Chamber and committees

I can confirm that I have written to the Chief Constable to draw the attention of her and her colleagues to the recent range of questions lodged on the use of e-bikes and e-scooters.

The Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 governs the making and confirmation of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs). It sets out requirements relating to the issuing and publication of notices regarding the making of a CPO, its submission to Scottish Ministers for confirmation, opportunities to object to it, and as regards the decision on whether to confirm a CPO. Guidance on the process is contained in Circular 6/2011: Compulsory purchase orders: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-planning-series-planning-circular-6-2011-compulsory-purchase-orders/.

In addition, the Scottish Government publishes a register of CPOs submitted to the Scottish Ministers for confirmation since 2012, which is updated quarterly. The current register, published in December, includes CPOs received up until the end of October 2024: https://www.gov.scot/publications/compulsory-purchase-order-register/.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes a register of orders submitted to the Scottish Ministers for confirmation since 2012: https://www.gov.scot/publications/compulsory-purchase-order-register/. The current register, published in December, includes compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) received up to the end of October 2024. The register includes information on the time taken between receipt of a CPO by the Scottish Government and the decision as to whether the order is confirmed.

A number of steps typically precede a CPO being submitted for confirmation, including negotiation with affected landowners and preparation of the relevant documentation. These are matters for the relevant acquiring authority and are not included in the CPO register.

The number of cancelled operations under ‘non-clinical/capacity reasons’ is the most granular level of detail that’s provided from PHS’s website, breakdown as follows:

Scotland uses the ICD-10 classification for coding diagnoses. Public Health Scotland understand that no changes or updates for any codes in ICD-10 are planned, as work is currently focused on implementation of ICD-11, which in Scotland is likely to be around 2029-2030. It is also understood that there is currently no reference to e-bikes in ICD-11.

The Scottish Government is working towards our commitment to phase out petrol and diesel cars from our fleet and phase out the need for any new petrol and diesel light commercial vehicles.

The adoption of electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to replace internal combustion engine vehicles aligns with, and supports our decarbonisation policies and targets. Presently, 82% of our overall fleet are zero or ultra-low emission vehicles.

Feasibility studies have been conducted on all buildings owned by the Scottish Government to look at options for installing renewable energy and to improve the buildings fabric in line with net zero standards.

A breakdown of the fleet by total purchase cost by model is provided in the following table.

We do not have any current plans to replace these vehicles, however when the vehicles approach the end of their operational life, a vigorous assessment will be conducted by our fleet management team to identify suitable fit for purpose replacements available on the open market. This will include assessing electric and any other zero or ultra-low emission vehicles as potential replacements.

An individual business case, including socio-economic analysis, is prepared for each route being considered for decarbonisation. These business cases include technical and economic examinations of the case for of different types of rail traction including electric, bi-mode diesel-electric, battery-electric and other independently powered traction technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells have been considered.