Chamber and committees

I am sure that we can all recognise the member’s community’s claim to fame on that.

Although e-bikes are not my first choice, they are one of the many ways in which we can increase the range of bikes and active travel vehicles that people can access. Not only do e-bikes have potential to change the way in which people move about but e-cargo bikes also have huge potential to change the way in which goods move about.

The Labour amendment finishes with a point that we cannot support. It slightly unreasonably cherry picks the data to compare active travel to school with figures for the previous year, which the same report recognises was strongly impacted by Covid. The pandemic had a particular impact on school travel, so it is not reasonable to make a comparison with that year. The fact is that we now have higher levels of active travel to school than pre-pandemic. We are determined to continue making progress with the improvement in that long-term trend.

I will if it is brief. I need to make some progress.

Thank you, Presiding Officer; I am delighted to do so.

I open the debate at what feels like a critical moment for active travel in Scotland. As members might know, walking and cycling are always my preferred ways of getting about, so I know first hand the many benefits of active travel. However, every day, I see places in my community and across the country where it needs to be made easier and safer.

In my role as the minster who is responsible for active travel, it has been a genuine privilege to be able to help to bring the benefits of active travel to other people. Perhaps the most impactful is when I meet young people who have been helped to get access to a bike for the first time, to gain the skills to maintain it and to have safe routes to use it. The independence that that gives them to go where they want when they want without cost or hassle is surely worth at least as much as the health and environmental benefits. I have found the role to be incredibly fulfilling, so I want to take time to acknowledge some of the progress that we have made so far, in this session of Parliament.

I have spoken before about the experience during lockdown of how, in the midst of otherwise dire circumstances, many people discovered their neighbourhoods anew through walking, wheeling and cycling. Hanging on to that benefit in the longer term was never going to happen by magic; investment is required to transform our built environment to support active travel. Therefore, we have committed record levels of funding, with just under £190 million in our budget for active travel in this financial year. We are well on our way to investing £320 million by financial year 2024-25.

We have helped to deliver flagship projects such as the bridges in Stockingfield and Sighthill in Glasgow, which bring communities closer together with connections and opportunities.

Less headline grabbing but no less important is the fact that we have been improving what we already have, such as by providing £14 million to extend and improve the national cycle network. The removal of more than 200 barriers over the past year has helped to make the network’s routes more accessible for everyone who chooses to walk, wheel or cycle along them. Those small measures can have a big impact for people who use the network, making everyday trips safer and more convenient.

Something has gone very right, in that we are replacing that scheme with a much-improved successor. While that transition happens, new referrals will be referred to the provider under the terms of the successor scheme, rather than the less generous terms of the previous scheme.

Beatrice Wishart and other constituency and regional members who represent rural and island communities have repeatedly expressed their concerns, but the Scottish Government’s heat in buildings programme is the most ambitious of such programmes in any part of these islands and is looking to achieve investment in a sustainable and equitable system that insulates people from fuel poverty and is comparable to the best achievements in other countries in Europe in previous decades.

I thank Changeworks for its work in that area and for bringing forward that important report.

The average energy performance certificate rating of rural properties is lower than that of those in urban areas because of the typically more expensive fuels that are used or available, how those are reflected in the current EPC metric, and the historically lower energy efficiency standards.

We propose that all housing in Scotland meet the equivalent of EPC rating C by 2033 and that we revise EPC metrics. We offer support to improve the energy efficiency of rural homes, including a funding uplift to our home energy Scotland grant and loan scheme, and targeted fuel poverty support.

We are working on policy on biofuels in line with the United Kingdom Climate Change Committee’s recommendations, which see something of a role but recognise that there will be limits to the role of bioenergy in the heating system.

Meanwhile, as I said in my first answer, we provide an uplift of the grant and loan schemes for rural areas. In particular, we need to ensure that we invest in skills and capacity in the industry. To give just one example, we have invested in a mobile training centre for heat-pump installation, which is hosted by South Lanarkshire College, but is available to any college in Scotland for training in rural areas on site. That will help to ensure that local communities have access to skilled professionals who are able to assess and install heat pumps in all types of buildings.

There may be some differences in expectation here. We have always been clear that the detail of our heat in buildings programme, which has already been consulted on at a high level, will be subject to a detailed consultation that we will publish this spring. The detail of our heat in buildings regulations, and of the large amount of support that we are providing to households and organisations to help them decarbonise their buildings, will be included there.

I hope that Labour colleagues, and others who are urging us to go further, will welcome the ambitious programme that we are setting out. For example, £7,500 per household for heat pump installation, with an additional uplift for those living in rural areas, is a substantially higher level of support than any that exists elsewhere in the United Kingdom. In addition to that, there are grant and loan schemes for energy efficiency.

That package, taken along with our investment in supply chains to ensure that the cost of insulation will reduce over time, means that we are balancing an ambitious package of regulations with a generous package of support to ensure that the heat transition works for everyone.

Not only has the overall budget for active travel risen to a record £189 million this year as part of our commitment of £320 million—10 per cent of the transport budget—by 2024-25, at the same time, we have seen a sad lack of similar commitment in many parts of the United Kingdom outside of Scotland. Outside of London, the spending per head is just £1.

James Dornan and I both represent Glasgow. Glasgow now has an ambitious long-term plan for a network development of active travel routes. If we want to see that opportunity turn into a reality, it requires a long-term commitment to funding from the Scottish Government, and that is what we are determined to deliver.

The Scottish Government undertakes annual budget setting in line with the processes set out in the Scottish public finance manual, as well as the commitments made in the programme for government and the Bute house agreement.

The active travel budget forms part of the overall budget for the transport portfolio, taking into account legal or contractual commitments along with other policy commitments. Investment priorities in transport are also set out in the second strategic transport projects review, which was published late last year following extensive public and stakeholder feedback.

I am happy to explore with the City of Edinburgh Council any issues or concerns that it has about that situation. Very clearly, if we are remotely serious about our climate ambitions in relation to transport, as well as the wider economic, social and health benefits from active travel, and if we are serious about the 20 per cent car kilometres reduction target and the role that active travel can play in that regard, investment in that is not only value for money but a long-term priority. The countries that have seen a transformation in active travel have achieved it with strong local leadership and long-term investment. That is the opportunity that Scotland has to make that change.

We are also undertaking a transformation project on active travel because we know that delivery models will need to change to match the scale of ambition and the scale of budgets that we have now and that are coming next year. There will be more to say on the results of that transformation project later in the year.