial planning met to share best practice across BIC administrations on the contribution of spatial planning to town revitalisation and the decarbonisation agenda. The Council held a further discussion on this topic during the Summit meeting, noting that an opportunity exists to revitalise our towns and make them places where people want to live, do business and spend their leisure time, while delivering on a range of wider outcomes including inclusive development, addressing climate change, supporting green recovery and promoting active and sustainable travel.

The Council also welcomed the recent Ministerial Meeting of the BIC Energy work sector, which considered shared challenges including the threat of climate change, the desire to make greater progress in energy efficiency, and the need to ensure energy security.

The Council took the opportunity to discuss the recent work of the Council across all of its Work Sectors and to take note of the ongoing collaborative work across all administrations. This work includes recent symposia on the topics of “Social Value as a Driver for Social Enterprise” organised by the Social Inclusion work sector, and “Working together to meet the health needs of people experiencing homelessness and substance use issues”, jointly organised by the Housing and Drugs & Alcohol work sectors.

Next Summit Meeting

The Council noted that the next BIC Summit will be hosted by the UK Government.

BIC Secretariat

08 July 2022

The Scottish Government is not aware of any concerns being raised with it on how levels of recorded domestic and sexual abuse against men compare to the rest of UK. The operational recording of information on such incidents is a matter for Police Scotland, and as with any report of criminal behaviour, will be underpinned by the Scottish Crime Recording Standard (SCRS). The Standard sets out to ensure a more victim-oriented approach is taken to recording crime, and ultimate responsibility for compliance lies with the Chief Constable.

In general, it should be noted that there are significant differences between Scotland and the rest of the UK in the definitions used to collect data on domestic abuse and violence. The definition of domestic abuse used by Police Scotland focuses on partners (married, cohabiting, civil partnership or otherwise) or ex-partners, and has no age restrictions for those involved. The definition used in the rest of the UK extends beyond partners to other family members, and is limited to those aged 16 and over.

In addition, when considering crime data across the UK, recorded crime statistics are not directly comparable. The main principles for when a crime should be recorded are similar in all four nations. However, there are various differences between the respective Counting Rules, which specify each nation’s approach for counting the number of crimes that should be recorded as part of any single incident. Furthermore, differences in legislation and common law also have an impact on the comparability of recorded crime statistics between Scotland and the other UK nations.

The recent independent review of the role of incineration found that while there may be a temporary under-capacity of residual waste treatment in Scotland in 2025, when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force, there is a risk of long-term overcapacity beginning from 2026 or 2027, if all or most of the incineration capacity in the pipeline is built. The review noted that export is a feasible short-term option for the treatment of residual waste in order to bridge the expected capacity gap, but did not assess the cost of this option.

The most recent assessment of costs was the Waste Markets Study in 2019, which was commissioned to assess readiness for implementing the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste and considered potential costs of available options, including exporting waste. The report can be found here: Waste markets study: full report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Zero Waste Scotland is an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Its work in relation to staff wellbeing and working practices is an operational matter for the body. I have asked Zero Waste Scotland’s CEO to respond directly to you on this matter.