Chamber and committees

We encourage all local transport authorities to consider the full range of tools available to them under the Transport (Scotland) 2019 Act, so it is pleasing to see SPT are fully exploring the 2019 Act powers with a view on improving bus services in their area.

I welcome their decision to progress with the recommendations of their Regional Bus Strategy and further develop proposals to deliver a Franchise Framework Assessment using those powers. It is important that the business cases for improving bus services are made robustly and utilise all available evidence and views, before decisions are reached about future investments in the region.

As part of the development and delivery of the bus powers within the 2019 Act my officials engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, particularly local transport authorities, including SPT. I have also met with SPT on several occasions, most recently on 25 March to discuss the progress and plans on their Regional Bus Strategy.

The Scottish Government continues to support Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) through targeted funding streams aligned with its commitment to delivering public transport at a regional level. While the Verity House Agreement sets out principles for collaboration and funding between central and local government, it does not explicitly reference RTPs, as funding priorities under the Agreement are determined by individual councils. It is the responsibility of Local Authorities to determine their funding priorities.

The Scottish Government is providing Scotland’s seven regional transport partnerships (RTPs) with up to £15.5 million of capital grant funding from the People and Place Programme (total value £23.4 million, split between resource and capital).

The primary focus of the capital funding is to provide a programme of sustainable and active travel behaviour change interventions on a regional basis to encourage people to travel actively and more sustainably. In addition to the direct capital grant funding, RTPs can apply to the Tier 2 Active Travel Infrastructure Fund for both Design and Construction, and they worked with local authorities in receipt of Bus Infrastructure Fund awards.

There are no plans to amend the current criteria of the People and Places programme to include park and ride facilities as eligible capital projects.

The investment in discretionary housing payments (DHPs) announced as part of the Housing Emergency Action Plan on 2 September will be made available to local authorities experiencing the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures via a distribution methodology agreed with COSLA.

This further DHPs will target eligible households in temporary accommodation who are interested in a settled home in the private rented sector but who are concerned about affordability. Local authorities will use DHPs to cover any shortfall between the housing benefit people receive – determined by the UK local housing allowance (LHA) rates – and the actual cost of private rent.

While this additional £2 million investment will be targeted at households in temporary accommodation, local authorities retain discretion to support other households facing shortfalls between their rent and LHA rates. Many local authorities already use this flexibility to help people secure and sustain tenancies in the private rented sector, spending £3.1 million in 2024-25.

Following announcement of the additional £40m in targeted voids and acquisitions in my statement to Parliament on 2 September, the 2025-26 budget for AHSP is £807.745m and represents an increase of £251.883m when compared to the original published 2024-25 budget of £555.862m. The 2025–26 budget not only restores but exceeds the 2023–24 budget.

The Scottish Government will confirm the breakdown of up to £4.9 billion in the Scottish Budget and Scottish Spending Review.

In 2024–25, the Scottish Government supported the delivery of 966 affordable homes, including 351 acquisitions and 615 voids, through £40 million in targeted acquisition and voids funding.

The Scottish Government will deliver up to £4.9 billion of investment over the coming four years, with homes delivered through a mixture of public and privately leveraged investment. Further details will be outlined in the forthcoming Spending Review.

The new £1 million national fund to leave will be distributed on the basis of population of each local authority area in Scotland. This was the method used in the fund to leave pilot.

The evaluation of the pilot fund to leave by Scottish Women’s Aid showed that 511 women received support and the average amount received was £825.

We will work with Scottish Women’s Aid to ensure the fund to leave is open to women across Scotland who are in need of financial support to leave an abusive partner.