Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, June 8, 2023

Official Report 1187KB pdf

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General Question Time

The first item of business is general questions. In order to get in as many members as possible, short and succinct questions and responses would be appreciated.

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Electric Vehicle Charge Points

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that local authorities have encountered difficulties in engaging electric vehicle charger contractors to repair EV charge points. (S6O-02348)

Through the grant funding that the Scottish Government has provided to local authorities to purchase warranty and maintenance agreements, we expect suppliers to honour their contractual obligations so that, when a charge point is broken, it is fixed on time. Local authorities that own EV charge points, including those on ChargePlace Scotland, are responsible for procuring chargers, selecting installers and agreeing appropriate maintenance packages with their chosen supplier. Once their initial servicing packages have expired, they may choose to extend agreements with their supplier or to seek alternative contractors.

I was first made aware of one EV charger that needed repairs in my constituency last summer, but there have been others since then. Inverclyde Council has informed me that it is unable to get contractors to attend to carry out those repairs. What work is the Scottish Government undertaking to improve EV charging infrastructure in Scotland and increase the numbers of contractors who are able to maintain the chargers as more people become reliant on the service?

Last year, the Scottish Government published “A Network Fit For The Future: Draft Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network”, envisaging a well-designed, comprehensive network that works for everyone. Our electric vehicle infrastructure fund aims to enable £60 million of public and private investment to double the size of the public charging network to at least 6,000 charge points by 2026.

Transport Scotland has considered the range of skills that are required for the maintenance of the charge points. The lack of formal recognition of qualifications has been identified as a barrier and will be assessed as part of a review within the update of the “Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan 2020-2025”. Access to training across Scotland is critical, and Transport Scotland has been investing in mobile equipment for colleges to support training in more remote areas and support a just transition to net zero.

One thing that will not help with the repair and maintenance of EV charge points is the Scottish Government’s decision that it will no longer subsidise the repair and maintenance of plug-in points. Cash-strapped councils now struggle to pay for the upkeep of the chargers, which has led to huge hikes in charges in places such as Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and the Highlands. Will the Scottish Government reconsider that decision to ensure lower costs at the charge point for drivers?

I have already indicated in my first answer the support that has been provided to local authorities, which includes funding to support maintenance of their existing chargers. However, the specific commercial arrangements for maintenance are a matter for negotiation between the local authority or other charge point owners and their maintenance providers. We expect local authorities to ensure that the obligations that they enter into through those agreements with third parties are robust and provide for appropriate performance measures and penalties.

I wrote to the previous transport minister raising concerns about the way in which faults are reported. There is evidence from the experience of EV drivers that the number and the duration of reported faults are not being reflected. Will the minister ask Transport Scotland to look again at the way in which it reports faults?

I would certainly be happy to discuss that with the new transport minister once they are in post. For chargers on the ChargePlace Scotland network, the helpdesk initially tries to remedy faults remotely where that is possible. If the fault cannot be fixed remotely, a fault ticket is sent to the charge point owner and their chosen contractor to make them aware of an issue, and engineers should be on site within 48 hours of receipt of the fault ticket.

I recognise that there will be concerns around the country, in particular in remote and rural areas, where there may be additional challenges, but we think that across the country as whole, the level of reliability of the network is high.

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Forth Bike Scheme

To ask the Scottish Government what support it can provide to the Forth Bike scheme and its partners, in the light of the scheme ceasing to operate. (S6O-02349)

I am sorry that Forth Bike has ceased to operate. We provided £181,000 of pilot funding to Forth Environment Link when it launched in 2019. That and other schemes have found themselves in similar positions as a result of issues that face Bewegen Technologies.

Enabling people to access bikes in an affordable and easy way is vital to reducing health and income inequality, and making communities safer and more pleasant. We are working with Cycling UK to establish a new £1 million fund for non-ownership cycle options—to support start-up and existing cycle schemes—which we expect to launch this summer.

Forth Bike has proved very popular locally, particularly in the Falkirk area, with more than 65,000 miles covered this year. As the minister said, Bewegen, the Canadian bike share company that is involved, has experienced operating difficulties, and Forth Environment Link, Recyke-a-bike and other partners have been trying to find a solution to keep the scheme running. What steps has the Government taken and what discussions about financial and practical help has it had to ensure that cycling provision in Scotland, specifically Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire, is not massively reduced?

I completely agree with Gillian Mackay and I celebrate the success that Forth Bike has achieved. From discussions with stakeholders who are involved in delivering other affected schemes, I understand that urgent commercial discussions are on-going, including with the Canadian company that Gillian Mackay referred to. In this case, the partners—led by Forth Environment Link, which runs the Forth Bike scheme—have not contacted the Scottish Government or asked us to be involved in their discussions. I note that the Hi-Bike scheme was able to reopen earlier this week, and I hope that there will be a similarly positive outcome for Forth Bike and other schemes.

However, this demonstrates the complexity and challenges of setting up and running public bike hire services, and that is why the new fund that I referred to in my first answer, which will provide support for the sector, is going to be very important and beneficial.

Thank you. We absolutely must have more concise responses.

