Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not routinely collate data about electric vehicle charge points which are not part of the ChargePlace Scotland public charging network. Data about public charging devices on privately-managed networks can be obtained from third party data suppliers, such as Zap-Map, who publish monthly statistics on electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

There are currently 2522 publicly available charge points registered on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

Our Agencies, on behalf of Scottish Government, commissioned a series of reports into the economic opportunities around battery use and the circular economy, including Scotland as a potential location for future gigafactory opportunities. Our Enterprise Agencies in partnership with Department of Business and Trade and others will continue to respond positively to any business considering gigafactory scale manufacturing in Scotland.

Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan (NWSP) published in 2014, and updated in 2020, sets out how water resources will be managed prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), is monitoring current water levels carefully across Scotland, collating information on the abstractions, and recording feedback on the impact of likely suspensions on business.

In June 2023, SEPA published guidance which clarifies how suspensions will be implemented. If the dry weather continues it may be necessary to reduce or suspend abstractions licences to protect the environment.

Public Water Supplies are largely operating normally and there is no immediate need for water restrictions. Investment in resilience measures over many years means that Scottish Water is able to maintain supplies during prolonged dry periods to all parts of Scotland. There have been challenges in smaller supplies particularly in rural areas and the Scottish Government and Scottish Water are monitoring the situation very carefully.

During the Cannich incident, SFRS liaised with Forestry and Land Scotland, RSPB and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, who provided personnel and specialist equipment throughout the incident. The involvement of gamekeepers, farmers and other partners at wildfire incidents is always welcomed by SFRS and provides a great deal of capacity and knowledge for Incident Commanders. SFRS is utilising this valuable resource at incidents and recognising the skills, experience and equipment that partners bring to this incident type.

At recent significant wildfires the involvement of partners has been instrumental in successfully managing the incidents, and SFRS will seek to learn lessons from this to identify what worked well, as well as where improvements can be made to ensure it continuously improves. SFRS has contributed to the North of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership’s recent seminar on response to severe weather events (heat in particular) and is in the planning stage of providing the same to the East of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership.

The Scottish Wildfire Forum (SWF), chaired by SFRS, has Civil Contingency Advisors from Local Authorities, Regional Resilience Partnerships and other Agencies as members. The SWF created the Wildfire Risk that is now contained in the Scottish National Risk Assessment. This now requires the Regional and Local Resilience Partnerships (which includes all Local Authorities) as part of the Risk Preparedness Assessment Process to consider the risk, score it for their region/area and consider what mitigation actions can be taken to reduce the risk as well as how the wider consequences of the risk will be managed.

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a privately-owned telecoms network and the decision to upgrade it has been taken by the telecoms industry. The primary focus of PSTN migration is to switch over the telephony signal from analogue to digital services, not the broadband signal. As such, delivery of the R100 programme will not be impacted by PSTN migration.

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a privately-owned telecoms network and the decision to upgrade it has been taken by the telecoms industry, and not the UK Government. PSTN migration from analogue to digital telephony services also does not affect the Universal Service Obligations set out in the Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order 2003, which require designated providers to offer telephony services throughout the UK, and providers will remain bound by their existing statutory responsibilities.

However, we are working closely with the UK Government, Industry, Ofcom and other Devolved Administrations through the Electronic Communications – Resilience and Response Group (EC-RRG), a UK Government-supported telecoms industry group, whose aim is to develop and maintain cooperation between the communications sector and Government on issues regarding telecoms resilience and emergency planning.

The number of staff based in Scottish Government International Offices in the past five years is listed in the following table.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) has reviewed its asset information and has found no reference to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) having been used anywhere within its estate. NRS has not incurred cost for repairs associated with RAAC.

The Scottish Government supports a range of organisations which help preserve our culture and heritage in communities across Scotland.

Creative Scotland support community-run venues and assets through funds such as their Open Fund and partner funds like Awards for All. The Creative Scotland Regular Funding Network includes support for community-run venues including Lyra, Stove Network and WHALE arts.