Chamber and committees

Scotland’s volunteers make a fantastic contribution to people’s lives and our communities.

The Scottish Government provide direct funding to national and local intermediaries to support the national and local volunteering infrastructure. This includes funding for Volunteer Scotland to implement Scotland’s Volunteering Action Plan. This long-term plan seeks to increase participation and reduce barriers to volunteering for all. The Scottish Government also funds the local Third Sector Interface network who support volunteering across all 32 local authorities as well as funding youth volunteering and the Volunteering Support Fund.

Volunteer Scotland has strategic leadership of volunteering, including provision of a national advice centre and delivery of research. We very much welcome the launch, in September, of a national volunteering recruitment campaign, led by Volunteer Scotland, to address volunteer shortages. This will provide volunteer involving organisations with practical guidance and promotion materials to help attract and retain volunteers.

As set out in the 2023-24 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government has been reviewing its policy in relation to drinking water and wastewater with a view to bringing forward new primary legislation as soon as practicable. As part of the review, it is considering how the water industry needs to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

A consultation on detailed policy measures will be published in Spring 2025 and we would welcome all views and contributions.

STPR2 is a long term framework for investment in transport infrastructure, which will drive decision making for Scotland’s strategic transport system.

Recommendation 40 notes that safety, resilience and reliability improvements are made on both the A75 and A77 trunk roads. Progress on this recommendation is being made. Specifically, regarding the further investigation of the bypassing of Springholm and Crocketford. Whereby, technical advisors have recently been appointed to take forward the design development work for this section of the A75. Furthermore, signalisation of the Cuckoo Bridge roundabout is due to commence in March 2025. Moreover, there are works programmed for signage improvements in Crocketford and junction improvements at the A75 Haugh of Urr junction in 2024/2025 financial year.

Recommendation 40 also endorses a review of an upgrade or relocation of Stranraer Railway Station. Transport Scotland and Network Rail continue to engage with the community and wider rail industry partners as these plans develop. Any future changes to the railway station will require a robust business case, available funding and the following of standard railway industry processes.

Regarding part (b) of the question, as announced in the Draft Budget statement on 4 December, we will invest more than £2.6 billion in 2025-26 to support public transport across Scotland and make our public transport system more available and accessible for all.

The Scottish Government is committed to keeping the public transport as affordable as possible for the users through a range of measures which help incentivise and maximise use.

We are currently scoping our approach to a review of the Scottish Biodiversity List and will engage with stakeholders on the review. However, our initial view is that public consultation on a revised list would provide limited additional input on what is a fairly technical matter, and is not therefore necessary. Public consultation is not obligated under the relevant legislation and we do not consider that it will add meaningfully to the planned policy development.

The Scottish Government is committed to its ambition of delivering 5GW of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030, as outlined in our Hydrogen Action Plan. This target harnesses Scotland’s renewable energy potential to produce green hydrogen, supporting domestic decarbonisation and positioning Scotland as a leading exporter.

Inspections of care homes for adults and older people completed 2021-22 to 2024-25 (to date)

NatureScot and Scottish Forestry are currently putting together a project plan to build on the existing Ancient Woodland Inventory to develop the new National Register of Ancient Woodlands. The scope of the project has therefore yet to be fully agreed, but in line with the priority action in the Scottish Biodiversity Delivery Plan, the Register will include locational data, a definition of the required ‘protected and restored’ condition of ancient woodlands, and a process for recording ancient woodlands that reach the required standard. In response to the component questions:

a) The inclusion of a woodland site on the Register will not automatically qualify it to contribute to the target to achieve 30% of Scotland protected and managed for nature by 2030 (the 30 by 30 target).Any site on the Register which isn’t within an existing protected area would need to be evaluated against the criteria for Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) before being considered for inclusion in the 30 by 30 network. NatureScot is currently working with stakeholders – including those with expertise of ancient woodlands - to agree how the OECM criteria will apply in Scotland.

b) There are likely to be opportunities for local people, communities and interest groups to participate in the process of developing the new National Register of Ancient Woodlands. For example, it is envisaged that Guidance will be developed and tested with interested parties to enable the identification of ancient woodlands and to assess their condition. This should allow communities to deepen their understanding of and connection to their local ancient woodlands.

c) The creation of the Register will not in itself be an enforcement mechanism, however the associated condition reports will be invaluable in prioritising action to tackle negative pressures on sites, for example in relation to invasive non-native species or overgrazing.

d) The Register would not cover Tree Preservation Orders as these are not explicitly related to ancient woodlands and can cover a wide range of individually important trees, which are outwith the scope of the Register.

e & f)The Long Established Plantation Origin (LEPO) and Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS) categories from the existing Ancient Woodland Inventory will be taken into consideration when the Register is developed and it is anticipated that they will be retained.

g)Our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and includes policy to protect our existing woodlands and trees. Local Development Plans should also identify and protect existing woodland and the potential for its enhancement or expansion.

The Scottish Government is pleased to announce in the draft budget that we will provide a Bus Infrastructure Fund in 2025-26 focussed on delivering bus priority, supporting infrastructure measures to tackle the negative impact of congestion and local public transport improvements. This brings the Bus Partnership Fund and Community Bus Fund together into one fund.

£20.5 million was spent on bus priority through the Bus Partnership Fund. This has delivered bus gates, enforcement cameras, and equipment to help buses get through traffic lights more quickly in North Ayrshire, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. It has also assisted in making a number of temporary measures, such as bus lanes, permanent in Edinburgh and Glasgow. A bus gate at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness also opened helping buses to by-pass congestion and passengers to access this important facility more quickly.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31994 on 12 December 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Government has continued to support local authorities to decarbonise fleets and since 2014 we have now provided over £41 million to fund leasing and purchase of ultra-low and zero emission vehicles and installation of associated infrastructure.

Since 2021-22, support for local authority fleet decarbonisation has focused on the installation of fleet EV charging infrastructure to enable further fleet decarbonisation, rather than the purchase or lease of zero emission vehicles. Local authorities are provided funding by means of a block grant, each local authority allocates part of this grant to manage, operate and decarbonise its fleet. Figures for funding support in addition to the block grant for each local authority in each year following 2021-22 are set out in the following table.

In 2024-25 no additional funding has been provided to local authorities. We continue to work with public bodies to decarbonise the public sector fleet and we are working with the public sector to develop a Fleet Decarbonisation Action Plan that reflects the current fiscal operational environment, and the scale of emission reduction required.