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Rural Communities (Objection to Government Policy Proposals)

To ask the Scottish Government through which means rural communities can object to any of its proposed policies that would have a direct impact on their local sources of employment, culture or natural environment. (S6O-02350)

The Scottish Government is committed to engaging with rural communities on policy proposals that could directly impact them. Rural voices must be heard and people must feel that their views count. In addition to our usual consultations that allow people to have their say, rural communities are being given a voice to initiate change through Scotland’s rural parliament, which is a grass-roots democratic assembly. Of course, Scotland is the only part of the United Kingdom to enable a rural parliament such as that.

I understand that the Scottish Government is at a very early stage of developing its proposals for highly protected marine areas and I welcome the commitment from the First Minister that no HPMAs will be imposed on communities that vehemently oppose them. However, I want to ensure that the voices of fishers in Dumfries and Galloway are listened to and that their concerns are taken into account. Can the cabinet secretary indicate how communities can make their voices known and ensure that any concerns or objections are made clear, as the Scottish Government develops its proposals?

I reassure Emma Harper that, throughout the process, we are committed to engaging with fishers and others in our island and coastal communities, to ensure that their voices are heard. It has always been our intention to develop those ambitious proposals in close collaboration with the people who are potentially impacted by them. That is why we chose to consult at the earliest possible stage and, beyond our initial consultation, we have already been engaging with stakeholders. That engagement will continue, with more opportunities for people across Scotland, including Emma Harper’s South Scotland region, to share their views as part of that process. I am sure that Màiri McAllan, as the lead, is happy to keep the member updated as engagement plans are developed.

In February, Douglas Ross and I met the Cabrach Trust on the Moray-Aberdeenshire border, as I had done with Richard Lochhead last year. We heard from people in a community that has been decimated by the oversaturation of onshore wind farms—a “ring of steel”, as they described it. The community now faces an additional 54 turbines, making it 146 in total, and one of those sites includes Craig Dorney, which is one of the few unexcavated and intact Pictish sites and which is only partly protected as a scheduled monument. Will the Scottish Government give any protection to our rural communities or will it continue these modern-day Highland clearances and destroy our historic and natural environment?

One of the big impacts on our rural communities is Brexit and some of the immigration policies that have decimated rural businesses—[Interruption.] They have absolutely decimated rural businesses.

Members!

Regarding the issues that the member raises, I will get the minister who is responsible to send a detailed answer. The Tories cannot continue to pretend that they support the green economy and renewable energy in order to meet our climate change objectives and then oppose every single measure that is introduced nationally or locally that supports that. They really need to come clean and be honest about their position.

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Bus Services (Renfrewshire)

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to prevent recent cuts to bus services in Renfrewshire. (S6O-02351)

It is disappointing to see services cuts in Renfrewshire. As Mr Bibby is well aware, since the deregulation in the Thatcher era, Scottish ministers do not have the power to intervene over specific bus services.

We remain committed to supporting the sector, with £421 million allocated in 2023-24 for bus services and concessionary fares. We have delivered powers for local authorities to run their own services, which sit alongside existing powers to subsidise services. We are working with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on the community bus fund, and we encourage operators and local authorities to collaborate for the benefit of passengers.

I think the answer that the minister was looking for is “nothing”. Despite McGill’s cutting a huge 13 per cent of services in Renfrewshire, the Scottish Government has done nothing, and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and councils have only limited resources with which to step in.

At a busy public meeting in Linwood this week, people from across Renfrewshire told of the huge impact that those cuts are having on national health service staff and patients, college students and working parents. People in Renfrewshire think that the cuts are unacceptable. Does the minister agree that the cuts are unacceptable and, if so, what is the Government going to do to reverse them?

I share Mr Bibby’s concern about the cuts that he referred to and others around the country. However, he is as well aware as I am that the deregulated model of bus service provision does not give Scottish minister power to intervene in specific services. What we have done, as I have already said, is set out new powers for local authorities to run their own bus services, and we have committed to the community bus fund, which will give them the resources to start using those powers.

I hope that Mr Bibby will join us in encouraging local authorities, including those in his region, to use those powers and to work with us as constructively as possible.

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Community Sport

To ask the Scottish Government what value it places on resourcing community sport as part of efforts to eradicate health inequalities. (S6O-02352)

Physical inactivity is identified by the World Health Organization as one of the four main modifiable behaviours that increase the risk of non-communicable disease, which is why our aim is that Scotland meets the WHO global target of a 15 per cent relative reduction in physical inactivity among adults by 2030.

Community sport can play a significant role in the achievement of that aim, and sportscotland works in partnership with governing bodies of sport, local authorities, leisure trusts, clubs and community organisations to provide opportunities for all to participate in sport. We also invest, through sportscotland, in key programmes, such as community sports hubs, that benefit communities across the country.

At last week’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, there were two particular contributions on community sport that the Government might wish to listen to:

“Access to community facilities is one of the largest challenges that sport, and the voluntary sector as a whole, face”

and

“we do not have a national strategic approach to ensuring that there is investment in community sport activity as a key route to health and wellbeing”.—[Official Report, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, 30 May 2023; c 8, 10.]

