Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provided £223 million of support to bus services throughout the Covid pandemic. The Network Support Grant Plus was always a temporary fund put in place to support bus services as patronage recovered following the Covid 19 Pandemic. Travel has changed following the pandemic with amended service levels and new passenger travel patterns, therefore it is important that the support we give transport operators continues to evolve as the network adapts and make sure it remains fit for purpose and is sustainable long term.

The Scottish Government is aware of the importance of bus services and is committed, in conjunction with operators and local authorities, to looking at ways of improving services. The Scottish Government continues to invest in the bus network to support long term growth The Network Support Grant, which keeps fares more affordable and networks more extensive than would otherwise be the case, continues to be available in 2023 - 2024 and the Scottish Government is providing extra funding to support a marketing campaign to encourage people back to bus.

The Network Support Grant was introduced in April 2022 and is intended to keep bus services more extensive, and fares more affordable than would otherwise be the case. The return to pre-Covid levels of bus subsidy was agreed with the bus sector as part of the Network Support Grant Plus extension until 31 March 2023.

Transport Scotland will review this grant in 2023 – 2024 to ensure it continues to provide value for money whilst we also progress other opportunities in collaboration with the bus sector to improve bus services.

A range of potential improvements to the trunk road and motorway network, including the A1, were considered and appraised in STPR2. Full dualling was not included in the final 45 recommendations because the transport appraisal concluded that, in line with the sustainable travel and investment hierarchies, the priorities for investment in Scotland’s trunk road network lie elsewhere. These are on improving road safety, reliability and resilience, and adapting the network to deal with challenge of climate change, rather than any large scale interventions on the A1 between Edinburgh and the border.

(a) Transport Scotland received the following number of applications for the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme since 2018:

2018-19 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 6 cross border flows.

2019-20 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 5 cross border flows.

2020-21 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 5 cross border flows.

2021-22 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 6 cross border flows.

2022-23 2 applications for support in Scotland and contributed to 7 cross border flows.

(b) Transport Scotland received the following number of applications for the Freight Facilities Grant scheme since 2018:

2018-19 - 0

2019-20 - 1

2020-21 - 1

2021-22 - 0

2022-23 - 2

Freight works on a commercial basis so the decision to move products by rail is a decision for the customer and its logistics provider.

However, I can confirm that a dedicated express rail logistics service is currently running into Scotland. This service which runs between Birmingham and Mossend, started with a trial period on 17 October 2022 followed by a full operational service running five nights a week from 9 January 2023, is operated by Varamis Rail.

The shift to electric vehicles is an important part of responding to the climate emergency. To help incentivise this shift, Scottish Government and Transport Scotland have since 2011 invested over £65 million to support a range of organisations – including local authorities, other public bodies, businesses and third sector organisations – to install public charge points across Scotland. These organisations own the charge point infrastructure, and many of them use back-office services provided by ChargePlace Scotland, which is funded by Scottish Ministers.

A shift towards a public charging network largely financed and operated by the commercial sector is necessary to grow the network at pace and improve the consumer experience overall. To support that, the Scottish Government recognises that it’s vital that the public charging network has tariffs which are fair, sustainable and which enable the growth and maintenance of the network.

Responsibility for setting tariffs and overstay charges on ChargePlace Scotland lies with charge point owners. In considering whether to set a tariff, owners may consider a range of factors including local circumstances, utilisation levels and running costs. ChargePlace Scotland routinely provides charge point owners with data relating to the utilisation of their assets. ChargePlace Scotland do not advise charge point owners on tariff levels or overstay fees, however, they may signpost owners to the EV Association of Scotland (an independent group who represent the interests of EV users) website where tariff guidance can be found.

The Scottish Government recognises that overstay fees have a role to play in ensuring the public charging network is used efficiently and that bays are not occupied by a single user, and therefore unavailable to others, for extended periods of time.

Responsibility for setting tariffs and overstay charges lies with charge point owners. A shift towards a public charging network largely financed and operated by the commercial sector is necessary to grow the network at pace and improve the customer experience overall. To support that, it’s vital that the public charging network has tariffs and fees which are fair, sustainable and which enable the growth and maintenance of the network. There are 680 public charge points out of 2475 on the ChargePlace Scotland network where an overstay fee applies.

Evidence over the last 6 months shows a continued growth in usage across the ChargePlace Scotland network with increases of approximately 25% in new driver account registrations, 8% in charge sessions and 13% increase in Kwh being drawn. Statistics published by the Committee on Climate Change in 2022 highlight that the share of total new car sales in Scotland which are electric rose from approximately 8% in 2020 to 12% in 2021.

Between September 2022 and February 2023, 112 electric vehicle charge points were commissioned on to the ChargePlace Scotland network. The Scottish Government does not routinely collate data on electric vehicle charge points added to other public charging networks.

Zap-Map publishes monthly statistics including the total number of public charging devices across the UK and has historically underrepresented CPS data. The Scottish Government understands that Zap-Map resolved this issue in January 2023 and subsequent Zap-Map data sets included the correct number of CPS public charge points.

The shift to electric vehicles is an important part of responding to the climate emergency. To help incentivise this shift, Scottish Government and Transport Scotland have since 2011 invested over £65 million to support a range of organisations to install public charge points across Scotland.

Responsibility for setting tariffs and determining the terms of when tariffs and overstay charges are levied lies with these charge point owners. In considering whether to set a tariff, owners will consider a range of factors including local circumstances, utilisation and cost. ChargePlace Scotland implements the tariff set by the owner and manages the reimbursement of tariffs from the driver to the owner, including any overstay fees incurred.

The table below sets out the number of charge sessions where an overstay fee has been applied over the last 6 months, and the total value of such fees. If the member wishes more historic data, I would ask him to specify the time period and my officials will be happy to provide this.

a) At ScotRail, First Aid requirements are assessed on a First Aid Needs Assessment that aligns with Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance. This has highlighted the importance of engineering locations due to the level of risk of employee injury and likely severity of possible injury at these locations should an accident happen.

ScotRail has provided the following data which shows the figures at each depot:-