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In terms of the scoping of that, I am happy to take advice from the committee. There is a range of things that can be looked at. That can best be done on a four-nations basis. I am not going to prejudice those discussions by speculating.

Every country in the world will have to look at the issue, so how can it best be done? We need to look at not only a budget replacement mechanism. We also need to look at how you replace fuel duty in a way that helps to invest in public transport or whatever.

When it comes to transport procurement, everyone will be aware that there are issues around what we can do in allocating procurement and ensuring subsidy control. It is part of the UK requirements that we must ensure that competition law is recognised and met. I am well aware that the member has a keen constituency interest in the ScotZEB programme. He will be aware that Alexander Dennis has received, by a clear margin, the highest number of allocations of any company in that area. As part of ScotZEB 2, as you identified, it is working on 44 zero-emissions double-decker buses as part of the successful consortium led by Zenobe.

In relation to ScotZEB 2, it is not correct to say that the rest of the buses are being produced in China. An additional 28 zero-emissions single-decker buses were originally going to be allocated to Alexander Dennis, but there was an issue around delivery to do with the lifespan of ScotZEB 2, so Volvo is producing those buses. They will not be made in China.

As to what can be done, there is still a desire by companies to expand their zero-emissions fleet. With ScotZEB, we have looked at—I am sure that the member will be very familiar with this—how we can crowd in private funding and use leasing to generate increased funding. That has grown, so we are encouraging bidders that were unsuccessful in the most recent round of bidding to work with interested funders to procure additional fleet. In that way, the private funding mechanism that we helped to develop and innovate as part of ScotZEB will be able to continue, regardless of the public funding that is available in that area. That is increasingly important. We are learning from that for heavy goods vehicles, which is an even more challenging area than buses. From next year, there will be funding available to identify how we can help with that.

With regard to fair work practices and how we can police a consortium that has submitted a bid, there is a degree to which we can do that, but the measures that we can take are constrained by the subsidy control regime. I am very supportive of investment in manufacturing in Scotland. I hope to visit Alexander Dennis at some point soon, at its invitation. Alexander Dennis is benefiting from ScotZEB 2, although it might not be doing so to the extent that some people would want. Companies such as Volvo have also received work through ScotZEB 2. Can we prevent people from procuring from companies outside Scotland? It is increasingly difficult.

Alison Irvine might have more to say on that.

The freight facilities grant is a bigger amount. When I have been talking to industry—

I absolutely agree with that in relation to what we can do. We want to try to achieve that as best we can within the legislative constraints in which we must operate, particularly in relation to subsidy control. That is why, as you will be aware, there has been a substantial investment on the economic side of things in order to help to promote that and, in particular to support Alexander Dennis in the development of its capacity to meet new markets as part of transition. The point is that that is part of what the market needs and that includes moving into coaches. Again, it is about how we help to develop the capacity to deal with the new demands that the market requires.

We need to determine what the market can deliver, and then identify how to get best value.

Let us see what the market comes back with.

The work that is being done, particularly in the Aberdeen area, continues to develop the scope of that £200 million investment in enhancements. The options selection process for the project concluded in 2023. The final package selected comprises signal enhancements, improvements to station layouts at Dundee, Aberdeen, Arbroath and Montrose, and specific capacity alternations including freight loops to facilitate the mixed operation of faster and slower trains on the same route.

On the challenges, you referred to a position in 2016. For a variety of reasons that I have relayed, involving the Scottish Government’s overall financial challenge, particularly with the capital reductions from the previous UK Government, some of the realisation of those rail investments will not have been made at the speed that we would have liked. However, as I said, that is the most up-to-date position that I can reflect on.

I know that the deputy convener has a lot of experience; he might reflect that it could be difficult for me to identify publicly some of the challenges. Discussions are on-going. I want to respect that space so that we can have those on-going discussions.

I can tell you that £4 million has been paid out generally to local authorities, and there is £18 million this year.

There are improvements and changes. We have talked about the fleet replacement, which is important in terms of that north-east investment. We have talked about the selection process, which has concluded and has identified improvements there. However, on project timelines, I think that it was said in January 2024 that the timescale for the delivery of the commitment to deliver journey time improvements and increase capacity between Aberdeen and the central belt was under review. The position is the same as it was a year ago, so it is not a new reflection that there are challenges in the timescales. That was reflected to the committee in 2024. I cannot remember whether you were a member of this committee a year ago, so I apologise if that is news to you.