Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has provided over £65 million to support the development of public EV charging across Scotland. As a direct result of this funding, and increasing private sector investment, Scotland met its target for 6,000 public charge points in October last year, two years ahead of schedule and Scotland now has almost 6,200 public EV charge points.

In June 2023 the Scottish Government published the Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network, highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. In December 2024 we published our draft Vision Implementation Plan that identifies proposed actions for delivering this Vision, as well as a route map for delivering approximately 24,000 additional public electric vehicle charge points by 2030, largely funded and delivered by the private sector.

The Scottish Government does not install EV charging, but it continues to support EV charging expansion through its £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund which supports Scotland’s local authorities to partner with the private sector to continue to expand public EV charging and, following approval of the Scottish Government’s budget for 2025-26 by this parliament, a further £5 million will be made available to support the provision of public EV charging in rural and island communities. Further details of this funding and the charging infrastructure it will support will be announced in due course.

The Memorandum of Understanding is a jointly drafted and agreed document between the Parole Board for Scotland (PBS) and Scottish Ministers. The MOU defines the relationship and interaction between Parole Board for Scotland and the Scottish Government.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 places a duty upon all local authorities to enforce the new parking prohibitions. It is for each local authority to determine how best to enforce these prohibitions in their area. Transport Scotland annually collates figures on income and expenditure and Penalty Charge Notices issued, which now includes pavement parking. The most recent report was published in December 2024 and can be found at the following link: Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE) Report 2023-2024 | Transport Scotland

This is an operational matter for Caledonian Sleeper Ltd (CSL).

CSL advises that it is taking a number of actions to promote its iconic services, which are fully booked for a growing proportion of the year. The Member may wish to contact CSL directly for more details.

There is no correlation between sportscotland’s voluntary severance scheme and the Changing the Boundaries report and independent referrals investigation.

The referrals process underlined the failings of the governing body over recent years, and Cricket Scotland, having fully accepted all actions and recommendations for improvement, is committed to delivering on those. We recognise the progress that has been made and sportscotland is providing continued support to Cricket Scotland to ensure the sport can move forward with confidence.

sportscotland is not making staff redundant. Their severance scheme is a voluntary scheme and it is an individual’s choice if they wish to apply. The scheme is intended to mitigate financial challenges facing the sector including the unprecedented levels of inflation experienced over the past 3-4 years, and the UK Government’s planned increase in employer national insurance contributions. The severance scheme will enable sportscotland to maximise the impact of investment in sport and physical activity.

The Scottish Government is greatly concerned by the UK Government’s planned increase in Employer National Insurance Contributions and the damaging implications for businesses, public services, and communities. We are calling on the UK Government to reverse the planned increase.

The Scottish Funding Council’s University Upskilling Fund was introduced in 2019. The total spend across the Fund’s operational period from 2019-2024 was £33,672,015.

The Scottish Government thanks the Scottish Human Rights Commission for their report on independent living in Scotland.

The safety of the rail network is a reserved matter under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998. The rail infrastructure in Scotland is owned and managed by Network Rail. The Scottish Government has fully funded Network Rail to meet its obligations as specified by the independent Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and Scottish Ministers expect Network Rail to manage the rail infrastructure in a manner which provides a safe and reliable railway for the people of Scotland.

Senior Officials from the ORR and the Managing Director of Network Rail Scotland have confirmed to senior officials at Transport Scotland that this matter is being addressed within Scotland, a point also reflected in the Chief Inspector’s recent letter to Network Rail on this matter:

“…..Scotland can substantiate a recovery of examinations and structural assessments within [2024-29]” Control Period 7, CP7.

The letter itself can be found here: Non-compliance with structure examinations - Letter to Network Rail dated 11 February 2025

This information is not collected centrally by the Scottish Government and is an operational matter for NHS National Services Scotland, National Services Division (NSD).

Gender reassignment surgeries, as a treatment option for assessed gender dysphoria, are highly specialised and are carried out within the framework of a four-nations contract managed by NHS England. This contract is managed on NHS Scotland’s behalf by NSD.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Member may wish to contact Caledonian Sleeper Ltd. directly.