Chamber and committees

His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) release accredited official statistics estimating the value of the UK's regional trade in goods, covering both exports and imports. These can be accessed at the following address: uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/regional/ . These statistics include estimates for Scotland and are updated on a quarterly basis.

The Scottish Government provides further analysis of this data which is available on the Scottish Government website: Total trade in goods - Scotland's International Goods Trade: Quarter 3 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The latest report available to date is for quarter three in 2023. This shows that, when looking at the total export value of goods in the year ending quarter three 2023 compared to the year ending quarter three 2019, Scotland's goods exports have increased by 2.1% to £35.1 billion. When looking at Scotland's onshore economy (excluding oil and gas), goods exports have risen by 17.3% over this period, to £23.7 billion.

The Scottish Government also produces estimates of exports which include both goods and services in the accredited official statistics publication Export Statistics Scotland (ESS), Exports statistics Scotland 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The latest statistics currently available in this release are for calendar year 2021. These statistics show that the value of Scotland's international exports was 11.5% lower in calendar year 2021 compared to calendar year 2019, at £31.3 billion (excluding oil and gas).

Differences between these sources of export estimates are described in the Export Statistics Scotland Methodology, Other sources of trade data - Export Statistics Scotland: methodology - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . It is important to note that none of the data sources mentioned above account for the effect of inflation on estimates of the value of exports.

Over the period referenced, Scotland's export performance has been significantly impacted by the shocks of Covid-19, the detrimental impact of existing the EU and the subsequent trade deals, of which negotiations are not devolved. In fact, our analysis shows that in 2019 Scottish exports were growing consistently in all directions - to the rest of the UK, the EU and the rest of the world, and we have clear evidence that is no longer the case, with Brexit resulting in Scotland’s trade in goods to the EU being 12% lower in 2021, the first year of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation agreement.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting exporters and continues to work with its enterprise agencies to deliver A Trading Nation, our export growth plan. Trade results produced by Scottish Development International, one of our main delivery agencies, showed that the support it provided to companies across Scotland in Financial Year 2022-23 will result in £1.73 billion of planned international sales over the next three years – a 20% increase compared to Financial Year 2021-22. This trade support enabled Scottish firms to enter 301 new markets, with a focus on the United States, Germany, Singapore and the UAE. As part of this, 335 new products and services left Scotland for these markets in that year.

The proportion of electricity consumed by households that will be generated by nuclear power stations in the rest of the UK is not possible to predict with any level of certainty in 2028. It will depend on a range of market factors.

Since 2011 Scottish Ministers have invested over £65 million in public EV charging. Scotland now has over 5,000 public EV charge points and is on target to have 6,000 public EV charge points by 2026, through a combination of public and increasing private sector investment. Scotland has the best provision of public EV charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region in the UK.

Transport Scotland has also to-date provided £5.7 million to support the installation of 18,861 domestic charge points and £10.8 million to support 1,432 higher powered workplace charge points, complementing the public network.

In June 2023 the Scottish Government published its Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network, highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. In 2024, the private sector is forecast to invest £40 million to £55 million in public EV charging in Scotland.

The Government is investing a further £30 million through our EV infrastructure fund, supporting Local Authorities across Scotland, and prioritising areas of Scotland that are less likely to attract private investment, including rural and island communities.

Since 21-22, the Scottish Government has provided over £15 million of financial support to Local Authorities to support the installing of public EV charge points.

Whilst the main objective of safer drug consumption facilities (SDCF) is to provide medical attention in the case of an overdose there is also a significant body of evidence for the important role SDCFs play in reducing the sharing of injecting equipment. This reduces the risk of HIV and hepatitis C transmission.

The SDCF in Glasgow will provide people who inject drugs, including cocaine, with sterile injection equipment, advice on injecting technique and other vital harm reduction advice. Current approaches to harm reduction with regards to injecting cocaine will be discussed with academics and presenters from the Cocaine & Crack Cocaine Conference on 4 June 2024.

The Latest data from Public Health Scotland indicate that sexual acquisition is the most common exposure category for new HIV diagnoses in Scotland, however people who inject drugs remain at risk of HIV and other blood borne viruses.

There has been a downward trend in diagnoses among people who inject drugs following the peak of the outbreak in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde in 2015.

The effectiveness of interventions implemented at the height of the outbreak underline the importance of continuing to promote HIV testing, delivery of treatment and care, provision of harm reduction measures and awareness raising initiatives to this particularly vulnerable group.

SDCF provide a further opportunity for delivering these vital interventions and could therefore contribute to ending new transmissions of HIV in Scotland by 2030.

The Mackintosh Building is owned by The Glasgow School of Art, with responsibility for its own strategic and operational decision making. It has been a long standing principle that employers, building owners and managers are responsible for their own premises.

The Scottish Government and other public bodies will continue to engage closely with the Glasgow School of Art as it progresses its plans for a faithful reinstatement of the Mackintosh building.

As outlined in my response to S6W-27647 on 31 May 2024, and in my recent letter to Ms Gosal, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss further alongside your policy paper which outlines this particular ask. 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 .

Further to my previous response (S6W-26254) we are continuing detailed analysis of all respondents’ feedback to the public consultation and examining the feasibility of all proposals for legislative change. We will keep parliament informed as the process develops.

None of the benefits delivered by Social Security Scotland are directly means tested although some rely on a reserved UK benefit, such as Universal Credit as a qualifying benefit. In practice this means that armed forces compensation generally does not directly affect Scottish Government social security benefits. It may affect Funeral Support Payment. If the compensation payment has been issued to the deceased person it may be treated as funds that can cover or help towards funeral costs. This is to ensure that support goes to those who need it most.

Scottish Government officials do engage with The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on a range of subjects and in October 2023 raised the issue of war pensions being treated as income for pension credit. This engagement was prompted by Poppyscotland’s Credit their Service campaign. DWP made clear they had no plans to change their current policy, and as this is an area reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is unable to intervene on this issue any further.

The movement of freight is a commercial matter and the Scottish Government’s leadership in support for rail freight is outlined in our 2016 rail freight strategy, and put into practice with significant investment, a freight-first approach, and through our regulatory rail freight growth targets. The Scottish Government does not hold detailed information on day to day rail freight movements but is aware that for both sites there is currently no traffic. Network Rail remains engaged with the industry through the Scotland Freight Joint Board and works with Freight Operating Companies and Freight End Users to enable modal shift to rail.

As outlined in my response to S6W-27647 on 31 May 2024, and in my recent letter to Ms Gosal, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss further alongside your policy paper which outlines this particular ask. 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 .