Chamber and committees

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) announced a ‘.. review of how best to significantly increase the number of social enterprises, employee-owned businesses and co-operatives in Scotland, supporting regional regeneration and the wealth of local communities’.

The independent review is nearing completion and is anticipated to complete, with findings and recommendations published, prior to summer recess 2024.

Firstly, I would reiterate that violence against women is a fundamental violation of human rights and is totally unacceptable.

It is also important to highlight that the Lanarkshire division within Police Scotland play an important local role in preventing domestic abuse and safeguarding women and girls. This is reflected within the Local Policing Plan which has a particular focus on Gender Based Abuse.

I would also advise that the Lanarkshire Division are currently collaborating on a pilot project with partners from Women’s Aid and Lanarkshire Rape Crisis to establish a crisis centre supporting women and children fleeing domestic abuse. I would hope we might be able to say more about that at an appropriate point.

Finally, I would add that over £1.4m of the Scottish Government’s Delivering Equally Safe Fund has been allocated in grant funding this financial year in Lanarkshire. This includes funding to a range of organisations such as Motherwell & District Women’s Aid and Liber8 who support women affected by gender-based violence.

Instances where miscarriage or forced termination has taken place because of domestic violence reflects the most tragic of circumstances based on the cruel realities of domestic abuse.

Just two weeks ago, this Parliament debated a Petition on the creation of an unborn victims of violence offence, where we heard about the harrowing realities of domestic abuse that were suffered by the Petitioner, Nicola Murray.

Following the debate, my officials have been in contact with the Sentencing Council to ascertain the next steps in their development of guidelines on domestic abuse. As this Parliament recognised, the outcome of this work is fundamental in determining next steps. I look forward to how this progresses as we look to root out and tackle the toxic masculinity and gender inequality that leads to violence, harassment, misogyny and abuse against women.

Our Offshore Wind International Engagement Strategy is aligned with, and informed by, a number of Scottish Government strategies, including Scotland’s International Strategy (published in January 2024) and Scotland’s Vision for Trade. These strategies are in turn aligned with our international development policy.

As stated in the answer to S6W-26808, given the dynamic nature of the offshore wind market, our approach and the identified priority countries will be reviewed regularly to reflect the latest market intelligence.

All Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) projects are required to submit a Supply Chain Development Statement (SCDS) to Crown Estate Scotland (CES) outlining the nature and location of supply chain activity across four different project stages.

SCDSs will be updated throughout development as project specifics become clearer and as the development of the supply chain progresses.

Final SCDSs are submitted to CES just before projects secure a seabed lease. Where actual supply chain achievements, evidenced through the contracted position statement, are not in line with the final SCDS commitments, there are contractual remedies available to CES, ranging from financial penalties to revoking the ability to secure a lease.

The ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot has been extended to 28 June 2024. An interim evaluation is underway to examine the impacts on rail travel patterns and other modes as well as a formal value for money assessment. A final evaluation will be undertaken at the end of the pilot and the Scottish Government will inform further decisions setting future fares.

We are in the process of analysing the approximately 1650 responses to our consultation which closed on 8 March 2024. This will allow us to take into account the feedback and perspectives from those who responded as we consider next steps. This follows the commitments made to develop proposals for legislative change, including in relation to Heat in Buildings as established in the Programme for Government where the legislative programme for 2023-24 is set out.

Since 2011, Transport Scotland has invested over £65 million on behalf of Scottish Ministers to support the installation of public EV charge points across Scotland as part of the ChargePlace Scotland public EV charging network. As a direct result, Scotland has the best provision of public charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region.

Last year, the Scottish Government published Vision for world class public electric vehicle charging network | Transport Scotland , highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. Through the £30m EV Infrastructure Fund we are supporting local authorities across Scotland to work with the private sector to leverage an additional £30m of private investment to continue to grow the provision of EV charging in Scotland at pace and scale.

Since 2021, 1,232 additional public EV charge points have been added to the Scottish Government funded ChargePlace Scotland network. We do not hold information relating to any other public electric vehicle charging networks.

Since 2021 a total of 15,615 EV charge points have been supported through Scottish Government grant funding for fleet, business, third sector and domestic charge point installations.

As set out in the 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government is committed to “Introduce a Natural Environment Bill, putting in place key legislative changes and statutory targets to restore and protect nature” before the end of the current parliamentary term.

Future legislative programmes will be announced in relevant Programmes for Government in the usual way. Meantime, we continue to take action to deliver nature restoration through, for example, our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund, which has already committed nearly £40 million since 2021.

We will set out the high-level principles of ADT, including how it will support emissions reductions in due course.