Chamber and committees

We are currently at 7,400 public charge points, which is two years ahead of target. On the expansion of that, you will know that we have rolled out the £30 million to all the different local authority consortia. The most recent one to be announced was the Edinburgh and south of Scotland consortium.

You will also be aware that a significant amount of private funding is going into the public charging network across Scotland. According to the most recent figures, it is estimated that, in the past year, around £45 million to £50 million has come from the private sector. Privately funded and run public charging networks are increasingly developing all over. The growth and roll-out of that is expansive, and that will certainly help us to deliver the target of 24,000 charging points.

The figure of 24,000 is interesting in itself. We set that because that was what the UK Climate Change Committee had said that we needed. I think that it was a percentage of what the UKCCC recommended for the whole of the UK. I had a meeting with a sub-committee of the UKCCC, at which I said that it was a big, challenging figure. Members of the sub-committee were less concerned about the number of charging points; they were more concerned about their location, for Scotland in particular.

That is why the rural and island infrastructure fund for EV charging is so important. The £4 million that we put out in this financial year has been taken up, from the Borders right up to the north of Scotland and the islands. Because that is so important and so successful, and because we are more advanced in the delivery of it, we have £10 million in the budget to ensure that we can roll it out even further.

As far as availability is concerned, I was up at Halkirk over the summer, which is one of the furthest north places in Scotland where public EV charging is available. Obviously, people want public charging to be available where they need it to be, but it is increasingly being delivered by the private sector. We need to look at where the market failure might be in that respect. I think that we need to step away from the investment with the local authorities—that is well on track, and they need to start delivering on it—but we need to ensure that we tackle those areas that might not get private funding.

You are stating the obvious—everybody understands and agrees that that is an important challenge. We do not have responsibility for energy prices. That is why I was saying that UK policy is a really important part of delivery, which is why we all need to work together to deliver decarbonisation.

It is important that the pricing is tackled. In one of the limited areas that we can do something about, as part of the budget, we introduced a 10-year tax relief for public charging points, which will reduce the infrastructure costs. That was one thing that we could do, and we have done it.

If the VAT change could be delivered, that would make a big difference, but we are not in a position to deliver that. Clearly, that is the responsibility of UK Governments. Neither previous UK Governments nor the current one have made that change. However, if we are to achieve the shift that needs to be made and are serious about acting across the UK, being realistic about energy prices and having powers over electricity costs and prices, particularly in this area, is something that has to be tackled. You make an obvious and important point, which I agree with.

Our target is a 16 per cent emissions reduction. Throughout this year, I have always said that we would revise where we were putting it. Blunt car use reduction, on average, does not help in a country such as Scotland, where we have not just cities but extensive rural areas. The 4 per cent is about car use reduction. It will not all be about a straight switch to EVs. There will have to be some movement in relation to car use reduction, but that figure is much lower, as you will know, than what was in the previous climate change plan.

Is there anything else to add to that?

Yes. The investment was previously allocated, and it is now with local authorities. They set up consortiums, most of which involved different local authorities coming together. The consortium in the Highlands and Islands was one of the first, and, as I said, the consortium in Edinburgh and the south of Scotland was one of the later ones. Those consortiums are working with the private sector to identify where to have EV charging to allow for a geographical range.

I do not know whether Morna Cannon wants to come in on that question. Clearly, it is for the consortiums to establish how they will deliver, because they are the delivery arms in relation to the supply chain. I do not have the details of that for each consortium. Is there any more detail that we can provide on that, Morna?

It will be part of the general requirements.

I know that there will be local content, because in all the places where there has been public investment, it is usually Scottish companies that deliver it. We can come back to the committee to give it an idea of that.

There are general rules around public grants. This is not a direct Government procurement. We are not doing the procuring; local authorities are, and the responsibilities for the procurement aspect will be governed by local authorities’ procurement rules. As the committee knows, many local authorities will have specifications in their procurement exercises. It is important to remember that difference between when we are procuring work and when we are giving grants to local authorities to do the procurement. However, we will be able to provide the committee with the assurance that there is local content as part of that. There are different ways of doing it. Transport Scotland, for example, has published a report on its own work in relation to procurement and local impact; we sent the committee a link to that after my previous evidence session.

We will follow up on that point, which was well made.

Yes. That is measured, monitored and reported on in different areas. There have been fluctuations because the number of people who work from home will affect the number of people making journeys at particular times. Across public transport, we are seeing recovery to pre-pandemic levels, although the patterns and timing have changed. We are seeing more leisure travel in the evening, which is welcome, and at the weekends—people who are working from home might want to get out of the house and go somewhere else.

We are seeing change and the system has to adapt to the patterns of usage and patronage, as well as address capacity issues. I would not, however, underestimate the challenges facing the Edinburgh and Lothians region, simply because of the growth in the population.

It will be different in different parts of the country, and we will have to respond to local assessment of demand. In some areas, particularly in Glasgow and Edinburgh, there is an appetite for it, but local congestion charging will be up to the local authorities. The legislation that was put in place in—was it 2001 or 2003? I am looking at Sarah Boyack for confirmation.

That legislation provided for congestion charging, so the law already exists, although it has not been used to date. At the request of those local authorities that are interested, we are assessing whether the current regulations are fit for purpose. Should local authorities want to use them at some point in the future, they will have to take people with them. The tool is available, but it is part of a mix.

If public transport can be made swifter because buses have priority in the cities, that is one of the single biggest things that can be done. Glasgow is keen on that, so the expansion of the £60 million funding for the bus infrastructure fund is particularly important there.

Different tools are available. Yes, we can reduce emissions by switching to EV, and that is a big area of focus, but that does not mean that we should not support the solutions that regional transport partnerships come up with for managing transport in their area. There is some interest in local travel demand management, and the tools are available for it, and we are making sure that they are fit for purpose should those local authorities wish to use them in the future.