Seòmar agus comataidhean

Further to the answer to question S6W-24362 on 22 January 2024 the Scottish Government continues to engage with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) on the implications of the budget decision. SPT was the only regional transport partnership which received direct general capital support budget allocation, in previous budgets funded through the Local Government Finance settlement Regional Transport Partnerships line.

The UK Autumn Statement was a worst-case scenario for Scotland and confirmed that the Scottish Government Capital Block Grant is forecast to contract by almost 10% in real terms over 5 years (2023-24 to 2027-28). This required very difficult decisions across all portfolios.

Scottish Government was not able to undertake consultation with SPT in advance of publication, and I recognise the disappointment in this, however, you will appreciate the detail of the draft Scottish Budget cannot be discussed out with Government, until Parliament is informed when the Deputy First Minister makes her statement.

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 .

The responsibility for the balancing of grid lies with the National Grid Electricity System Operator and wider system integration costs are set by the regulator, Ofgem. This data is not held by the Scottish Government.

Although the Scottish Government has not made an assessment of this, evidence from the Climate Change Committee suggests that integration costs could be around £10- 25/MWh for systems with up to 50-65% renewables but could increase further at higher penetrations. However, as the Committee on Climate Change note, it is challenging to estimate system integration costs and extensive assumptions are required to do so. Estimates of system integration costs are largely reliant on modelling. More details can be found here: Technical-Annex-Integrating-variable-renewables-into-the-UK-electricity-system.pdf (theccc.org.uk) .

The Scottish Household Survey costs in the following table cover both the social survey (approximately 10,500 households interviewed per year) and the physical survey (approximately 3,000 residential properties inspected per year). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 3,000 households were interviewed for the 2020 social survey, and the 2020 and 2021 social surveys were carried out by telephone rather than by the usual face-to-face method. There was no 2020 physical survey, and the 2021 physical survey inspections were external only, with information on internal aspects of the property collected from the householder by telephone.

The Scottish Government cannot direct the independent Scottish Housing Regulator to publish the daily rate of each person on its statutory managers list and, as such, will not be requesting that they do so.

Local authorities are responsible for the management of local roads and paths in their area, including design of low traffic neighbourhoods. The Scottish Government has provided guidance for these within the National Planning Framework , the “ Our Place ” website and Cycling by Design guidance.

As of January 2024:

• 25 Single Building Assessments have commenced. This includes one development where the Fire Risk Assessment of the External Wall (FRAEW) has been completed and the development remediated.
• 3 where an SBA has not yet been commissioned but pre-assessment discussions have been held with factors and agreement secured that an SBA will be commenced through the direct procurement pathway.

In September 2023, the Scottish Government launched the Community Bus Fund which supports local transport authorities to explore the options in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 ("the 2019 Act") and improve public transport in their areas.

In 2023-2024 the Community Bus Fund made available £750,000 of resource funding for pathfinder projects, being developed by local authorities and regional transport partnerships. This funding was intended to support initial feasibility and preparatory work required for the 2019 Act, including franchising, partnerships and local authority run services. A further £5 million of capital funding in 2023-24 was allocated through the General Capital Grant to local authorities to improve bus services.

While the Scottish Government encourages local transport authorities to consider the full range of tools available to them under the 2019 Act, it is for them to determine what is best to address any transport challenges according to their local needs.

The Scottish Government approach to the bus powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 ("the 2019 Act") is to empower local transport authorities with flexible tools to enable them to determine what is best to address any transport challenges according to their local needs. Local transport authorities are encouraged to consider the full powers available to them, including partnership work, franchising and local authority run services which sit alongside their ability to subsidise services.

Through the Community Bus Fund we have provided funding to support local transport authorities to explore the options for bus services set out in the 2019 Act and improve public transport in their areas. More details are provided in the answer to question to S6W-24668 on 2 February 2024. 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 .

In addition on 29 January, Transport Scotland officials published an overview of the bus powers available to local transport authorities, which provides an outline of all the powers available to them, and the opportunities they provide to improve local services. The document is available on the Transport Scotland website. Officials continue to engage with local transport authorities and other key stakeholders on the development of detailed guidance to help in their consideration of the franchising and partnership powers. This guidance will be available later this year.

Scotland’s Heat Network Fund (SHNF) and the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) has to date provided over £62 million to support the roll out of several heat networks across Scotland. The SHNF also offers funding to specifically support the extension of heat networks. All projects are encouraged to use our funding to establish heat networks that are futureproofed and have capacity for expansion. SHNF is currently supporting the extension of the Torry Heat Network. Phase 1 of the project received grant funding from the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) and will complete this year. Phase 2 will see the network increase its connections by 587 homes and various non-domestic buildings. In addition, West Dunbartonshire Council also received LCITP grant support to deliver the Queen’s Quay heat network which has been constructed with the intention to extend to further buildings in the area.

Although projects funded through LCITP and SHNF have the potential for expansion, many projects are currently in the early stages of multi-year construction programmes and any future expansion is dependent on the heat network owners.

We are also resourcing all local authorities to produce Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies, and these identify many heat network opportunities across Scotland. This is the vital first step in the expansion of heat networks, and we will work with our partners in local government to undertake further economic analysis to provide a clear pipeline of commercial heat network projects.

In an extremely challenging financial climate, and following a worst case scenario UK Autumn Statement in which UK Ministers prioritised tax cuts over public spending, we have had to take difficult decisions in setting this budget. The amount Scotland has available to spend is still largely driven by the block grant, which is derived from the UK Government's spending decisions and continuing constraint on public expenditure. The block grant has fallen by 1.2% in real terms since 2022-23 and, because of the UK Government's failure to inflation-proof capital budgets, our capital spending power is due to contract by almost 10% in real terms over 5 years.

Despite this, I am pleased that this Government has committed £4.7 billion in capital and resource in 2024-25 for activities that will have a positive impact on delivery of our climate change goals, and funding of almost £3.9 billion for transport across Scotland. The total budget for my portfolio increases by £47.7 million in 2024-25, which is a £27.9 million (0.6%) reduction in real terms using GDP deflators published in November 2023.

A significant proportion of the expenditure in my portfolio is legally and contractually committed, and I have ensured that those commitments are met in full in this budget as well as allocating funding to support critical maintenance and renewal expenditure to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to a safe and reliable transport system.

I have considered equalities and fairer Scotland duties and progress towards our statutory targets for climate change and child poverty in prioritising the budget available to me. I refer to the Equalities and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement and Carbon Assessment published alongside this budget.