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The Scottish Government recognises the threat posed by Xylellafastidiosa to Scotland’s ecosystem and a pest risk analysis (PRA) on Xylellafastidiosa was initiated following consideration of the pathogen by the UK Plant Health Risk Group. The PRA was published, following stakeholder consultation, in June 2014 and assesses the pathogen’s potential to cause economic, environmental and social impacts in the UK, including Scotland.

There is uncertainty as to the degree of damage that may result if the pathogen was to become established in the UK and the PRA is kept under review given the on-going threat.

The Scottish Government is aware of the European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety vote on 22 June which did not support an attempt by Conservative MEP, Julie Girling, to halt a proposed ban by the European Commission on the outdoor use of neonicotinoid insecticides.

Restrictions were placed on the use of these neonicotinoids in 2013 to prevent their use on crops with flowers attractive to bees. These restrictions were fully implemented in Scotland and the rest of the UK. The Scottish Government awaits the outcome of the European Food Safety Authority's main review of the neonicotinoids, expected to be published towards the second half of the year.

Using information from landings figures and vessel monitoring systems, it is possible to estimate the value of landings by scallop dredgers from the 0-3 nautical mile zone. In 2016 Scottish vessels caught king scallops with a value of £10.6 million from the 0-3 zone out of a total catch of £22.3 million from all Scottish zones (0-200nm). Meaning that catches from within the 0-3 nautical mile zone account for nearly 50% of all landings from the Scottish zone.

In 2016, our data shows that nearly 120 vessels recorded landings by dredge from the Scottish zone which we estimate supported over 400 jobs at sea and 300 on onshore industries (such as processing, transport and related employment).

The Scottish Government is committed to the development of the TIMES model. A dedicated branch sits with in the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to run and extend the model. The Scottish Government has also seconded a TIMES analyst to ClimateXchange at Edinburgh University to develop the model further and to support the adoption of the TIMES model by the wider academic community in Scotland. The Scottish Government also has ongoing engagement with the academic community, who review and advise on assumptions and data that support the development of the model.

The Scottish Government is undertaking further runs of the TIMES model to incorporate updated sector assumptions and reflect the Scottish Government’s latest policies and proposals. These will inform the final Climate Change plan.

The Scottish Government has in place a range of regulatory and voluntary activity to increase recycling rates, including of drinks containers, and to reduce all types of litter.

This activity includes supporting the UK-wide Courtauld Commitment with retailers and industry to introduce voluntary targets to increase recycling rates, improve design for recyclability and drive waste reduction. Information about the success of these measures can be found here:

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The Scottish Government has also agreed a Household Recycling Charter with COSLA to move to a consistent system that will make it easier to recycle. Zero Waste Scotland is providing financial support to the 25 councils which have signed up to the Charter. It is voluntary, but the Scottish Government will consider what other measures might be required if sufficient progress is not made.

This voluntary approach on recycling is underpinned by regulatory action, such as the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 which require the separate collection of recyclable materials, the provision of recycling facilities to households and a ban on recyclable material being incinerated. This holistic approach to improving recycling has seen an improvement in household recycling to a current rate of 44.2%, compared to 40.1% in 2011.

Through Zero Waste Scotland we are also supporting voluntary measures to tackle littering, such as anti-littering tool kits and support for local networks. We have also taken a range of legislative steps with a focus on preventing littering behaviours. These include increasing the fines for both littering and flytipping, widening the range of public bodies which can issue fines, and working with local authorities on Litter Prevention Action Plans.

The Climate Change Plan modelling takes into account the EU ETS cap for the traded sector to 2020. In subsequent years, the Climate Change Plan modelling uses actual emissions from the traded sector rather than reflecting the impact of the ETS cap. This reflects the fact that individual countries' share of the cap beyond 2020 have yet to be determined.

The impact of the UK's exit from the EU on the role of emissions trading was not factored into the draft Plan since the UK Government has not yet taken a position on the UK's future relationship with the EU ETS. The EU ETS remains a fundamental part of UK and Scottish climate change legislation.

The Scottish Government is undertaking further runs of the TIMES model to incorporate updated sector assumptions and reflect the Scottish Government’s latest policies and proposals. These will inform the final Climate Change plan.

The Scottish Government is undertaking further runs of the TIMES model to incorporate updated sector assumptions and reflect the Scottish Government’s latest policies and proposals. These will inform the final Climate Change plan.

We continue to use the Element Energy research, commissioned by Transport Scotland, to inform the development of the Transport emissions envelopes. Element Energy's work offers additional detail over the core TIMES Transport module. For instance, the Element Energy project included the construction of a detailed Scottish vehicle database, including number, age and turnover of the Scottish vehicle parc, a peer review of their database of technology costs across transport modes (used to refine their cost models for alternative fuels and technologies) and finally used their consumer demand model to develop realistic scenarios for the take up of alternatively fuelled vehicles, particularly cars. The share of each fuel type flowing into the Transport sector and the Transport emissions envelopes, resulting from the Element energy analysis, have been coded into TIMES, such that their impacts on the wider energy system would be costed and considered.

The Scottish Government has no plan to monitor the implementation of the exemption on tail docking for working dogs.