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We are aware that the restarting of business as usual (non-COVID) disclosure services by Disclosure Scotland in early June has seen some disclosure applications taking longer than during the full lockdown period.

Over the past month, the average processing time for COVID-related PVG applications from registered care services (the category that includes care home staff) has been 6.1 days, with the average processing time for business as usual applications being 9.3 days.

Each year approximately 200 farming businesses are selected for a cross compliance inspection. The 25 businesses that have had a penalty applied to their payments for removing hedgerows represents a very small proportion of the approximately 3000 businesses that have been inspected since cross compliance was introduced in 2005. The value of the penalty and the geographic location (Local Authority) for the 25 businesses are shown in the following table -

The PRS Landlord (non-business) Covid19 Loan was introduced to provide a support option for smaller scale landlords that supports them to work with tenants to manage arrears during the pandemic. The loan is available to landlords not operating as a business who have 5 or less properties available for let. The loan is interest free and repayable over 12 months.

The scheme will be extended in line with the anticipated extension of notice periods within the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act. The existing criteria will remain as at launch except that the scheme will be expanded to allow landlord to apply for loan assistance in relation to up to three let properties, the initial limit was just one let property. Additionally loan repayments will also be scheduled over 24 months.

Throughout the pandemic the messaging from Scottish Government has been clear, that rent remains payable, where tenants can continue to pay they must do so and where tenants’ income or employment has been impacted by Covid-19 they should seek support. We have also been clear that no-one should lose their home as a result of the pandemic and landlords should be flexible with tenants who are facing financial hardship.

The Scottish Government provides support to land managers wishing to create small-scale woodlands through the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS). This includes grants for each hectare of new woodland and support for fences and gates, which are often a higher proportion of the cost of small-scale woodlands. More detailed guidance on the financial support to land managers is available at

The Forestry Grant Scheme also includes grant options specifically designed for small-scale projects. The Small and Farm woodland option and the Islands woodland option. Up to the end of July this year, of the 1184 tree planting projects supported, 339, or 28%, were small scale and less than 5 hectares in size. A simpler FGS application process for projects under 3 hectares was also introduced in 2018 and Scottish Forestry works with Woodland Trust Scotland to provide additional advisory support for small scale projects through a team of advisors.

An additional £1 million has been made available to support woodland creation in 2020 from the Scottish Government Agricultural Transformation Programme, to support the creation of more farm woodlands, particularly riparian and shelterbelt planting.

The Scottish Government provides targeted grant support for small and medium forestry related businesses through the Forestry Grant Scheme Harvesting and Processing option. This provides support for activities related to woodland creation and to help businesses adapt and recover from the impact of Covid 19.

Normally around £300k per year is available under this option, but this has been increased to £1 million this year to help the forestry sector respond to Covid 19 and increase sector capacity to deliver tree planting. Support is also provided to the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers which allows them to provide training and technical support to their membership and other small businesses involved in small scale processing.

In addition, for the first time a new funding agreement with the UK Government has provided an additional £1 million of funding this year to support tree nurseries that supply trees to Scotland. This support is also provided through the Forestry Grant Scheme and available to tree nurseries and tree seed businesses, which are predominately SMEs, in Scotland, England and Wales.

The map and associated wording on VisitScotland.com makes clear the route begins near Carlisle: “The only tourist route that begins outside Scotland, the Borders Historic Route picks up near Carlisle before passing into the lush countryside of the Scottish Borders.”

The route is also clearly signposted where it crosses the Border at J44 of the M6 with brown tourist signs. Of course visitors may choose to deviate from the route and head to Gretna first.

The driving routes and the accompanying itineraries on VisitScotland.com are suggestions to help visitors make the most of their trip around Scotland. With the increased focus on encouraging visitors to see and do more as part of their trip, VisitScotland is keen to see visitors take in more of our country. These routes can be enjoyed by following them from the official start to the official end point or can help visitors in planning a wider journey.

The current target for native woodland planting is 3 - 5000 hectares a year and is set in the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity. This will be reviewed when the Biodiversity Strategy is updated. In the period April 2019-2020 approximately 4,500 hectares of new native woodland was created, which is approximately 40% of the overall woodland created.

All woodland creation proposals are required to contain a minimum of 5% native species, and an additional 10% of the area is required to be open ground or ground managed for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity.

Scotland is leading the UK in new woodland creation; 84% of all new woodland creation in 2019 and 65% of softwood production in 2018. All this forestry activity is based in Scotland creating jobs here.

The ambitious targets to increase woodland creation and the £150 million over the next 5 years announced as part of the Programme for Government support this investment in forestry infrastructure, services and the domestic supply chain offering a real opportunity for growth and jobs. The programme also includes an ambition to increase the annual volume of Scottish timber going into construction from 2.2 million cubic meters (2018) to 2.6 million cubic meters in 2021-2022.

Additional funding has also been secured for timber transport in Scotland which supports the movement of timber to processing plants and funding for investment in forest nurseries based in Scotland. The Scottish Government is acting directly as well and both Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland will double their youth employment offering for next year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31493 on 10 September 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31492 on 10 September 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .