Chamber and committees

Below is a list of how many buses were ordered under each round of the Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme broken down by manufacturer. As previously advised in answers to questions S6W-38725 and S6W-38726 on 3 July 2025, the Scottish Government does not collect data on the locations in which vehicles are manufactured.

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.

Round 1

Alexander Dennis Ltd

• 12 ADL Enviro 400 EV
• 23 ADL Enviro 200 EV

Yutong

• 22 Yutong E12

Round 2

Alexander Dennis Ltd

• 113 ADL Enviro 400 EV
• 59 ADL Enviro 200 EV

Yutong

• 33 Yutong E12
• 10 Yutong TCe12

The social value of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund arises in several ways, including through the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the bus sector by accelerating the uptake of zero emission buses and coaches as part of wider activity to address the climate emergency.

In addition, Wider community and decarbonisation benefit was included among the criteria for ScotZEB 2, accounting for 10% of the total score. The guidance to applicants explained that this could include job creation, making assets (particularly infrastructure) available to a wider number of users and / or transport modes. The programme’s delivery of this criterion are assessed through evidence provided in annual reports to Scottish Ministers from the consortium. The full criteria for ScotZEB2 can be found online at https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/grants-and-loans/scottish-zero-emission-bus-challenge-fund-phase-2/

The programme has been highly successful against these aims: through ScotZEB and its predecessor programme SULEBS, more than 800 zero-emission buses and coaches have been introduced to Scotland’s roads, a network of charging facilities established for use by bus operators and other businesses, and new business models introduced to the sector to help make the use of zero emission technology financially sustainable. This contributes to greenhouse gas emissions reductions, as well as higher air quality and lower noise pollution, particularly in urban areas. Furthermore, ScotZEB 2 has seen, in only its first year, 60 new jobs in the Dundee area at zero-emission coach company Ember linked to their participation in the successful ScotZEB consortium.

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy. I am unable to comment on the structure of any transaction that returns GPA to private ownership or any conditions that would apply post-sale completion.

The process is ongoing and I will update Parliament when a significant development has been made.

Through ScotZEB 1, the average subsidy per vehicle, excluding infrastructure was £176,000. Through ScotZEB 2, the average subsidy per vehicle, excluding infrastructure is £108,000. ScotZEB 2 is still a live project in its delivery phase, and consortium membership and vehicle numbers may be subject to change. Both phases of ScotZEB have been designed to bring about a market transformation in Scotland’s bus sector, to see the rapid adoption of zero-emission technologies.

Through ScotZEB 1, all subsidy was offered to bus operators, not to bus manufacturers. Similarly, through ScotZEB 2, the grant award was made to Zenobe Energy, to manage on behalf of their consortium of operators, and no subsidy went directly to manufacturers.

I recognise the importance of housing co-operatives and the need to support and encourage them. While we already have powers to make amendments to this section, given the importance of HMO licensing in protecting tenants in Scotland, any decision to make such a change should not be taken lightly, and certainly not before full consideration of any unintended consequences and mitigations had been undertaken. On that basis, the Scottish Government has no immediate plans to change the legislation relating to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing requirements.

England and Wales operate a different HMO licensing regime from Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. However, we have been able to access the latest workforce survey, published by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) on 31 December 2024. There are approximately 267 WTE dental therapists currently employed in Scotland, with around 200 working in practices alongside independent contractor dentists. A further 55 are employed by the NHS in Public Dental Services (PDS), providing dental services for people who cannot access care from an independent dentist due to special needs, while the remaining 12 work in hospital services.

The dental therapy degree, BSc (Oral Health Science), is delivered by Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Dundee, University of Highland and Islands and University of Edinburgh. The Scottish Government had an agreed annual target of 40 dental therapists across Scotland in a year with all four institutions. The University of Edinburgh indicated in December 2023 that it no longer wished to offer this qualification after 2027. We are continuing to look at how we can expand the capacity in other universities to make up for this future loss of places.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on current student numbers.

Consultation on bringing NHS Education in Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland together will take place over 2025 and work is underway to establish the full range of functions of the new organisation. Financial assessment will be part of this. The aim throughout will be to optimise the delivery of national services, creating opportunities for further improvement, innovation and efficiency across NHS Scotland.

Consultation on bringing NHS Education in Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland together will take place over 2025 and work is underway to establish the full range of functions of the new organisation.

The Scottish Government recognise that to meet the ambition of service renewal and address the health and care needs of our population we urgently need to work differently. We are therefore taking the opportunity to bring key enablers of national service delivery together to create opportunities for further improvement, innovation and efficiency across NHS Scotland.

Responsibility for measuring Scotland’s inward investment performance, which includes planned jobs and supply chain impacts for involved projects, rests with Scottish Enterprise. The independent EY Attractiveness Survey and the UK Government’s Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) annual inward investment results provide an additional performance indicator for inward investment. Collectively, the results provide robust estimates of Scotland’s inward investment activity and performance.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) is not a classification that the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise nor EY use when measuring the performance of inward investment projects into Scotland.

Scotland has a strong record in attracting foreign direct investment and our Inward Investment Plan (IIP) plays a central role in supporting our ambitions to be a destination of choice for global inward investors. Information on how Scotland has performed in terms of attracting inward investment projects is available via the EY attractiveness survey (the latest results can be found here: ey-uk-attractiveness-survey-scotland-06-2025.pdf) and the Department for Business and Trade Inward Investment Results (the latest results can be found here: DBT inward investment results 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK). Scottish Enterprise results will be published in the Autumn.