Rob Gibson

Answer · Aileen McLeod · 1 Feb 2016

The Scottish Government does not hold maps specifically showing which upland areas are suitable for new planting for water management and carbon sequestration alone.
However, local authority led regional forestry and woodland strategies use maps to guide the location of new planting in Scotland to deliver a range of objectives, including water management and climate change mitigation. These strategies divide the local authority area into categories for new woodland planting. These categories usually indicate preferred, potential and sensitive areas for new planting and cover both uplands and lowlands.
In addition to forestry and woodland strategies, target areas have been identified within the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s priority catchments where woodland creation would contribute most to water related benefits including flood alleviation and climate change. These maps are used to target enhanced grant support.
Although we do not have specific maps for new planting to sequester carbon, the Scottish Government has mapped all areas of soils with peat exceeding 50 centimetres depth that are unsuitable for planting due to a negative impact on the carbon balance and hydrology of the bog habitat.

Answer · Shona Robison · 13 Jan 2016

Information on the number of properties sold by individuals who enter residential care is not held centrally.
Through deferred payment of residential care fees, individuals have the option not to sell their homes during their lifetimes to pay for the costs of their care.

Answer · Aileen McLeod · 5 Jan 2016

The Scottish Government does not have any plans to ask Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to review its 2014 map of wild land areas, which are not a statutory designation.
SNH provided advice to the Scottish Government at the time when the map was published and noted that frequent review was unlikely to be necessary. The areas of wild land on the 2014 map would remain important in the national context unless a significant development or land use change took place.

Answer · Aileen McLeod · 5 Jan 2016

Wild land areas, which are not a statutory designation, were identified by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) using a three phase mapping methodology. This involved:
1) Using geographic information system analysis to map four physical attributes across Scotland: perceived naturalness, rugged or challenging terrain, remoteness from public roads, and visible lack of built development/modern artefacts;
2) Applying statistical techniques to identify the largest and most wild areas;
3) Making informed judgements to select and define areas of wild land of most importance in a national context.
A more detailed non-technical description of the mapping methodology has been published by SNH: http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/looking-after-landscapes/landscape-policy-and-guidance/wild-land/mapping/