Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the important role that bank branches play in Scottish communities. Despite financial services regulation being reserved to the UK Government, we have sought to engage with the banking sector following decisions they have made to close Scottish branches in recent years.

Through these engagements Ministers have reiterated the importance of bank branches to individuals and local businesses across Scotland - particularly for our rural and island communities, vulnerable individuals and digitally excluded consumers. We have also sought assurances that impacted employees from branch closures would be offered roles elsewhere in the business should they want them. Banks have confirmed they make regular contact with affected customers to inform them of the alternative services available to them, including through initiatives such as shared Bank Hubs, improved Post Office services and Community Bankers.

Most recently, I met with Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) on the 27th of June following the company's announcement to close 17 Bank of Scotland branches. LBG emphasised the support that they are providing communities and expressed their willingness to work with local representatives to ensure that the support provided is sufficient for the local area. Officials are also working with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to arrange a meeting between myself and Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA, to discuss the work of the FCA in Scotland with a focus on understanding how the unique cash access requirements of Scottish communities and businesses are being addressed.

The operation of vessels and ports for scheduled services is a matter for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, CalMac Ferries Ltd and Serco NorthLink Ferries.

Information on the vessels owned by CMAL is available on their website.

Home | CMAL Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (cmassets.co.uk)

Information on how these vessels are deployed on Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles Ferry Service routes is available on the individual operators websites.

Ferries to Scotland & Scottish Isles | Caledonian MacBrayne | CalMac Ferries

The Scottish Government do not hold full operational details of the ports at which CMAL or other vessels can dock but it is our expectation through the contracts that the Operator will utilise the vessels flexibly as it considers appropriate in order to maintain lifeline services for communities.

The levels of funding associated with bus and rail operations can be found in Transport Scotland's annual accounts. Please note the annual accounts for 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023 will be available later this year.

Links provided below for the five years as requested:-

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2022

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2021

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2020

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2019

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2018

The Scottish Government does not hold information on fees or levies charged by ports for cruise ship calls.

Port fees and charges vary by port and are commercial matters for the port concerned.

The Scottish Government has not made a decision to privatise charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

ChargePlace Scotland’s charging assets are owned by over 400 separate organisations across the public, private and third party sectors. These organisations are responsible for procurement, maintenance and commercial decisions relating to their own charge point assets.

The Scottish Government does not routinely monitor the number and type of privately run charge points at this time. This information is, however, monitored by the private sector – for instance, Zap-Map monitor and publish monthly statistics which includes the total number and type of privately-run electric vehicle charge points across the UK.

Transport Scotland is supporting local authorities to develop public electric vehicle charge point Strategy and Expansion Plans, to identify the opportunities to work with the private sector to grow Scotland’s network. These plans are identifying local and regional charge point needs, the investment requirements, as well as the best approaches to delivering collaborative investments with commercial charge point operators.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on fees charged by ports for cruise ship calls.

Port fees and charges vary by port and are commercial matters for the port concerned.

It is the statutory duty of local authorities to manage and maintain their own buildings. Scottish Government officials continue to engage with local authorities affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Information on the outcomes of students enrolled at Scottish colleges is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in their annual college performance indicators release.

College Performance Indicators 2021-22 (sfc.ac.uk)

The SFC are continuing to develop and improve this data collection and are working to collect more robust data on the reasons why people are not completing their courses.

Data is not readily available for universities on those completing courses within a set time length as some university courses have more flexibility with mode and course length. The number of enrolments and qualifiers on courses at Scottish universities is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Enrolments: Figure 3 - HE student enrolments by level of study 2017/18 to 2021/22 | HESA

Qualifiers: Figure 15 - HE qualifications obtained by level of qualification 2017/18 to 2021/22 | HESA

As students withdraw from university for a number of interlinked reasons, HESA no longer collect information on why students withdraw. Their statistical release concentrates on the proportion of students not continuing with university study. This Non-continuation release was last published in March 2022:

Table D - Percentage of UK domiciled full-time entrants who did not leave within 50 days of commencement not continuing in HE after their first year by location of HE provider and academic year 2014/15 to 2019/20 | HESA .

I will attend the next meeting of the Orkney Internal Ferry Replacement Task Force, now confirmed for 17 August in Orkney. Future meetings will be led by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance with my support.

The consultation on the Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate and CO2 regulations for new cars and vans closed on 24 May 2023. The UK and devolved governments are currently analysing the responses to the consultation ahead of the publication of a response from all four nations this year.