- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many landholdings in public ownership are (a) 3,000 hectares or more, (b) 1,000 to 2,999 hectares and (c) 500 to 999 hectares.
Answer
Within the scope of the size thresholds stated in the question there are a total of 355 land parcels in public ownership in Scotland. The following table breaks this down by the size thresholds requested.
Land parcel size threshold (ha) | Number of land parcels in size threshold |
500-999 | 112 |
1,000-2,999 | 165 |
3,000+ | 78 |
These land ownership data relate to land owned or managed by Crown Estate Scotland (CES) and the following five public bodies:
1.Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS);
2.NatureScot;
3.Ministry of Defence (MoD);
4.Scottish Ministers Crofting and Farming Estate; and
5.Scottish Water.
The data analysed in providing the response to this question have been provided by the respective public bodies themselves, who collate and update their own data independently, so the data used here may be slightly out of date.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of ways in which land can be used to make a community more sustainable.
Answer
If passed by the Scottish Parliament, the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will prohibit certain sales of over 1,000 hectares, until Ministers can consider the impact on the local community. Ministerial consideration of a lotting decision and what factors may be expected to make a community more sustainable will be based on the individual circumstances of the landholding and the particular communities in question.
While this assessment will depend on these individual factors, it is anticipated that the assessment of potential contributions to the sustainability of communities would include having regard to high level objectives such as economic development, repopulation, maintenance of populations, regeneration, public health, social wellbeing and environmental wellbeing.
Further information can also be found in my letter to the Convener of Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee: cabsecralriproviding-further-information-following-informal-briefing-on-the-land-reform-bill-14-may.pdf (parliament.scot)
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how its review of the Community Rights to Buy will consider how communities can actively respond to the nature and climate emergencies.
Answer
The review of the community rights to buy will look at legislative and procedural changes that can help make those rights more accessible to communities. How, and for what purposes, communities choose to exercise those rights to buy, is a matter for each community to decide. The review will make sure that those rights can be exercised more easily when communities need them.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its timeline for the planned doubling of the Scottish Land Fund to £20 million by 2026.
Answer
The Scottish Government remain committed to increasing the Scottish Land Fund to £20m by 2026. Annual budgets for the SLF are set as part of the annual budget process.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Rural Land Market Insights Report published in summer 2024 by the Scottish Land Commission, confirming that rural land prices remain at an all-time high, whether it plans to (a) review and (b) provide funding routes for communities seeking to take large areas of land into ownership.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to an ongoing programme of land reform, working with the powers and resources available to us, to tackle the pattern of land ownership in Scotland. Communities in Scotland now have more options than ever before to take ownership of land and assets. Since 2016, the Scottish Land Fund has approved 300 awards of funding for the acquisition of land and land assets, totalling over £50m, bringing over 24,500 acres into community ownership.
The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill introduced into Parliament earlier this year sets out ambitious proposals that will change how land is owned and managed in our rural and island communities for the better. If passed by the Scottish Parliament, the Bill will prohibit certain sales of over 1,000 hectares, until Ministers can consider the impact on the local community. Potentially, this could lead to some landholdings being lotted into smaller parts if this will support community sustainability. The Bill also seeks to empower communities with more opportunities to own land through introducing advance notice of certain sales from large landholdings.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 18 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent report, For farming, nature and climate: Investing in the UK’s natural infrastructure to achieve Net Zero and nature’s recovery on land, what its position is on what proportion of the UK farming budget should be allocated to Scotland; what analysis it has carried out on this issue; what its response is to the reported assessment that farm budgets in Scotland need to more than double if nature and climate targets and commitments are to be met, and what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding future arrangements for farm funding.
Answer
Short-term settlements from the former UK Government, lack of inflation proofing and reduced capital allocations have resulted in the Scottish Government being forced to take difficult decisions that have negatively impacted our ability to deliver land-based climate change measures such as woodland creation and peatland restoration at the scale required. There is currently no UK Government agricultural funding commitment from 2025.
The UK Government must commit to urgent, meaningful engagement on a sufficient, ring-fenced, multi-year programme funding settlement. The Scottish Government has sought early engagement with the UK Government to work towards a reset in the relationship, with an emphasis on the value of regular engagement and collaboration, while respecting devolution.
The Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (IMG EFRA) met on 16 September 2024, its first meeting with the new UK Government and the first meeting since September 2023. It was a positive meeting between Ministers from the Four Nations with an agreement on a shared programme of work.
The current agricultural funding allocation is a historical percentage based on decades old agricultural production figures. We need to come to a position that provides the long-term assurance required for our respective Agricultural Reform Programmes and to meet our shared nature and climate obligations.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 18 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports of damage to the seabed in a Marine Protected Area close to Rum, what its planned timeline is for implementing restrictions on forms of fishing that cause harm in Scotland's inshore Marine Protected Areas.
Answer
Putting in place the remaining fisheries management measures remains a top government priority. We want to achieve this as soon as possible, however developing the evidence based and effective fisheries management measures for over 160 inshore sites is a complex and challenging process.
Statutory social, economic and environmental impact assessments are currently being undertaken for inshore MPAs and we will then undertake a public consultation within the current Programme for Government timeframe. Final fisheries management measures will then be implemented as soon as possible once the consultation responses have been analysed and a final decision on the measures taken.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 15 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) programme, how many farmers and crofters have claimed the Soil Analysis and Development Payment under the PSF programme in each year since it was launched in spring 2022; what data it holds on how many farmers and crofters have carried out soil analysis since spring 2022 without support from the PSF programme; whether it is collecting the results of soil analysis carried out with support from the PSF programme, and, if so, whether this information may be used to help inform future policy development.
Answer
Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) has received a total of 1964 claims to date for soil analysis with a development payment associated with the first claim, with the following number of claims per scheme year: 607 (2022); 1201 (2023); 156 (2024, to date). As part of the claim submission process, high level data was captured to assess if there has been any barriers to acting on the analysis recommendations, whether or not more or less fertiliser was applied than expected, if variable rate application has been used, and whether lime was required based on the analysis. It is worth noting that from the UK-wide British survey of fertiliser practice, only 37% of the farms included in the survey undertook a standard soil analysis (which measures levels of P, K, Mg and soil pH). Data gathered and lessons learnt have been incorporated into the new Whole Farm plan requirements.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle dangerous driving behaviours, such as (a) speeding, (b) driving too slowly, (c) using a mobile phone while driving and (d) racing, and what measures are in place to improve road safety across Scotland.
Answer
Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and a long-term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050.
In response to interim figures in 2023 showing an increase in road casualties in Scotland, the Scottish Government has allocated a record £36m for road safety investment in the 2024/25 financial year. Latest figures in 2024 show that fatal casualties are tracking 26% above the same period last year.
In response to this, a range of interventions totalling £5.5m will be delivered. These include driver behaviour campaigns targeting speeding and seat belt use, as well as advancing the use of distracted driver technology. Additionally, local projects will focus on reducing pedestrian and cyclist casualties.
Further initiatives include launching a consultation on the National Speed Management Review, overseeing the £10m Road Safety Improvement Fund to support local authorities reduce casualties and risk, and the rolling out of a pioneering training and education programme which includes the development of the world’s first Safe System Manual for road safety practitioners.
This comprehensive approach underscores the Scottish Government’s unwavering commitment to achieving its goal of making Scotland’s roads among the safest in the world by 2030.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 10 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government TEST.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 10 October 2024
