Chamber and committees

Energy price setting and regulation is fully reserved to UK Government and the Scottish Government has limited powers to intervene. However, we continue to do what we can, within devolved competence, to support households in rural areas with their energy costs.

Our energy efficiency delivery programmes – Warmer Homes Scotland and Area Based Schemes – support households across the entirety of Scotland who are living in, or at risk of, fuel poverty.

Households in extreme fuel poverty in rural and island areas are able to benefit from energy efficiency improvements worth up to £21,100 as part of our local Area Based Schemes. These councils can apply a higher maxima of grant-in-kind for zero/low carbon heating measures of £9,000, which reflects the greater delivery costs in rural and island areas.

Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS) is our national fuel poverty scheme, designed to help those living in fuel poverty or at risk of fuel poverty through installing insulation and heating measures into individual properties. The scheme is delivered by Warmworks and applications are assessed by Home Energy Scotland (HES) under eligibility criteria based on “proxies” such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) which are an indication of the likelihood of the household living in or being at risk of fuel poverty. To ensure that customers have access to the same set of measures in rural and island areas we use a National Customer Price, this ensures measures are charged at the same level whether they are in rural and remote areas or in the central belt.

We are also aware that island communities, in particular, experience acute financial pressures due to often higher costs of fuel, a colder climate, and a lack of consumer choices compared to the UK mainland. Since 2022, our Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund (ICCEF) has distributed £3.4 million, through local authorities, to support islanders most impacted by the cost of living. The 2024 Programme for Government commits the Scottish Government to continue delivery of this fund and we anticipate that it will be worth a further £1 million in 2025-26. This is in addition to our Winter Heating Benefits which provide guaranteed support to people who have an identified need for additional heat over the winter months, including low-income households, families with disabled children and young people, and pensioners.

However, the fundamental fiscal and policy levers to make a real difference lie with the UK Government. The Scottish Government has recently led and concluded a Social Tariff Working Group with energy suppliers and consumer organisations. We repeatedly called on the previous UK Government to introduce a social tariff mechanism as a means of targeted support for those who need it most and have written to the UK Government seeking urgent delivery of an automatic and targeted discount on energy bills to address unaffordable bills at source. We believe that a sophisticated set of metrics should be developed to determine eligibility, including rurality, recognising the additional costs faced by these households.

We have been clear that market reforms need to deliver tangible benefits and ensure Scotland’s communities feel the benefit of the energy transition. Rural households face a particular set of challenges and we will continue to advocate for their interests through our engagement with the UK Government, Ofgem, and wider industry.

Procurement legislation requires public bodies to treat suppliers equally and without discrimination irrespective of size when buying goods, services and works.

Through the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, we introduced a legal requirement for public bodies to consider and act on opportunities to facilitate the involvement of small or medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’), third sector organisations and supported businesses in the procurement process, and also to advertise regulated contract opportunities openly and transparently on Public Contracts Scotland, helping SMEs to identify opportunities in the supply chain.

We continue to focus on making it easier for SMEs to participate in public supply chains, including publishing an SME and Third Sector Procurement Action Plan in 2024 as part of our New Deal for Business.

We continue to test, challenge and inform procurement approaches through industry engagement, such as round tables with SMEs, to underpin continuous improvement.

The ‘annual report on procurement activity in Scotland 2022 to 2023’ (our most recently published report) shows that 61 pence in every pound of known procurement spend in Scotland went to an SME, and that, of the 18,079 suppliers awarded contracts through Public Contracts Scotland, SMEs received 77% of these contracts.

The Scottish Government routinely engages with Welsh Government officials on a range of animal welfare issues, however, there has been no specific engagement on the commitment made to phase out greyhound racing in Wales.

Transport Scotland and our operating company BEAR Scotland have held discussions with various local stakeholders regarding the A84 Teith Bridge and options for active travel improvement between Doune and Deanston. Transport Scotland is working closely with Stirling Council in regard to this matter.

