Chamber and committees

Since 2011, Transport Scotland has invested over £65 million on behalf of Scottish Ministers to support the installation of public EV charge points across Scotland as part of the ChargePlace Scotland public EV charging network. As a direct result, Scotland has the best provision of public charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region.

Last year, the Scottish Government published Vision for world class public electric vehicle charging network | Transport Scotland , highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. Through the £30m EV Infrastructure Fund we are supporting local authorities across Scotland to work with the private sector to leverage an additional £30m of private investment to continue to grow the provision of EV charging in Scotland at pace and scale.

Since 2021, 1,232 additional public EV charge points have been added to the Scottish Government funded ChargePlace Scotland network. We do not hold information relating to any other public electric vehicle charging networks.

Since 2021 a total of 15,615 EV charge points have been supported through Scottish Government grant funding for fleet, business, third sector and domestic charge point installations.

As set out in the 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government is committed to “Introduce a Natural Environment Bill, putting in place key legislative changes and statutory targets to restore and protect nature” before the end of the current parliamentary term.

Future legislative programmes will be announced in relevant Programmes for Government in the usual way. Meantime, we continue to take action to deliver nature restoration through, for example, our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund, which has already committed nearly £40 million since 2021.

We will set out the high-level principles of ADT, including how it will support emissions reductions in due course.

We are continuing to engage with Vestas around potential investment into Scotland. Most recently, the First Minister met with the CEO of Vestas on 3 April 2024. Throughout our engagement with Vestas it has continued to emphasise its commitment to Scotland.

Our fast-growing offshore wind industry provides us with significant opportunities to attract inward investment, generate green jobs and grow our regional and national economies.

We are taking a “Team Scotland” approach across the public sector when engaging with companies such as Vestas to ensure we maximise investment opportunities.

And we are investing up to £500 million over 5 years to anchor the offshore wind supply chain in Scotland and maximise the economic benefits the sector can bring.

On 18 April, I made a statement to the Scottish Parliament with new measures aimed at accelerating Scotland’s journey to net zero. These included a commitment to explore how partial rewetting of peat soils might help to further reduce carbon emissions alongside our existing commitment to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded peat by 2030. We will work with farmers, crofters and other land managers to understand the scope for such an approach in Scotland, its costs and benefits, and how it could be part of future agricultural support from 2026 onwards. Further details of any pilot scheme will be available in due course.

Raising awareness of all cancers, including bowel, remains a priority for the Scottish Government. We published our Cancer Strategy for Scotland Cancer strategy 2023 to 2033 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) along with an initial three year Cancer action plan 2023 to 2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

A new Earlier Cancer Diagnosis Vision was developed as part of the new strategy. The vision has a focus on reducing the health inequalities gap and raising awareness of cancer symptoms, particularly for those from areas of deprivation.

We know that the earlier cancer is diagnosed the easier it is to treat and even cure which is why we continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme.

Wildfires typically require a significant emergency response and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, as part of its new wildfire strategy, is in the process of providing a package of specialised vehicles including All-Terrain Vehicles, additional 4x4 vehicles and logistical support units. Additionally, a large amount of new equipment has been provided to support crews as they respond to these types of incidents as part of its wildfire strategy. Crews are also supported by wildfire tactical advisors from around Scotland.

Land managers are alert to the risks of wildfire in the Cairngorms National Park which can occur throughout the year. There is a large pool of people across the Cairngorms National Park who are expert in fighting fires and are well equipped and trained to do so. There are good communications between land managers and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Land managers also take preventative action to prevent fires from occurring through patrols and signage at periods of high fire risk.

The Park Authority Ranger Service plays an important role in patrolling, visitor management and fire prevention through educating the public. The Park Authority is developing an integrated wildfire management plan to improve measures around wildfire prevention and response to any wildfires.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority recently consulted on fire management and the potential requirement for byelaws in the Cairngorms National Park as part of the measures to help control the risk of wildfire. Responses to this consultation are now being analysed.

Further to the response in S6W-26724 which noted that the Scottish Government is reviewing the Competition & Markets Authority’s ‘Housing Markets Study’ published on 28 February 2024, a full response to relevant recommendations and options put forward by the Authority will be issued when the review process is complete.

Throughout the public consultation and in reaching the decision to close fishing for sandeel in all Scottish waters, the Scottish Government recognised the importance of potential wider environmental and ecosystem benefits, which included potential benefits to sandeel, seabirds, marine mammals, and other fish species.

There are currently no plans to conduct an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of fishing for sandeel in Scottish waters on seabird populations, including Atlantic puffin, as these measures only came into force on 26 March 2024. However, there are several monitoring and research programmes in place that can add to the evidence base in relation to potential impacts of closing fishing for sandeel in Scottish waters, and which can be drawn on should such an assessment be undertaken in the future.

As outlined in the answer to question S6W-25522 on 11 March 2024 work is ongoing to consider how embodied/whole life carbon emission reporting might be addressed through building regulations or by other means. This work is outside the scope of our current energy standards review and delivery of a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard. 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 .