Chamber and committees

The 20% Reduction in Car Km Route Map published on 13 January 2022 for consultation, outlines the approach to meeting this commitment.

The route map lists over 30 interventions we are taking forward across all parts of government to support the reduction in car use.

The Scottish Government has invested over £50m in the ChargePlace Scotland Network that now has over 2,300 publicly available electric vehicle chargepoints, alongside supporting homes and businesses to install almost 20,000 chargepoints. A range of factors will influence chargepoint numbers for the years in question – and this will be determined by both public and private investment.

Our focus is on making sure that the public charging network builds on the benefits of ChargePlace Scotland, which includes maintaining comprehensive coverage across all parts of Scotland. To that end, our recently announced £60m EV Infrastructure Fund will at least double the size of the public charging network over the next four years. This is over and above the commercial investment in chargepoints now taking place across Scotland.

In December 2020 the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland published the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) setting out the actions required to ensure Scotland’s workforce are equipped with the skills to support the transition to net zero.

The Scottish Government and its skills agencies will continue to work with the manufacturing sector, including traditional textile manufacturing, to ensure that employers and workers have the skills needed to address the challenges and benefit from the opportunities of a low carbon and circular economy.

In June 2022 we launched our £2m Circular Textiles Fund to improve the circularity of textiles in Scotland through innovation, and implementation, to help tackle the environmental impacts that textiles have.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10341 on 20 September 2022. 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

Scotland’s wool industry is covered by the British Wool Board which is a Public Non-Financial Corporation who have regional offices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is a cross-border public authority with ministers in all 4 administrations having limited sponsorship functions. British Wool is a farmers’ co-operative who presently represent the interests of around 40,000 producer members, they collect, grade and sell wool on behalf of registered producers aiming to maximise income for producers from the sale of wool.

In addition its established shearers training programme is successfully tackling skills shortages in the UK and reducing reliance on shearers from abroad.

A review of the British Wool Board is presently being undertaken.

The recent Waste Route Map consultation sets out tangible actions the Scottish Government and others must take to accelerate progress on recycling, and the tools we will put in place to enable everyone to play their part.

Additionally we are reviewing the Household Recycling Charter’s Code of Practice. The review will ensure that the Charter and Code of Practice aligns with Scotland’s new deposit return scheme and continue to drive further consistency across Scotland’s recycling services. The Recycling Improvement Fund is also leading to improvements in recycling collection infrastructure. For example, it has enabled Fife Council to become the first local authority in Scotland to sort and separate locally the plastic films it collects for recycling

Through the Recycling Improvement Fund, over £23m has been awarded to 15 local authorities to increase the quantity and quality of recycling, marking the beginning of one of the biggest investments in recycling in Scotland in a generation.

Vaccine safety is of the utmost importance and we continue to follow the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) guidance. All vaccines available in Scotland have been approved by the MHRA as safe and effective.

The MHRA operates the Yellow Card scheme which collects and monitors information on suspected concerns or incidents involving vaccines and publishes a summary of this online.

Scotland already has the UK’s second highest number of public charge points outside of London, and the most rapid charge points anywhere in the UK. The figure of 30,000 charge points has been inferred from a Climate Change Committee report published in December 2020. It is difficult to determine with certainty how many public charge points will be required as this will be influenced by factors such as developments in battery range or charging speeds. Scotland's network of charge points must also reflect Scotland's unique geography and policies, which include our focus on public transport, active travel and reducing our dependence on cars.

The vision for public charge points in Scotland, published on 26 January 2022, also recognises the importance of private sector investment. Our charging Infrastructure Fund will bring together £60m of public and private investment so that no part of Scotland is left behind as we move to an electric future.

Scotland is one of the few countries to publish annual reports setting out consumption-based emissions, including those associated with imported textiles, in the “Scotland’s Carbon Footprint” official statistics release [available at: www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-carbon-footprint-1998-2018/ ]. We recognise the inherently global nature of climate change and the necessity of co-ordinated international action and our transition to a circular economy.

Embodied emissions in imported textiles peaked in 2007 at an estimated 2.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO 2 e). In the latest year (2018) these emissions were estimated to have fallen to a level of 1.0 MtCO 2 e. Textile production in the Middle-East and China were the largest contributors.

In June 2022 we launched our £2m Circular Textiles Fund, to support businesses working in this sector to address issues associated with textile waste and throwaway culture.

The Scottish Government is providing over £30 million this financial year to accelerate the shift to zero emission transport. This includes support for zero emission community transport and car clubs in addition to funding interest free loans for electric vehicles. Electric vehicle chargepoint grants are also available to homeowners and businesses in rural and island areas, where installation costs are often higher. This approach is designed to target those who need the most financial help to make the switch to zero emission transport.

Later this year, we will be introducing legislation to ensure all new buildings with parking, whether that be a new home or local community centre, are EV enabled, future-proofing Scotland's buildings as we transition to a net zero transport system.