Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government increased the capital budget from £32.5 million in 2023-24 to £43 million in 2024-25 and £47 million in 2025-26. Decisions on how this budget is spent between fleet, equipment and buildings is a matter for the SFRS Board and Chief Officer. SFRS is currently consulting on a range of possible service delivery changes to better match its assets with the risks present in communities. This will allow SFRS to take decisions on closing, merging or upgrading fire stations over the next 5 years.

There are no implications for the Peatland ACTION budget in the year 2026-2027 as a result of the carbon contracts pilot.

The Scottish Government has a number of contingent liabilities, which are disclosed in its consolidated accounts each year. The Scottish Government seeks the prior approval of Parliament, via the Finance and Public Administration Committee, before entering into any specific contingent liability unless it arises in the normal course of business or the sum of the risk is £2.5m or less.

The Scottish Government seeks to manage the impact of contingent liabilities crystallising within existing departmental budgets, in line with portfolio accountabilities. Only where necessary would these be funded centrally.

The budget treatment of crystallised contingent liabilities depends on the nature of the underlying transaction, in line with HM Treasury’s Consolidated Budgeting Guidance and accounting regulations. At present based on the latest contingent liabilities, if these were to crystalise there would be more call on capital over resource budgets.

Scottish Government undertook a robust process to assess a total of 14 different possible blended finance mechanisms for peatland restoration. Officials used Green Book appraisal methods to filter this list and employed a wide range of evidence to select a preferred option.

The Island Connectivity and Vessel and Ports Plan outlines our investment in new vessels and port and harbour projects that have been delivered within Phase 1 period of 2021-2026 reference to pages 11, 12 and 22 of the VPP.

Whilst we would have liked to have made more progress given the long lead-times for vessel and port projects, it was always known that a number of these projects would require further funding for construction beyond the five-year period of the IIP.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-35362 and S6W-35361 on 24 June 2025. 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 recently published Strategic Approach of the Islands Connectivity Plan sets Accessibility as one of four priorities for future ferry services and identifies a number of actions to support the delivery of this priority, including development of a Ferries Accessibility Standard and reopening of the Ferries Accessibility Fund.

Guidance on the criteria for use in determining which projects will be awarded a Carbon Contract as part of the Carbon Contract pilot will be published on the NatureScot website in July.

Applications will be assessed by NatureScot and will align with processes for the 2026-2027 Peatland Action funding round.

External consultancy services will not be utilised for this process.

Scottish Government and NatureScot have engaged with a range of parties interested in taking part in the pilot. However, Scottish Government and NatureScot have not at this stage sought formal expressions of interest.

Both NorthLink Ferries and CalMac Ferries offer concessionary fares for disabled passengers who hold a National Entitlement Card or equivalent. Disabled passengers living in the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport region are eligible for discounted ferry travel if they live on an island or peninsula and hold a Strathclyde Concessionary Travel Ferry Card. Any local authority ferry services with fares for disabled passengers are set independently from Scottish Government concessionary fares.

Additionally, all eligible island residents living in Orkney, Shetland, North Ayrshire, Highland, Argyll and Bute and Eilean Siar council areas receive 4 free single ferry journeys per year to or from the mainland, as part of the Scottish Government’s ferries concessionary voucher scheme.

All concessionary fares for disabled passengers are listed on the corresponding local authority, CalMac or NorthLink websites. The Scottish Government concessionary fares are listed on the Transport Scotland website.