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Registered social landlords (including subsidiaries) who operate as a property factor are regulated by the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011. The Act requires all property factors to be registered and then to comply with a code of conduct (the Code) which sets out minimum standards of practice in the delivery of services to homeowners.

The Code, amongst other things, requires all registered property factors to ensure transparency in financial and charging arrangements as well as when arranging for repairs and maintenance to be undertaken. The Code also requires a property factor to provide a homeowner with a copy of its complaints procedure that should set out the steps taken by the property factor to resolve such complaints.

These measures allow a homeowner to hold their property factor to account and to challenge poor practice where this arises.

The circumstances under which an individual or company who is owed money can initiate bankruptcy proceedings will apply equally to registered social landlords and factors.

There are formal steps that must be taken to recover debts prior to petitioning for the bankruptcy of an individual in the Sheriff Court. This usually involves going to court to demonstrate that the person owes the debt. The Sheriff Court will issue a decree if satisfied that the debt is owed and this will enable the creditor to instigate formal recovery action including the issue of a Statutory Demand or Charge for Payment. On expiry of a prescribed period with debt remaining outstanding, a creditor petition can be presented to the Sheriff Court requesting that the person who owes the money be declared bankrupt. On receipt of a creditor petition, the Sheriff Court shall set a date for a hearing and the debtor will have the opportunity to challenge the bankruptcy proceedings.

The following conditions must be met before a creditor can present a petition:

• The creditor (either an individual or company) must be owed at least £3,000 which can include fees, charges and interest which has been added to the original debt - if the debt is below £3,000 the creditor can lodge a joint petition with other creditors provided the combined debts are at least £3,000.
• The person owing the debt must receive a copy of the statutory Debt Advice and Information Package containing information about where to get advice and what will happen if the debt is not repaid - this must have been issued at least three weeks and not more than 12 weeks before making a petition.
• The creditor must be able to demonstrate that the person with the debt is unable to repay their debts and therefore apparently insolvent - normally in the form of an expired Charge for Payment or Statutory Demand.

Representatives from the Scottish and Isle of Man Government’s last discussed scallop management on 23 October 2018. Officials from the two administrations took part in a meeting (which included representatives from industry and other fisheries administrations) to discuss the queen scallop fishery. Trends in the fishery were debated and proposals for the seasonal closure of fishery in 2019 were developed.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme (SMASS) which investigates and collects records of strandings, including entanglements.

Between 2015 and 2018, there were seven cases reported by SMASS as being consistent with entanglement, of which two were confirmed as being witnessed as entangled prior to stranding. Those seven reports consisted of: one northern bottlenose whale, one humpback whale, four minke whales and one killer whale. In addition there were two cases of bycatch of harbour porpoise.

SMASS are leading on the “Scottish Entanglement Alliance” project. This three year project aims to work closely with the Scottish inshore fishing industry to provide a co-ordinated, comprehensive monitoring and entanglement programme to better understand the scale and impact of marine mammal entanglement.

The Scottish Government supports work to reduce the risk of entanglement of wildlife at sea. In 2017 the Scottish Government signed up to the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, to tackle ghost gear in our shared seas and oceans, and we encourage responsible disposal of fishing gear by our fleets through our work with KIMO, and our work with the other administrations of the British Irish Council to improve end of life gear recycling.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21818 on 5 March 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at .

Where a core path has been routed across a residential garden area, the landowner can submit a request to the relevant ‘access authority’ - the local authority or, within a national park, the National Park Authority - that the core path be re-routed.

Responsibility for determining such a decision lies initially with the access authority. The process is set out in section 20 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 (LRSA). Alternatively, if the request relates to a planning matter, the relevant planning authority has powers under section 208 and Schedule 16 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.

There are no duties placed on any bodies for meeting the costs of a re-routed path, unless an obligation is conferred for example within a path agreement (section 21 of the LRSA), or relating to a path order (section 22 of the LRSA), planning consent, or duty of care.

Core paths networks may comprise a range of surfaces, including natural grass, beaten earth, farm and forestry tracks, quiet minor roads and pavements, and other artificial surfaces. The access authorities have powers to undertake works and are responsible for determining their local priorities and the allocation of their resources. Other funding sources are also available, for example through Sustrans Community Links.

Under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, supplementary guidance can be adopted and issued by a planning authority in connection with a local development plan. Any such guidance will form part of the development plan, and have that status for decision making in line with section 25 of that Act.

Unlike development plans, there is no requirement to scrutinise supplementary guidance through an independent examination. The statutory process for the preparation and adoption of supplementary guidance requires planning authorities to make people, who may wish to comment, aware of the guidance and give them an opportunity to comment and there is a requirement to notify Scottish Ministers of their intention to adopt the guidance.

By focussing our £600 million investment in Scotland’s rural areas, while creating the right environment to encourage commercial providers to invest in our urban areas, we are ensuring we meet our commitment to deliver 100% superfast broadband access across Scotland.

To comply with EU State Aid legislation, we regularly engage with telecoms providers to understand their commercial deployment plans as they relate to R100 and to secure access to detailed data on their commercial proposals. We will continue to review commercial deployment and will be able to intervene should commercial investment in urban areas not materialise as planned by commercial providers.

It is a legal requirement under state aid legislation that public funding can only be invested in areas of market failure. An Open Market Review was initiated at the end of 2016 to identify those premises that did not have access to superfast broadband, and those for whom there were no commercial delivery plans over the next three years. This information forms the basis of the ‘intervention area’ for the R100 programme, ensuring that public investment will not impact on private investment in broadband infrastructure. I am pleased to note that, in parallel with the R100 procurement, we continue to see significant private sector investment in Scotland; most recently in regard to CityFibres investment programme in Glasgow, in addition to its investment in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The Planning (Scotland) Bill, which is currently before the Scottish Parliament, proposes to remove section 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. Planning authorities can currently adopt supplementary guidance under section 22 which would form part of the development plan for their area. It will remain open to planning authorities to use planning guidance in connection with their respective plans but changes proposed would mean that this guidance would not itself form part of the development plan.