Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has routine and regular discussions with the Scottish National Investment Bank on a range of matters, including the performance of its investment portfolio. The Bank makes independent decisions on individual investments and the terms attached to those investments following extensive due diligence and risk assessment in line with other commercial investors and other development banks. Scottish Ministers and officials have no role in those decisions and/or the relationship between the Bank and the businesses it invests in.

The Bank reports annually on the performance of its investments. It publishes an Impact Report in April and lays an Annual Report and Accounts in Parliament by the end of September each year.

The Reaching 100% (R100) programme is ensuring that all homes and businesses can access superfast broadband. This is being delivered through three strands of activity – the £600 million R100 contracts (North, Central and South), our R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and commercial coverage.

Both the R100 North and Central contracts will deliver connections across Perth and Kinross - with final connections due to be delivered through the contracts by March 2028. The R100 contracts are now solely delivering full fibre, gigabit capable connectivity, over 30 times faster than our superfast commitment.

For those properties beyond the reach of the R100 contracts or commercial coverage plans, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme – offering vouchers worth up to £5,000 – remains available to help secure a superfast broadband connection.

However, as the R100 SBVS is a demand-led scheme, it is not possible to provide dates by which people might be connected.

Likewise, for properties within the plans of commercial broadband suppliers, we do not hold data on when those connections will be delivered.

We welcome the start of Hainan’s direct service between Edinburgh Airport and Beijing which we have promoted through our social media channels in China, with over 500,000 impressions to date. We wish Edinburgh Airport and Hainan every success with this service. The Scottish Government’s engagement with China continues to support political, economic, cultural, education, and social relationships with the people of China in keeping with the values of Scotland.

Circularity Scotland Limited is a private not for profit company set up by industry. As an independent private company, it is not required to report to the Scottish Government. Therefore the Scottish Government does not hold any information on expenditure incurred by Circularity Scotland during the financial year 2022-2023. Circularity Scotland is currently in administration. More information on this can be found at: Interpath Administrators appointed to Circularity Scotland Ltd (interpathadvisory.com) .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19481 on 18 July 2023. 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

The Short Life Working Group on Economic and Social Opportunities for Gaelic contains a number of recommendations which sit within a wide range of business areas within the Scottish Government. The report was prepared by an independent group that took evidence from both public authorities and community groups. The recommendations are currently being allocated to separate Scottish Government business areas. These business areas will then discuss with relevant interests in order to consider what progress can be made.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The respective Enterprise Agencies are best placed to answer this question. This question should be directed to them.

SEPA and Zero Waste Scotland were informed that Circularity Scotland was going in to administration on 20 June 2023.

Scotland remains at the forefront of the global journey to reach net zero emissions and a climate resilient future. We are committed to a just transition to net-zero by 2045 and within this, decarbonisation of industry is ‘mission critical’.

It is clear that we cannot maintain the status quo if we want to reap the benefits that the transition to net zero holds.

The next Climate Change Plan will extend Scotland’s emissions reduction planning pathway to 2040 and include estimates of the costs and benefits of the policies to achieve this.

However, many of the key levers to bring about large-scale industrial emissions reductions are reserved to UK Government. For example, we remain bitterly disappointed that there is still no timetabled solution for when UK Government will confirm Track-2 of the Cluster Sequencing Programme, which adds further delay and impacts progress against our climate change commitments.

Ensuring a Just Transition to net-zero is equally important. As you will be aware, the Scottish Government is in the process of developing a Just Transition Plan for the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster and following its completion, we remain committed to evaluating that approach to understand what ways Just Transition planning can be adopted for other sites.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 July 2023. 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