- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions its vehicles have received penalties for speeding or driving in prohibited areas such as bus lanes in each of the last five years, broken down by type of offence and penalty.
Answer
A list of Penalty Charge (PCN) and Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) notices issued to Scottish Government vehicles for each of the last five years is provided in the following table.
The staff member driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged offense is personally responsible for any penalties incurred, therefore we do not hold this information.
Year | Total number of PCN’s received for bus lane infringements. | Total number of NIP notices received for alleged speeding offenses ( 1) |
2018 | 5 | 8 |
2019 | 7 | 2 |
2020 | 3 | 1 |
2021 | 3 | 0 |
2022 | 7 | 3 |
1. Includes both pool and hire vehicles operated by the Scottish Government.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it has given to the energy sector, including the European Marine Energy Centre, to create funding opportunities to replace the research and development funding landscape that was accessible prior to the UK leaving the EU.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to working with the energy sector and continues to provide support in a number of ways. For example:
- £5 million provided through the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund to support tidal energy innovation and deployment.
- £18.25 million funding to support the current Wave Energy Scotland technology programme, the biggest wave energy technology development programme in the world.
- £10 million hydrogen innovation scheme under the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, which will focus on innovation in hydrogen production, storage and distribution technology.
- £75 million Just Transition fund to support the energy sector, including testing and promoting emerging technologies such as EV battery recycling technology, offshore green hydrogen and commissioning.
The Scottish Government has provided consistent support for Scotland’s marine energy sector for over a decade. As a result, Scotland is the most advanced hub in Europe for the testing and demonstration of marine energy technologies and is ideally placed to both shape and benefit from the potential global marine energy market. We will continue to support the sector as it grows, and Marine Scotland will continue to address evidence gaps through the Scottish Marine Energy Research Programme.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09711 by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2023, when it last undertook a (a) cost-benefit and (b) life-cycle carbon analysis comparing a nuclear model with the renewables-plus-storage model of electricity generation, based over a nuclear asset's lifetime; and, if such analysis has been done, whether this was undertaken for a site comparable to Hinkley Point nuclear power station, or for a small modular reactor (SMR) model, or for both.
Answer
An analytical exercise, such as the one suggested, would be a significant undertaking and come at a large cost to the taxpayer. As it has been a long standing policy of the Scottish Government not to support the construction of any new nuclear power stations in Scotland, under current technologies, any such analysis would not be value for money and has not been pursued.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when the First Minister last met a representative from the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland, and what was discussed.
Answer
The First Minister and other Scottish Government Ministers engage regularly with the Federation of Small Business (FSB) Scotland to discuss all issues affecting small businesses.
The First Minister last met representatives of the FSB Scotland on 19 May 2022 at the FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards UK. A discussion with Martin McTague, FSB National Chair and Colin Borland, Director of Devolved Nations at FSB included the importance of small businesses to Scotland's economy, the significant support and work that FSB do in dialogue with Scottish Government and the success of Scottish businesses, including the Scottish 2022 winner at the UK-wide Federation of Small Business Awards.
More recently on 31 August 2022, I met with Stacey Dingwall, Head of Policy for Scotland and Andrew McRae, Scotland's Policy Chair FSB during a visit to Amity Fish Ltd, Peterhead. Issues discussed included business rates, energy costs and skills.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10335 by Ivan McKee on 6 September 2022, whether it has any plans to collect such data.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to collect such data.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government which cities are developing business cases for large-scale transformation of places involving buildings, transport and greenspaces to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts, blending public and private investment, and how much progress it anticipates will have been made on this by the end of 2022.
Answer
Many cities in Scotland have set ambitious net zero targets and are developing robust plans to deliver them. All 32 of Scotland’s Local Authorities signed Scotland’s Climate Change Declaration in 2007 and 28 Scottish Local Authorities have recognised or declared a climate emergency.
The Cities Commission For Climate Investment (3Ci) continues to work with selected local authorities to launch local place-based Net Zero pilots by providing technical assistance and support for project identification, design, investment structures and other key elements.
Glasgow and Edinburgh have bid to be a part of the European Union's 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities mission and NetZeroCities project. The Scottish Government recognises that involvement in such a Mission presents a real opportunity to enable all of our seven cities to benefit from Scotland’s involvement in this hugely important Mission.
The Scottish Government welcomes the billion pound transformation of Glasgow’s Buchanan Street Quarter which will see Scottish Government officials working with Buchanan Galleries owner Landsec and Glasgow City Council to transform Glasgow’s famous shopping street with a multi-purpose shopping, residential and office quarter.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what commitments it has given to support Scotland’s wave and tidal energy sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government has provided consistent support for Scotland’s marine energy sector for more than a decade. As a result, Scotland is the most advanced hub in Europe for the testing and demonstration of marine energy technologies and is ideally placed to both shape and benefit from the potential global market for marine energy while helping deliver a net-zero economy.
This support has included the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund, which provided £3.4 million to Orbital Marine Power to build and deploy the O2 tidal stream turbine and £1.545 million to Simec Atlantis Energy to design, fabricate and install a subsea hub for the MeyGen project in the Pentland Firth. This support enabled both Orbital Marine Power and Simec Atlantis Energy to benefit from the recent introduction of ring-fenced support for tidal stream energy projects in the UK Government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. In addition, the Scottish Government has, since 2014, invested almost £50 million in Wave Energy Scotland and continues to support this internationally renowned programme, which has made significant progress in driving the development of wave energy technology towards readiness for commercialisation.
The Scottish Government will continue to engage with the marine energy industry in Scotland and is committed to supporting the further development of the sector.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what loss reserve measures are in place for the Deposit Return Scheme and how much public funding has been committed to those measures.
Answer
Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme is an industry-led and industry-funded initiative, consistent with the vast majority of similar schemes across Europe. It is the responsibility of all affected businesses to ensure that they are prepared for the scheme’s launch on 16 August 2023. This includes any loss reserve measures.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what projections have been made for Circularity Scotland’s annual turnover following the launch of the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer
Circularity Scotland Ltd is a private, not-for-profit, company. Accordingly, the Scottish Government does not have access to this information.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 September 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 September 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it is providing to ensure that a minimum of four cities develop business cases for large-scale transformation of places involving buildings, transport and greenspaces to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts, blending public and private investment.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to continue working closely with cities across Scotland in tackling the global climate emergency.
A number of initiatives have been driven forward to support cities in Scotland in helping them work towards net zero ambitions. The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund is making £200 million of grant funding available over this parliamentary term to registered social landlords in Scotland, including Local Authorities for the retrofit of existing housing stock.
Earlier this year the Scottish Government published its draft Vision for Scotland’s public electric vehicle charging network and announced a new Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund that aims to double the size of the network through £60m of public and private investment.
Over £50 million per annum goes towards the Sustrans managed Places for Everyone programme that funds local authorities to create safer, more attractive, healthier places and increase the number of trips made by walking, cycling and wheeling for everyday journeys.
Although not targeted exclusively at cities, we are aiming to unlock £200m investment from local authorities in low carbon infrastructure through our Green Growth Accelerator and the long term nature of the £5 billion City Region and Growth Deals programme has allowed us to develop and apply international carbon management best practice that will result in significant net zero benefits across and beyond Scotland.