Consideration has been given to widening the existing bridge. The existing structure is Category A listed, therefore options to widen the bridge or construct a new facility immediately adjacent to it cannot be taken forward. In addition, there would be a need to realign and widen the A84 and acquire land. The limited width on the bridge deck and the inability to widen the bridge means that any improvement to the active travel infrastructure must be either a new structure further away from the existing bridge, or restrictions to vehicular space on the existing bridge.

Restrictions to vehicular space will impact the movement of vehicles across the bridge introducing queuing and delay, including to public transport services. To assess the impacts of this, a vehicular traffic modelling exercise was undertaken considering the viability and merits of potentially introducing permanent traffic signals. The detailed traffic modelling simulates the operation of vehicles in one direction at a time across Teith Bridge with traffic signals on both north and southbound approaches. This would allow the vehicular space on the bridge to be reduced to a single lane and give more space for wider footways. A pedestrian phase in the signals would allow active travel users to cross the A84 on the south side of the bridge.

Two options have been modelled. The first used traffic signals to control vehicles on the A84 in one direction at a time across the bridge. A second option incorporated the adjacent B8032 into the traffic signals. This improves access and egress to and from the local road, however increases delay for traffic on the A84. Both options included the pedestrian phase for crossing the bridge. Traffic survey data was gathered in early 2024 to inform the modelling. To simulate peak visitor times and future years, appropriate factors based on existing and historical traffic data were applied to test a range of scenarios.

The exercise was completed in January 2025, ahead of schedule. The modelling showed that the three way operation incorporating the B8032 would result in unacceptable levels of delay and queuing. A simple vehicular shuttle operation on the bridge may operate with acceptable levels of delay and queuing for vehicles including in average traffic conditions in the summer. However, the modelling indicates that in the peak hours in the summer and easter periods there may be longer delays to vehicles which may not be acceptable. As a result, further investigation is required.

Transport Scotland and BEAR have shared the results of the modelling with Stirling Council and met with them to discuss it. Stirling Council has requested that a live exercise be undertaken to directly investigate the impact on delays to vehicular traffic.

Taking account of the requirements of all modes of travel, including public transport services, it is recognised that the best form of improvement may not be amendment to the trunk road and the existing bridge, or that these may only be a temporary measure. It may be more practical and effective to create an entirely new, offline facility. The results of the traffic modelling exercise will help to inform this. Alternative options would lie outwith the trunk road and therefore outwith the responsibility of Transport Scotland. Progression of these would be the responsibility of Stirling Council or the Regional Transport Partnership to take forward, and Transport Scotland has suggested that the Council continue to appraise the best means of active travel connection between the two communities.

Discussions are underway in Transport Scotland to establish the potential for bringing forward the live exercise, however this will be subject to available budgets and the prioritisation of active travel schemes across the country. Should it be possible to undertake the trial, following this, further discussions will be held with stakeholders, including Stirling Council, and a decision on any further steps balancing the needs of the users of all modes of travel will be made.

My officials have had multiple discussions with their counterparts in the Department for Transport on the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill both before and after it was introduced in the House of Lords.

In addition, the Minister for Local Transport, Rt. Hon. Simon Lightwood MP, wrote to me in December when the Bill was introduced, setting out the Bill’s purpose, territorial extent and application, and its interaction with Scotland. We also discussed the UK Government proposals when Mr Lightwood and I met in person on 3 April 2025.

The post of Traffic Commissioner for Scotland is currently vacant but I understand the role has been advertised on the UK Government’s Public Appointment website. The closing date for applications is 28 April 2025.

On 2 April, I received a letter from the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt. Hon. Heidi Alexander MP advising that Richard Turfitt (Senior Traffic Commissioner) will cover the role on a temporary basis. I welcome Mr Turfitt’s temporary appointment to allow work to progress on improving bus services in Scotland.

Section 47 of the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 requires the Scottish Ministers to prepare and publish an environmental policy strategy. There is no deadline set in the Act for the publication of a strategy. The Scottish Government published the Environment Strategy Vision and Outcomes in 2021. Updates to the strategy are in progress.

NatureScot are currently reviewing the bird species on Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (the list of game species) and will report to Scottish Ministers in due course.

Scottish Ministers will consider the findings of the review and decide whether to update the Schedule as necessary.