Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has worked closely with Circularity Scotland at each stage of implementing DRS, including following the UK Government’s last minute intervention which has caused a delay to the scheme. Throughout the process, CSL has been a trusted partner with a demonstrated expertise and knowledge in its field and we believe the business sector sees the merits in working to maintain the progress they have made and to be able to use this as a springboard for the future form of DRS.

These figures are for staff directly employed by TS as of 31st May 2023.

Aviation, Maritime, Freight & Canals - 21

Ferries - 45

Bus, Accessibility and Active Travel - 88

Chief Executive Office - 4

Finance and Corporate Services - 67

Low Carbon Economy - 30

Major Projects - 49

Rail - 68

Roads - 102

Transport Strategy and Analysis - 63

Circularity Scotland are a private limited company, Scottish Government do not hold records of Circularity Scotland and the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs discussions regarding DRS. However, we are aware that Circularity Scotland have written directly to Defra on a number of occasions regarding the Deposit Return Scheme.

There has been no decision to privatise charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

Our draft Vision is clear that the public charging network will need to grow at scale and pace and that it will be impractical for the public sector to deliver this alone. As part of the transition to a public charging network that is largely financed and operated by the private sector, we will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholder including owners of charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

The majority of ChargePlace Scotland charging assets are owned by Local Authorities. Transport Scotland is supporting Local Authorities to develop public electric vehicle charging strategies and expansion plans. These plans will help to identify future public charging needs, investment requirements and operating models for existing and new local authority owned public charging points.

The details requested of ScotRail’s fleet of trains are commercially sensitive, however information concerning the fleets can be requested via:-

Information Requests | ScotRail

The member may wish to note that the fleet end dates are contained within the ScotRail Grant Agreement (page 19) available via:-

ScotRail+Grant+Agreement+-+24+June+2022_Published.pdf (squarespace.com)

Through grant funding the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million since 2011 to support the installation of charge points operating on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

The total value of the contracts to operate the ‘back-office’ service to manage the network since its inception is £6,136,820.

The economic impact of the pilot removal of peak fares from the rail system will depend primarily on how rail and other demand responds to the change. As Scotland is leading the UK with such a measure, it is necessary to pilot the change in order to determine if a permanent change would represent value for money.

Analysis undertaken before the scheme was announced, based on historical data, suggested that there are sufficient grounds to explore the impacts through a pilot which will also allow operational impacts to be assessed.

Officials met with representatives from British Glass on 2 May to discuss the Deposit Return Scheme. Officials were clear in that meeting that Ministers strongly believe in the inclusion of glass in the DRS, due to the environmental and economic benefits this would bring and in line with the shared understanding across the UK at the time the Scottish regulations were approved. Officials will continue to engage with British Glass at appropriate times in the future, in line with wider stakeholder engagement.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to improving the A96 and the current plan is to fully dual the route. We continue to push forward the transparent evidence-based review of the corridor that is currently being undertaken with outcomes from this expected to be ready for consultation this summer.

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme has been based on successful schemes across Europe. The Minister has been thoroughly briefed by Zero Waste Scotland on relevant research findings throughout the policy’s development.

As stated in question S6W-18000 on 31 May 2023 research was undertaken by Zero Waste Scotland, who designed the scheme, and met with a range of international scheme administrators and operators, many of whom had schemes that include glass, such as Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Iceland, Denmark and Finland.

This research and briefing has meant that the minister has been fully appraised of the main characteristics of schemes across Europe and has not therefore personally travelled to the countries listed.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers