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The Scottish Government appointed four external agriculture champions in January 2017 to provide advice and recommendations on a future agriculture strategy for Scotland. The Champions recently published an interim discussion document which identified six strategic themes, all underpinned by the concept of Public Value. One of those themes, Enhancing Scotland’s Natural Capital, highlights the need to make optimal use of our natural capital, for economic as well as environmental reasons if we are to ensure a long-term sustainable future for Scotland's farming industry. The champions will analyse responses to their discussion document and publish a final report in spring. It will not be possible however to plan a long-term policy without knowing what kind of budget will be available to us, and we will continue to press UK Government for clarity on this as a matter of urgency

The position on advice will be one of the issues looked at when we are deciding the shape of the new policy.

At this late stage in the life time of the scheme, it is unlikely that it will be worth amending the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) to incorporate beaver management payments. The Scottish Government will consider whether beaver management that benefits the public interest should be part of any scheme that replaces the SRDP.

Scottish Natural Heritage has been advised of four dead beavers in the wild since May 2016. It appeared that one was killed on a railway line, one was killed on a road, and one was presumed to be drowned. The decomposed remains of a young animal were also found, with no apparent cause of death. No autopsies were carried out on these animals.

Clause 1 of the draft Animal Welfare (Sentencing and the Recognition of Sentience) Bill is intended to require Ministers of the Crown to have regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings when formulating and implementing government policy. This would include matters applying to Scotland, to the extent that they are reserved.

The Scottish Government is considering the extension of this duty to have regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings when formulating and implementing policy to Scottish Ministers as regards matters devolved to the Scottish Government.

Clause 2 of the Bill relates to penalties for animal welfare offences in England and Wales only.

Publishing the detailed reporting framework for the Land Use Strategy has been delayed following the result of the EU referendum. The Scottish Government is looking to integrate work on future strategic policy for the environment and agriculture with the next steps for the Land Use Strategy, however we have made progress on several of the proposals and policies put forward as part of the Land Use Strategy, such as policy 5 (the publication of the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement on 28 September 2017).

The results of the scoping exercise carried out by Scottish Natural Heritage, which was a proposal in the Land Use Strategy 2016 – 2021, were published in July 2017. We are currently considering the results, including the recommendations made, and will take a decision on their implementation in due course.

The Scottish Government is keen to encourage self and custom build housing in Scotland and to encourage alternative house building models including options like cooperative housing. However, it is the responsibility of local authorities to determine the appropriate housing required in their areas, based on the findings from their Housing Need and Demand Assessment and Local Housing Strategy policies. We encourage local authorities to consider all types of delivery models to provide a wide range of housing types to suit the needs of people of all ages. Housing is also addressed in current planning policy documents and we are committed to reviewing the National Planning Framework and Scottish Planning Policy, including their role in supporting housing development.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. As fire safety is a responsibility of local authorities, this information may be available by contacting local Authorities directly and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

However, I wrote to all local authorities in August seeking reassurance of fire safety across the school estate. From the detailed responses received, we are reassured that local authorities have taken all steps necessary to ensure the fire safety of their schools.

Scottish Government does not record farmed salmon mortalities by year but does maintain and publish the percentage of fish harvested from each year class in the Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey; . Mortality is included in the number of fish not harvested for human consumption, which also consists of fish which have escaped, have been culled for production reasons, have been removed for sampling purposes, statutory culls or have been selected for broodstock production.

A year class represents all smolts put to sea in any one year. The production cycle of any year class is complete within two years. The following table details the data from the 2010 year class onwards, as these fish will have contributed to mortality in 2012. The latest fin fish production survey was published in September 2017 and the most up to date information available is for the 2014 year class.

Commercial fishing for sandeel does take place within the Scottish zone, although only a small (< 5000 tonnes) monitoring fishery is permitted within the North east UK sandeel closure that was imposed in 2000, in response to advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) following concern about fishing impacts on marine predators such as seabirds. The closure covers almost all of the foraging range of sandeel reliant seabirds during their breeding season. Landings outside the closed area within Scottish waters have tended to be low in recent years with ICES only advising on a precautionary Total Catch Allowance (TAC). However, ICES did advise on a TAC in 2017, although information on landings for this year will not be available until February 2018.

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Marine Scotland Science has worked with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology to consider the effect of the fishery on the biomass of sandeels taken by seabirds, fish and the fishery. However, it is unlikely that the fishery had any significant effect on breeding seabirds since the North east UK closure was put in place, and fishing also ceased at coastal sandeel grounds around Shetland in the late 2000s.