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The Islands Connectivity Plan Strategic Approach paper and the updated Vessels and Ports Plan were published for public consultation on 1 February 2024.

One of the Priorities of the Plan is Low Carbon and ensuring that ferry services take action to reduce the negative environmental impact of their operations and help to achieve Scotland's net-zero targets.

The documents highlight that Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan sets a target that 30% of the Government (CMAL) owned fleet should be low or zero emission vessels by 2032 and that the successful delivery of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme will enable that goal to be met.

Following the public consultation period, the feedback received will be used to inform final versions of both documents by the end of 2024.

Freight transported by rail (whether hauled by diesel or electric locomotives) is an environmentally friendly mode of transport and a significant proportion of Scottish rail freight is already electrically-hauled. The Scottish Government’s leadership in support for rail freight is outlined in our rail freight strategy and put into practice with significant investment and through our regulatory rail freight growth targets.

We will carefully consider the report’s recommendations. The Scottish Government will continue to seek to maximise benefits for rail freight in its investments in the rail network, including in the refresh of the rail decarbonisation action plan highlighted by the Climate Change Committee.

The Scottish Government, working alongside the UK Government and the other devolved administrations, introduced the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes at the start of 2024. These schemes put legal obligations on car and van manufacturers to sell new zero emissions vehicles each year, ramping up to 80% of all new cars sold, and 70% of new vans, being zero emissions by 2030. At the same time, the schemes encourage car and van manufacturers to drive down the emissions of their new non-zero emissions car and van vehicles.

As set out in the Climate Change Committee’s 2023 report to parliament, decarbonisation of heavy-duty vehicle fleets in Scotland will depend on UK-wide markets. The Scottish Government continues to engage with its UK counterparts on regulatory approaches to the phase out dates for petrol and diesel heavy duty vehicles through the Inter-Ministerial Group on transport and associated official-level, UK-wide working groups that have recently been established on freight decarbonisation. The Scottish Government also participates in the UK Freight Energy Forum, which involves fleet operators, energy network operators and others on decarbonisation of the sector.

In 2022 the Scottish Government established the Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, which brought together key representatives from the logistics, manufacturing, energy and finance sectors to shape the pathway to the decarbonisation of Scotland’s road freight and logistics sector. The taskforce produced a Heavy Goods Vehicle Decarbonisation Pathway for Scotland, published on 19 March 2024 and is available on Transport Scotland’s website. That pathway and the evidence that supported it has been shared with counterparts in the UK Government to inform the regulatory options relating to zero emission heavy duty vehicles.

The Scottish Government will develop implementing actions to deliver our Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network in response to the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommendation.

The implementing actions will be developed in collaboration with key stakeholders who share responsibility for delivering public EV charging across Scotland to deliver the right charge points in the right locations to meet the needs of communities across Scotland, including rural and island communities.

It is important to clarify the difference between Bus services improvement partnerships (BSIPs) in the Scottish and UK context. BSIPs in Scotland are partnerships between local transport authorities and bus operators to improve bus services in their areas, and are equivalent to the UK Government’s Enhanced Partnerships.

In England a Bus Service Improvement Plan or BSIP is a public document prepared by every Local Transport Authority in England, outside London, which sets out the vision and plan for improving bus services and growing bus patronage in their local area, in line with the UK Government’s National Bus Strategy aims. The document referred to in the question is intended to provide guidance for these authorities in updating their BSIPs for 2024.

In Scotland, as stated in the recently published Fair Fares Review, Transport Scotland, working with local government, industry and other stakeholders, will develop a bus service improvement plan and delivery framework, over the next 18 months to improve the future availability of bus services across Scotland.

As the framework is still to be developed, the Scottish Government has not rejected any approach at this time. As we develop the framework we will consider actions taken in other parts of the UK, to determine the most appropriate approach for Scotland. This includes the UK Government’s National Bus Strategy and supporting documents, such as the one mentioned in the question.

Our 2023 Programme for Government included a commitment to publish a final version of the route map to achieving the 20% car kilometre reduction this year, and we look forward to publishing this in the coming months.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26609 on 17 April 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 .

The Fair Fares Review, published on 22 March 2024, considered the range of discounts and concessionary schemes which are available across all modes including bus, rail and ferry.

On bus travel, the Review maintains existing eligibility to the National Concessionary Travel Schemes for those groups who currently benefit, which comprise over 2.3 million people across Scotland – a higher percentage than anywhere else in the UK and commits to development of a proposal for a bus flat fares pilot for an area-based scheme to provide flat fares on bus travel, or reduced fares on zonal integrated travel for consideration in future budgets.

In addition, the Review has recommended that further policy development work be undertaken by the Scottish Government to consider better targeting of public funds towards supporting access to public transport for those who need it most, including consideration of concessionary travel support for those experiencing financial poverty.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26336 on‎ 11 April 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

The Scottish Government has invested over £65 million to support the installation of over 2,800 public EV charge points across Scotland as part of the ChargePlace Scotland(CPS) EV charging network. As a direct result, Scotland has over 4,880 public EV charge points and the best provision of public charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region in the UK.

Transport Scotland has also provided £5.7 million to support the installation of 18,861 domestic charge points and £10.8 million to support 1,432 higher powered workplace charge points, complementing the public network.

In addition, the Scottish Government published the Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network last year, highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. This work is being supported through the £60m EV Infrastructure Fund(EVIF), where we are supporting local authorities across Scotland to work with the private sector to lever in the private investment needed to develop the EV charging network in Scotland at the pace and scale required to meet future demands.