Chamber and committees

I am satisfied. I might bring in my officials to talk about the history of the 2019 act, which you will appreciate pre-dates my time in office, but, as you know, the act introduced the national ban. What we are discussing today is the technical procedure that local authorities must follow. I will ask my officials to talk about the historical background of the definition that you have alluded to.

In relation to the national marketing campaign, I discussed that with officials yesterday. I have mentioned that the market research behind that is already under way. I do not have the budget line in front of me, but I am more than happy to write to the committee, if it would like to have evidence on the budget line that is associated with the campaign. The campaign is under way, so there will be an associated budget line.

On messaging, local authorities have a responsibility to consult their local communities and to carry out an equalities impact assessment. They can also use social media to promote the changes through different forums. No budget is associated with that per se, but I mentioned in my response to Mark Ruskell that there is £2.4 million-worth of funding to support local authorities with the assessment and implementation of the changes.

I am satisfied.

I take on board your point, convener; that is a vast area of Scotland. In the regulations, there is the power for local authorities to decide for themselves how to administer any hearings process; it is not for Government to dictate.

Some local authorities are further ahead on that than others. Some are obviously waiting for the regulations to come into force, as I hope they will following our discussion. That is why we have built in that 12-month period to allow local authorities to get it right.

The second point is that we have already provided £2.4 million of funding to local authorities in relation to signing and lining. I hope that that will help with regard to the specifics of Mark Ruskell’s point, but that is obviously a matter for local authorities to determine, recognising that they will be the best people to decide what is right for their local communities. Donald Morrison may want to say more; I see that he is indicating that.

The other thing to say is that, although we will be running a national campaign, local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that their local communities know that the changes are coming into force. Bluntly, there will have to be a sea change in parking behaviour and local authorities and Government need to be part of driving that. The market research behind our publicity campaign at national level is already under way, and we hope to bring that forward, further into 2023, to get the public ready for the changes.

I am happy to do so. It is worth saying that more regulations are coming forward on the parking ban. This instrument is the first part of the jigsaw.

No, I understand your point. However, I think that the position is different because, as I have said, certain local authorities are further down the line, while others have not yet started the process. We do not expect there to be exemptions to the national parking ban across vast swathes of the country. As I have mentioned, officials will continue to work with local authorities through the working group to monitor those costs.

Mr Kerr asked whether the £2.4 million-worth of funding is for marketing. The funding is to help local authorities with signing and lining, and changes to the procedure locally. There are a vast number of ways in which that funding is helping to support local authorities. Some will need that more than others, such as those that are looking to have exemptions or those that might have more streets that require exemptions. That gives us a mixed picture nationally in terms of the implementation of policy.

I am more than happy to continue to monitor the implementation of the procedure in relation to the assessment that local authorities will now be undertaking in the next 12 months and to give the committee interim updates as we progress towards the full ban coming into force at the end of 2023, if that would be helpful.

I do not envisage there being multiple hearings, although that is a right that the local authority has through the regulations. Local authorities must also consult on any exemptions that they propose, which I discussed with my officials prior to the meeting. There is no statutory rate or level for the number of objections that might be received. Scottish ministers have the power to appoint a reporter and to conduct what would essentially be a hearing process. That would be a matter for the local authority to judge, because those are local roads. Local authorities should be trusted to do that and perhaps to measure where they see the greatest number of objections to a suggested exemption. If there are limited numbers of objections, we might expect them not to go down that route.

The legislation does not dictate the process to local authorities per se, but a hearing is an option that is open to local authorities. It is important that they get it right for local communities, because we do not want to see vast swathes of exemptions in relation to the legislation.

There is, yes.