Chamber and committees

Local Authorities are responsible for street lighting on public roads and footways that are within their statutory list of public roads, Motorways and Trunk Lighting are maintained by Transport Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many street light electric vehicle charge points are currently in operation broken down by local authority area. However, the majority of public charge points installed to date in Scotland, including through the Scottish Government’s £50m investment in the ChargePlace Scotland Network, are unlikely to be connected or integrated to lampposts.

The Scottish Government has not been consulted or invited to engage with the UK Government on its new 5-year acquisitions programme, including where this involves those contemporary visual artists who are based in Scotland. The Scottish Government is aware that the UK Government is dealing with the Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN) directly on this project.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many street lights could presently be retrofitted to include electric vehicles charging points broken down by local authority area. Whilst electric vehicle charging technologies exists for such an application, not all street lights will be suitable for a number of reasons including their proximity to the public road.

Supporting those without access to off-street charging will require a range of approaches. We have invested almost £60m to develop a public EV network and this year announced a new £60m EV Infrastructure Fund that aims to double the size of the public charging network in the next few years. We are also taking forward legislation to ensure developers provide electric vehicle charge points in the construction of new residential and non-residential buildings, to increase both the convenience and number of charging opportunities across Scotland.

Yes, Argyll and Bute alongside other local authorities that are home to large numbers of private water supplies were considered when deciding where to pilot private water supply first time connections scheme. The main purpose of this scheme is to focus on private water supplies which are facing water scarcity due to climate change.

The initial phase of the project is nearly complete. This early work has sought to understand how we identify communities which have been affected by repeated water scarcity events, to establish the proximity to public water mains, to assess the water network capacity and estimate the costs associated with extending the mains to potentially allow those on private water supplies to make a connection. Scottish Water is completing the studies with final results expected soon.

The Scottish Government has worked with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland on the mandatory water efficiency label proposals. The consultation was launched on 2 September 2022 and I would encourage households and businesses to respond. The press release is available at: Action on water efficiency - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government did not allocate any finance for the Young Islanders Challenge in 2021-22. However, £28,500 was allocated to our delivery partner, Youth Scotland, to support the Young Islanders Challenge in 2020-21.

Aberdeenshire is home to over 8000 (one third) of all private water supplies in Scotland, more than double those in Argyll and Bute, and almost triple those in the Highland Council region. Given the prevalence of water scarcity in the North East of Scotland and the numbers of Private Water Supplies in Aberdeenshire and hence the acute challenge, we decided to pilot in this area to inform any future interventions.

Paper £20 and £50 notes will be withdrawn from circulation on 30 September. This change will have an impact on individuals and businesses within Scotland.

The decision to withdraw these notes in Scotland coincides with the withdrawal of Bank of England £20 and £50 paper notes from circulation on the same date. In advance of 30 September deadline the Bank of England have issued multiple news releases to inform individuals and businesses that paper £20 and £50 notes will not be accepted beyond this date. This mirrors the approach of the previous decision to withdraw the legal tender status of paper £5 and £10 notes across the UK in 2018.

Additionally, a press release has been issued on 1 September by the Committee of Scottish Bankers on behalf of Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank to inform Scottish customers of the upcoming 30 th of September deadline.

It is important to note that 30 September is only the deadline for which paper £20 and £50 notes can be used to purchase goods and services in shops. Beyond this date paper notes can still be deposited into bank accounts at banks and post offices. Notes can also be exchanged for the corresponding polymer note at certain banks and post offices in Scotland, and Bank of England paper notes can be exchanged directly with the Bank of England via post.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how much it estimates it would cost to retrofit every street light to include an electric vehicle charging point. Costs will be influenced by a range of factors including the location of and type of lamppost, the electric vehicle charge point technology itself as well as any associated installation and civils works. Retrofitting would also need to factor in the variable on-going cost of operation and maintenance.