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NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Tayside have concluded agreements to buyout the PFI car park contracts for the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, respectively. As a result, these car parks have now come under the direct control of the NHS and the Scottish Government’s policy of free hospital car parking for patients, staff and visitors will continue to apply.

Negotiations for NHS Lothian to buyout the PFI car park contract for the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh are at an advanced stage with an agreement expected to be reached in the coming months. Car parking charges there remain suspended as a result of an arrangement reached with the PFI operator in March 2020 and the Scottish Government does not expect them to be reintroduced.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-36237 on 24 March 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The answer refers to funding for low or zero carbon road transport. It does not cover funding for areas such as active travel.

Since 2016 we have awarded £12.3m of funding for low carbon transport projects through initiatives such as the Local Authority Installation Programme, Switched on Towns and Cities, Switched on Fleets and our Low Carbon Travel and Transport Programme. Funds have been awarded to Dundee City Council and other organisations across the public and private sectors, such as Xplore Dundee who were awarded £1.9m of funding this year through the Scottish Low Emission Bus Scheme (SULEBS) for the purchase of 12 ultra-low emission busses and the associated infrastructure.

Scottish Government is also working in partnership with the seven Scottish cities through the Scottish Cities Alliance (SCA) to support its decarbonisation ambitions. Dundee are working with Transport Scotland on the transport element of this transition, focused on the switchover to zero-emission city fleets and public transport. Scottish Government are working closely with all City partners, including Dundee, on a Funding and Investment Strategy for Net Zero.

The breakdown of funding since financial year 2015-2016 is as follows

2015-2016 - £214,715

2016-2017 - £202,871

2017-2018 - £73,455

2018-2019 - £1,995,736

2019-2020 - £6,761,349

2020-2021 - £3,053,353

Total - £12,301,479

We will continue to support opportunities to capitalise on these and future investments, growing the local and wider Scottish economy, creating quality and lasting employment opportunities across Scotland and supported by ongoing developments around the impressive and strategically important Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) site where innovation in low carbon transport solutions, particularly in hydrogen, is emerging as a speciality. This builds on £3 million of funding provided by Transport Scotland in 2019 to Dundee City Council to support hydrogen project activities.

Student support funding provided to further education students at Dundee and Angus College:

The Scottish Government has provided a total of £1,464,000 of active travel funding to Dundee City Council since April 2016. We are aware that the area has been in receipt of an additional £7,312,839 through Government funded active travel programmes delivered by partners.

The 2021-22 Scottish budget will deliver multiple benefits to the people of Dundee, and also to the wider community. These are split into several areas which are detailed below:

• The Local government settlement;
• Employability and skills funding;
• Towns regeneration;
• Tay cities region deal; and
• The Infrastructure investment plan.

The Local Government Settlement

In 2021-22, Dundee City Council will receive a total funding package of
‎ £342.3 million to support local services, which includes an extra £7.7 million to support vital day to day services, equivalent to an increase of 2.4 per cent compared to 2020-21.

To date, the council have been allocated an additional £41.8 million to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, through the local government settlement - over and above their regular grant payments.

Employability and skills funding

In building for a successful recovery and to ensure that no one is left behind there must be a heavy focus on employability and skills, and that investment in new jobs will be key. In 2021-22 we will invest more than £1bn to drive forward our national ambition for jobs and to equip our workforce with the future skills they need.

Our 2021-22 Scottish Budget allocation includes £125m for skills and employment support, including the Young Person’s Guarantee and the National Transition Training Fund, supporting those 25 and over back into work. Dundee will benefit proportionately from this funding to help people of all ages across the city to retain or re-enter work.

Towns regeneration

The Scottish Budget sets us on a path to establishing a new Place Based Investment Programme which will be backed by £325m capital over the next five years.

This will benefit towns and cities across Scotland, supporting place, community regeneration, town centres, and 20 minute neighbourhoods. It includes maintaining the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund as well as capital funding that will be allocated to each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities to invest locally in line with the above shared aspirations.

Tay cities region deal

The Budget also includes over £200m of funding for this year’s delivery of the City Region and Regional Growth Deals programme, including the Tay Cities Region Deal. Scottish Government has committed £150 million to the Tay Cities Deal over ten years.

In Dundee, this includes delivery of the cyberQuarter at Abertay University and the Biomedical Cluster at Dundee University, which will together receive up to‎ £31 million of SG funding through the Deal and aim to further enhance the city’s reputation for innovation.

Infrastructure investment plan

The Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26, published on 4 February, offers a robust pipeline of over £26 million of work that will help stimulate a green recovery and build market confidence.

The Plan included the following specific investments in Dundee:

• A proposed new East End Community Campus to replace Braeview Academy and Craigie High School as part of the £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme.
• A Community Custody Unit in Dundee (£11.6 million) as part of our
  ‎ £98 million of investment in the construction of the innovative new female custodial estate.

In addition, the new Infrastructure Investment Plan outlines a number of national programmes including £3.4 billion for affordable housing, our £600 million R100 broadband programme and over £550 million for active travel, all of which will also benefit people in Dundee.

(a) Scottish Government provides direct resource funding to the V&A Dundee, since 2016 this has been £7.9 million, which includes £1 million of emergency Covid-19 funding provided in 2020. Scottish Government also provided in total £37.6 million towards the project build. This was composed of £25 million in direct capital, £5.5 million of which was between 2016-18, and £12.6 million Growth Accelerator funding.

(b) the Dundee Rep Theatre does not receive direct support from Scottish Government, but support is allocated via Creative Scotland. The Dundee Rep has received 5 awards from Creative Scotland since 2016 (including Regular Funding) totalling just over £6.0 million. £480,000 of this was Covid-19 emergency funding from the Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund.

(c) Scottish Government does not usually provide direct support to other Dundee cultural and tourism organisations. Support is normally allocated via Creative Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland and Visit Scotland, and all funding decisions are made independently by these funding organisations. Figures provided by Creative Scotland show they have allocated over £11.6 million since 2016 to Dundee based projects and organisations. This includes £78,000 in Covid-19 emergency funding awarded through the Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund. Figures from Museums Galleries Scotland show that over £900,000 has been allocated by them to Dundee based museums since 2016, including £485,000 of Covid-19 emergency support through the Museums Recovery and Resilience Fund.

In addition, in 2020 the Scottish Government provided over £1 million in emergency Covid-19 funding to Dundee based cultural and tourism organisations, through a number of Covid-19 funding schemes. This includes £547,000 to creative industries and tourism and hospitality businesses from the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund, £318,000 through the Culture Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund, and £232,000 through the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund.

The Scottish Government is investing up to £63.8 million revenue funding in Dundee’s Waterfront, as part of the Growth Accelerator agreed with Dundee City Council. Under the Growth Accelerator model, funding will be paid over 25 years on the achievement of agreed metrics.

Scottish Enterprise has invested £32.6 million capital funding in the Dundee Central Waterfront, with £2 million having been provided within the period 2015-16 to‎ 2020-21. Within the same timeframe, Scottish Enterprise provided £58,333 revenue funding to the Dundee Waterfront Partnership and £22,705 for feasibility studies.

In addition, the Scottish Government provided a Regeneration Capital Grant Fund award of £1 million in 2016-17 towards the City Quay Project.

Funding in support of the V&A Dundee is detailed separately in response to‎ S5W-36252 on 22 March 2021 .

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Dundee City Council has received £999,000 in Scottish Government capital funding through the Town Centre Fund. The council received £735,000 from the initial 2019-20 fund, and a further £264,000 in 2020-21 as part of the Return to Work economic recovery stimulus package announced in June 2020 to support local construction and boost jobs.