Chamber and committees

In February 2022, an application under section 36 of the Electricity Act seeking consent for construction and operation of Peterhead CCS was formally lodged with the Energy Consents Unit. This is currently before Ministers for determination and as such, it would be inappropriate for Ministers to make any comment on it.

The Scottish Government is committed to Scotland becoming a net zero nation by 2045. Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan sets out firmly our opposition to the continued use of unabated fossil fuels to generate electricity, while our updated Climate Change Plan contains more than 200 policies to reduce emissions across all sectors, including energy, in line with this bold ambition.

High Speed Trains (HSTs) meet the stringent safety requirements necessary to operate on the GB rail network.

The independent railway safety regulator confirms these trains remain safe to run, which was also confirmed by the Scottish Carmont Steering Group

Replacing the HSTs is recognised as a priority and work is underway now to identify the optimum replacement option.

Plans for decarbonisation of the Fife Circle are in development. It is expected this will be one of the next parts of the Scottish network to be decarbonised, after the current work to electrify the East Kilbride line. The scope of the work in Fife will be developed and appraised alongside consideration of new battery-electric trains.

Since 2022, ScotRail has been committed to developing a robust evidence base on which to inform future plans and investment on fares and ticketing. This has included obtaining customer insight to identify opportunities, testing and learning to encourage more customers to rail through short-term promotions, and a ticketing/retail review assessing a range of retail channels and ticketing options.

Provision of digital rail ticket issuing services is an operational matter for ScotRail. ScotRail advises that mobile tickets are available for advance, single and return tickets, and progress is being made to make more tickets available digitally.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail.

ScotRail Trains has seen significant recovery in demand and positive growth in revenue during the transition from the pandemic during which it took over the operation of services.

The level of funding paid to ScotRail has therefore seen some reduction as a result of the on-going positive growth and recovery from the pandemic, although additional funding has been specifically provided to support the pilot removal of peak fares.

More widely, the Scottish Government’s total funding for Scotland’s railway system continues to increase and will be around £1.6bn in 2024/25.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The member may wish to contact ScotRail for this information.

Specialist support will be provided by Scottish Governments Subsidy Control Team as and when required to complete the necessary due diligence on potential “Teckal” direct award.

The outline business case is currently being considered by Ministers. The re-profiling of budget from 2023-24 will not impact on the timelines for delivery, with the first vessel still expected to enter service in 2026. The total capital cost of the programme, as per the outline business case, includes upgrades for the provision of shore power.