Does the minister agree—and is it not the case—that this Government’s incessant cuts to our local councils, and therefore cuts to our communities, show that tackling health inequality has never actually been a priority for it?

Although I agree with Carol Mochan that tackling health inequality is absolutely one of the most important things that this Government and Parliament can do, I completely and profoundly dispute her narrative around this Government’s role.

I am sure that she will welcome the news from yesterday of record investment for Scottish sport in 2023-2024 from sportscotland, with up to £36.7 million for Scottish governing bodies of sport, local authorities and wider national partners. That is an 8.6 per cent uplift on the previous year.

On the funding for our local authority partners, over the past decade, since 2010, this Government has suffered—[Interruption.]. One moment, please. Since 2010, this Government and this country have suffered a period of austerity. There has been a 5 per cent—

Thank you, minister. You must draw your response to a conclusion.

There has been a—[Interruption.]—I cannot respond!

Thank you, minister. I will move on to a supplementary question.

Is the minister aware that the community swimming pools in Broxburn and Armadale are facing closure, due to West Lothian Council proposing withdrawal of all management fees to the leisure trust? There is no council in Scotland that currently makes up no management fees whatsoever.

These are communities with serious health inequalities. There is a six-week wait for national health service referrals to Broxburn swimming pool amid a need for lower-impact exercise because of long waiting lists for orthopaedic surgery. Is the minister aware that this decision by West Lothian Council was made before proper engagement with health services and patients?

What can the Government do to support my constituents who are on low incomes, need low-impact exercise and do not own cars to get to the neighbouring swimming pool, when bus services have been cut in those two towns?

I am well aware of the proposed closure of those facilities in West Lothian. Our leisure facilities are absolutely crucial for the health and wellbeing of our population. They play a really important role in rehabilitation, for example.

We are fully aware of the impact of energy costs, and there is such a significant issue facing many sports facilities, and swimming pools in particular. I am very happy to examine what support I can provide.

Of course, the United Kingdom Government pulls most of the levers for controlling energy bills—[Interruption.]

Let us hear the minister.

—and we are working with Westminster. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to use all the powers at its disposal to tackle the cost of living crisis and to provide appropriate energy bill relief to leisure facilities.

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Pride Month

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of pride month, what it is doing to tackle any discrimination against LGBT+ people. (S6O-02353)

We all have a responsibility to protect and support LGBTQI people from any form of discrimination. It is a responsibility that I take seriously, and I think that all politicians need to show leadership on this issue.

We have published our hate crime strategy—our vision for a Scotland that is free from hatred and prejudice, where people are empowered, inclusive and safe. We are developing a non-binary equality action plan to reduce the bias and discrimination that is currently faced by non-binary people. We will also soon launch our consultation on a new human rights bill for Scotland, which will give effect to a wide range of human rights and will contain provisions to ensure that everyone has equal access to those rights.

LGBT+ hate crimes are soaring across these islands. Our words, both within and outwith Parliament, have consequences. This week Douglas Ross added to his sorry record on LGBT+ rights by suggesting that drag queen story time is inappropriate for children. Will the minister join me and LGBT+ members and allies across the chamber in condemning any homophobic and transphobic bigotry, which we know fuels anti-LGBT+ hate crimes?

Karen Adam raises an incredibly important point that we must take seriously. As I have said, we all have a collective responsibility to protect people from harm, and the Scottish Government is clear that any hatred or prejudice will not be tolerated.

Mr Ross might want to reflect on his recent comments, which follow other comments that he has made with regard to Gypsy Travellers. We all know that there has been a proud tradition of drag artists in our society for many decades. Just two weeks ago, the media noted the death of Scottish comedian George Logan, who was best known for being one half of the drag act of Hinge and Bracket, which performed at the royal variety show and regularly on the BBC in the 1970s and 1980s.

Unless Mr Ross also wants to stop children going to the pantomime, I suggest that he apologises for his comments, reflects, and attends the reading session in Elgin library, because he might learn something. In the meantime, they have my support and my sympathies—

Thank you, minister.

—for this undeserved backlash.

I recently met Matt Dabrowski, the chief executive of OutScotland, which is the UK’s first chamber of commerce for LGBT-owned businesses. It provides business development opportunities for member businesses and it supports and promotes supplier and procurement diversity. Would the minister be interested in meeting the group to understand better its work in that area?

Briefly, minister.

I am grateful to the member for raising that and commend the aim of OutScotland to support LGBTQI business owners and professionals. I gather that it provides networking opportunities, training, business support and mentoring. I would welcome the opportunity to meet the group to find out more about how it is supporting LGBTQI businesses in Scotland.

That concludes general question time.

Before we move to First Minister’s question time, I invite members to join me in welcoming to the gallery, the Hon Nontembeko Nothemba Boyce, who is the Speaker of the KwaZulu Natal Legislature. [Applause.]

I also invite members to join me in welcoming Her Excellency Ivita Burmistre, Ambassador of Latvia to the United Kingdom. [Applause.]