Seòmar agus comataidhean

By way of an update against the progress of the Aberdeen to Central belt rail project:-

(a) £1.68 million has been spent on this project to date.

(b) This funding has been used i) to identify the signalling and infrastructure interventions that enable the required capacity enhancements and journey time savings, and ii) on commencing the sifting process to select the options that, within the budget, will achieve the maximum benefits.

(c) the remaining amount of £198.32 million will be spent on delivering the enhancements that are identified at the option selection stage as providing the maximum benefits for the north east.

and (d) journey times savings achieved between Dundee and Aberdeen up to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic equated to an average of three minutes northbound and four minutes southbound.

The provisional findings of an independent review of governance arrangements for Scottish Government lifeline ferry services are scheduled to be delivered around the end of the year. We will take time to fully consider the output of the report including further engagement with key stakeholders if necessary to reach the appropriate decision for our island communities.

Transport Scotland has undertaken analysis of the emissions produced by the Scottish Government's ferries fleet which identified areas where progress can be made quickly to reduce emissions using the technology commercially available at this time. This includes the Small Vessel Replacement Programme that will see up to seven vessels replaced with low/zero emission vessels in Phase 1 of the programme.

As part of the Islands Connectivity Plan, we will explore and consult on pathways to zero/low emission ferry transport, learning from experience in other countries and on other modes. Our Climate Change Plan Update 2020 includes a commitment that 30% of the Government owned ferry fleet will consist of low or zero emission vessels by 2032.

The Scottish Government has and will provide funding to support the chartering of suitable vessels to assist resilience on our ferry networks, as demonstrated by the current charter of MV Arrow by CalMac Ferries Ltd.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) and CalMac Ferries Ltd continually search the market for suitable second-hand tonnage.

Transport Scotland is aware of the ferry services model in British Columbia, Canada. This will be included as part of international benchmarking element of the ongoing review of tripartite arrangements in place in Scotland.

Through our membership of the Energy Skills Alliance, we are working collaboratively with the industry, trade bodies and unions to ensure the right skills and training are in place to protect and create jobs as we become a net-zero economy. Our Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan puts knowledge and skills at the heart of a systematic approach to retaining skills and expertise as we transition to becoming a net-zero economy and, this year, the first wave of our £100 million Green Jobs Fund got under way.

In 2020 we launched our £62 million Energy Transition Fund to support the oil, gas and energy sectors grow and diversify, accelerating its transition to net-zero emissions. Fair Work principles are being applied across projects funded by the Energy Transition Fund, supporting the creation of green jobs and training individuals with the skills they need to ensure a just transition to net-zero that puts people’s wellbeing at the heart of our net-zero economy. By capitalising on our strengths in energy, innovation, and our skilled workforce, Scotland can show the rest of the world how it’s done – and ensure our people, businesses and communities are at the forefront of our new green economy.

We have also introduced the National Transition Training Fund (NTTF) to support individuals at risk of Covid-19 related redundancy to move into new industries. A number of colleges are delivering courses to support the transition to net zero. In the coming weeks we will set out how NTTF will continue to address the impact of Covid-19, but also take account of the impacts of EU exit, and support upskilling or retraining for the transition to net zero.

We will also invest an additional £500 million over the next parliament to support new jobs and reskill people for the jobs of the future.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the annual spend for oil and gas workers specifically for net zero training. However the Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund (TTF) ran from 2016 to 2019 to help workers affected by site closures to re-skill and retrain to find employment. The total spend against the fund is listed in the following table:

(i) I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01431 on 4 August 2021. 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

(ii) The number of new build completions in Scotland fitted with heat pumps from 2016-2020 are as follows:

• Houses: 6,950
• Flats: 820

Source: Management information as extracted from the EPC database (December 2020, 2020 data accessed July 2021), published and available at statistics.gov.scot : Domestic Energy Performance Certificates - Dataset to Q4 2020

Data on the number of heat pumps in Scotland can be found on page 27 of the ‘Renewable Heat in Scotland, 2019’ report, which was published in October 2020: Renewable-Heat-in-Scotland-2019_new.pdf (energysavingtrust.org.uk) . The report states that there are, as of 2019, 17,140 heat pumps in Scotland. The next report is due to be released in October 2021.

While the regulation of consumer protection is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government supports this right for consumers in relation to faulty goods. It provides clarity to businesses about their obligations to their consumers and helps businesses to ensure that any complaints are handled quickly and easily. The UK Government published an Impact Assessment in January 2014 which estimated the net annual cost to UK businesses at £2.78m. No separate impact assessment was carried out for Scotland.