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The SSI is also constrained by the current legislation.

As I said, it is more than that—there is the £18 million that has gone to the consortiums. Ayrshire and Glasgow have come together and a package was announced for that. In fact, we did that when the Scottish Government Cabinet met in Ayr, when I met all the partners that are involved. The funding has gone out. All that I am saying is that there is probably a remainder of funding to go out in this financial year. The majority of the £30 million has been issued and, as part of the proposals, there is leverage—on average, for every £1 of public investment, £3.20 of additional investment is generated from the private sector.

In terms of the deployment, I was in Inverness and announced the allocation for the Highland and north consortium, after which it would start deploying. Obviously, that involves working with partners to develop, implement and deliver the actual chargers.

In addition, you will know that private sector chargers are developing all over the place—for example, I officially opened the rapid charger in Dundee last year. The pace and rate are increasing. You will see that more in deployment next year, but the funding has gone out this year.

I am not quite sure how that applies to the 2025-26 budget, but my recollection is that, when you previously raised this issue with me, I wrote to you to explain that with regard to this year’s funding, which we have been discussing, and the allocation to the councils applying for the funding for EV charging, they had to set out how they were going to achieve the requirement for that standard.

I will look again at the letter that I sent to you and at the draft implementation plan that we issued last year to see whether that is clear enough. I did reply to you in writing after you raised the matter as a constituency issue, and I am happy to do so again to ensure that the requirements that are being made of the councils receiving funding are clear. I have to say that I thought that the letter that I sent you made it quite clear that there would be specific requirements with regard to the standards, particularly in relation to the regulations that you have talked about.

I do not think that we will be in that position, but I would rather take the advice from the Climate Change Committee. Part of what we are intending to do is to see what it says in relation to that. I think that we would need to make more progress. I do not think that progress is at the level that it needs to be to make the shift. We are making progress, but we need to identify how we best do that.

Again, I come back to the point about having more reliable public transport for people to use. That is the incentive for people to make the shift, as well as availability, which is one of the key areas.

I know that the committee in its wider analysis is looking at how we tackle climate change and emissions. Reducing car use is important in that regard. However, let us put that into perspective. We know that fewer people are travelling by public transport as more of them are working from home. People choosing to not use their car one day out of five working days and using public transport instead is a 20 per cent change. In addition to having national plans, there is something around how we popularise the use of public transport and make it a real responsibility for individuals. We have to make it achievable for people.

As I have explained, there is £30 million going out this year, with an initial £5 million for rural and islands connectivity next year. As for what the phrase “appropriate measures” means, I think that you are right to pursue that question. We will identify how charging measures are being deployed, but I am afraid to say that, as far as the financial provisions are concerned, that is a level of detail that I do not have to hand today.

Indeed, some of the additional funding in this year’s budget is not for actual deployment, but for work within councils more generally.

Yes.

I point out that Lothian Buses is successfully in public ownership and is recognised as one of the best services—if not the best service—across the UK in its provision.

Unfortunately, because of the challenges we had on funding during the last year, we were not able to progress the community bus fund, due to the fact that it would have been for new, additional work that was not already legally contracted.

On where the budget lies, generally we have more pressures on our resource budget than on our capital budget. The bus infrastructure fund will help to reintroduce support that local authorities are asking for on bus infrastructure and I want to try to be as flexible as I can to help support those things for which the community bus fund would have been used. I will give you an example—although, I am not saying this is how it would be used. Highland Council has purchased a limited number of buses for a limited number of routes in relation to Inverness—I am not sure whether it was the community bus fund that Highland Council used for that. However, that is one use of it.

There is a lot of focus on Glasgow and Strathclyde and the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport in particular, but all the regional transport partnerships are looking at what suits them; for example, SWestrans is looking at what the south-west of Scotland’s needs are.

I will try to be brief. Although we have had to pause—I used that phrase deliberately last year—the bus priority fund, there will be funding for buses that can be used for infrastructure and for what the community bus fund would have been used for. I am not currently in a position to tell you what that is, but that is what I will try to do with the budget for 2025-26.

Which figures are you referring to as having doubled?

This is basic economics, I suppose—it is finance. Even if you had the same numbers of passengers, you would still accrue the subsidy level each and every year thereafter. It is a substantial amount to subsidise passengers. It is a good and popular policy. We are not seeking to remove it unless that is a recommendation of the committee, but I sincerely hope that it is not.