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The Scottish Government commissioned Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to scope the potential to develop a strategic vision for the uplands, which was a proposal in The Land Use Strategy 2016-2021. SNH submitted its report, Scoping a Strategic Vision for the Uplands, to the Scottish Government earlier this year and the report was published in July 2017. We are considering the content of the report and its recommendations and will respond in due course.

Article 7 of the EU Habitats Directive makes provision for the application of Article 6 (2), (3) and (4) of that Directive with the effect of superseding the requirements of Article 4(4) of the EU Birds Directive for Special Protection Areas (SPAs). The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 make the necessary provisions for the protection of European Sites.

In relation to any proposed development at Coul Links, it would be the responsibility of the Highland Council, on receipt of a planning application, to consider all significant environmental effects likely to arise from a proposed development prior to making a decision whether to grant planning consent and whether any conditions would be attached. Scottish Planning Policy (available at ) describes the circumstances where proposed development might affect SPAs.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has yet to denotify any part of the Foveran Links Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). SNH will undertake a review of the impact of the golf course on the scientific interest of the SSSI as part of its periodic consideration of impacts of developments on SSSIs across Scotland. Only after this review will consideration be given to whether any action to denotify part or all of the SSSI is required.

In relation to the Loch Fleet SSSI, it would be the responsibility of the Highland Council, on receipt of a planning application, to consider all significant environmental effects likely to arise from a proposed development prior to making a decision whether to grant planning consent and whether any conditions would be attached. Scottish Planning Policy (available at ) describes the circumstances where proposed development might affect SSSIs.

Any guidance produced in relation to regional land use partnerships will take into account all relevant policy.

Ash lagoons on industrial sites such as Longannet are authorised through the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012. The license for Longannet set conditions requiring the operator to minimise the emission of dust to the atmosphere and to provide dust suppression water spraying equipment. The site specific measures for doing so are detailed in their management plan. This plan has been updated since the dust events of April/May 2017.

General guidance on Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and landfill regulation are available on SEPA’s website.

Transport Scotland continues to work with Scottish transport operators and other public bodies to deliver the Scottish Government’s vision that all journeys on Scotland’s bus, rail, ferry, subway and tram networks can be made using one type of smart ticket or payment. The ScotRail network is now fully smart enabled, with an array of ticket types on offer, including Anytime, Season and, most recently, flexi pass tickets. It is now possible to use the same smartcards on both ScotRail and the Glasgow Subway and the procurement process for a national e-Purse is underway, with the aim to launch a smartcard 'pay-as-you-go' option across all transport modes in 2018.

In the UK, outside of London, bus services are deregulated therefore government cannot simply instruct bus operators or indeed certain ferry operators to adopt or participate in smart ticketing.

The murders of Liam Fee, Madison Horn and Mikaeel Kular were especially shocking given the individuals who were guilty were the very people who should have loved and protected these children.

When a child has died or suffered harm through abuse or neglect, all agencies must consider what might have been done differently to prevent that harm and minimise the risk of further deaths. That is why we expect child protection committees to undertake significant case reviews and share them with the Care Inspectorate, so that it can analyse reviews and report nationally on key areas of learning. I wrote to all child protection committees in June to make clear my expectation that they share all case review findings with the Care Inspectorate.

The Scottish Government remains in on-going contact with Fife to assure itself that progress continues to be made with the implementation of the recommendations from each of the Significant Case Reviews into the deaths of these children. We are also progressing implementation of the national recommendations in those reviews.

As the member will be aware, I made a statement to Parliament in March 2017, setting out the Scottish Government’s response to the independent Child Protection Systems Review which we commissioned and which was chaired by Catherine Dyer. I accepted all recommendations made by the review, including a number of recommendations to improve learning from Significant Case Reviews, such as developing a set of National Standards for those carrying out Significant Case Reviews, exploring a new tiered approach to Significant Case Reviews and making the Care Inspectorate the central repository for all Initial and Significant Case Reviews.

On-going learning and improvement will be supported by other elements of the Child Protection Improvement Programme including a revised framework of inspections that focusses on the experiences and outcomes of the most vulnerable children.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with NHS Tayside regarding the temporary closure of the Minor Injury and Illness Unit at Crieff Community Hospital. This was an operational decision due to unforeseen staffing issues. The unit re-opened on 17 July.

Air quality sensors were first made available to schools in September 2015 as part of a project to raise awareness of air quality issues. They are not part of the statutory air quality monitoring network. All 10 kits have been loaned continuously during term time. The Scottish Government is in discussion with SEPA, the service operator, about possible funding to expand the number of sensors available.

There are currently 586 registered users for the Know & Respond air pollution alert service (via the Scottish air quality website) and a further 947 through the Know & Respond app. However, the number of individuals making use of the service is likely to be significantly higher than this, as a number of registered users are known to be GP practice and specialist nurses who forward the alerts to their patients.