Chamber and committees

The current UK railway legislation, which the Scottish Ministers have no power to change, requires that the Scottish Ministers produce a Franchising Policy Statement. Delays to the reform of the UK railway legislation continue to cause uncertainty on the way in which the provision of passenger rail services will be arranged in the future.

At this time, the Scottish Ministers do not plan to amend or replace the current Franchising Policy Statement, which was published by Transport Scotland in March 2021.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14100 on‎ 6 February 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

There are only five vehicles in the entire SG and wider SG agency fleet which would not comply, zero in Glasgow, two in Aberdeen and three in Edinburgh, out of a total fleet of 197 vehicles.

The Scottish Government's Used Electric Vehicle Loan provides interest free loans to help individuals and businesses make the transition to electric vehicles. Energy Saving Trust deliver this scheme on behalf of Scottish Minister, and publish loan statistics on their website, details of which can be found here: Grants and loans to help you travel greener - Energy Saving Trust .

As of 12 January, Energy Savings Trust have issued 624 loans to a value of £15,763,144 and have also offered an additional 398 loans worth £10,623,147. This represents a total commitment of £26,376,291 from a £30m budget for the 2022-23 financial year.

In line with our commitment to widening access to electric vehicles, the loan supports the purchase of used electric vehicles. Sectors such as Taxis and Private Hire may access the loan to purchase new vehicles, but no specific loan funding is set aside for new vehicles.

At this time Nitrous Oxide is not covered under the Misuse of Drugs Act, rather it is currently an offence under the reserved Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 to supply nitrous oxide if a person knows, or is reckless as to whether, it will be used for its psychoactive effect. Given the reserved nature of this legislation, the Scottish Government has not had any discussions with eBay, Amazon or any other retailer about the marketing or sale of nitrous oxide for recreational purposes. However, we have engaged heavily with the National Crime Agency and UK Government about the need for tackling the ease through which certain products can be bought online and used for criminal activity and will be responding to their current consultation about developing a new criminal offence around the supply or possession of articles used for serious crime, particularly pill presses. We would plan to engage with retailers about the impact of any new legislation.

The UK Government have requested that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs conduct an updated assessment of the health and social harms of nitrous oxide and, following that assessment, provide advice on whether nitrous oxide should be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Scottish Government officials are engaging with the ACMD around this review and have provided information to them in relation to it. The ACMD will explore, amongst other elements of Nitrous Oxide use, whether current regulations are having the desired effect of preventing the marketing and sale of nitrous oxide for recreational purposes and whether or not such an effect might be achieved by listing it under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

There are currently no plans to withdraw the Network Support Grant scheme and as such, no discussions on this topic have been held with SPT.

The Network Support Grant Plus scheme is a temporary scheme which is coming to an end on 31 March 2023. The Scottish Government, bus operators, local authorities and regional transport partnerships including SPT are continuing to collaborate through the Bus Taskforce to explore how to address the challenges of rising costs and driver shortages currently facing the bus industry.

The Scottish Government has had no recent discussions with the UK Government on these issues; I have, however, recently met with the Maritime Coastguard Agency regarding all aspects of their operations in Scotland.

Coastguard operations are matters reserved to the UK Government and the responsibility of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, reporting to the Secretary of State for Transport, are responsible for providing effective operations and the welfare of its workforce.

The Scottish Government expects the highest shipping safety and other regulatory standards around Scotland’s coasts and that coastguard staff welfare issues are afforded paramount importance in what is a sometimes hazardous line of employment.

The cost of closing facilities managed by National Museums of Scotland as a result of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action on 1 February 2023 is not currently estimated. This estimation would be carried out by National Museums of Scotland themselves rather than by Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has been working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) regarding diagnosis and support, providing funding of £650,000 for adult neurodevelopmental pathway pilots with four Health Boards - Fife, Borders, Lanarkshire and Highland.

The pilots ran for 12 months, starting in January 2022. The formal aspect of the pilots has now concluded but the work locally continues. The results of this work, including a final report, will be available early this year.

The Scottish Government will consider the report and explore what steps are required to ensure that everyone with a Neurodevelopmental difference, including ADHD, can access the diagnosis and support they require.

The Scottish Government provides investment to assist housing partners to deliver social and affordable homes. Over £327 million has been made available to Local Authority areas in the Highlands and Islands for the current parliamentary term. Local Authorities, through Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs), identify their housing priorities and use the Scottish Government funding to address housing need. Figures on actual homes completed, in 2021-22 and to the end of September 2022, are available on our webpages Affordable Housing Supply Programme: quarterly updates on completions - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Planned homes, for years 2023-24 to 2025-26 within the Highland, Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney SHIPs exceed 1,800, but a split between social and affordable homes on some projects are unlikely to be determined, so accurate figures are not available. SHIPs are published documents and should be available on local authorities’ webpages.