Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the grade separation of Sheriffhall roundabout, as part of its £300 million commitment to the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

Following publication of the draft Orders and Environmental Statement, Transport Scotland received a significant number of objections to the proposed scheme. Although Transport Scotland engaged widely with objectors, it was unable to resolve all objections. In view of this, a Public Local Inquiry was held from 31 January to 8 February 2023. As with all trunk road projects this is the appropriate statutory forum for considering objections received and not withdrawn. The independent Reporter has now presented their recommendations to the Scottish Ministers and this is under active consideration.

Construction of the proposed scheme can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory authorisation process and thereafter a timetable for its progress can be set.

Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science is responsible for developing and implementing the National Upskilling Plan for computing science teachers. The National Upskilling pilot developed over 6 hours of high-quality upskilling material with 71 teachers registering from 27 councils and 50 education authority schools and 11 independent schools. On average, 30 teachers participated in the live workshops with evaluation feedback showing many participants reporting increased confidence and understanding. Utilising feedback from the pilot, the second iteration of the Upskilling Programme was expanded to include upskilling at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher level and is currently being completed and will be evaluated as part of this next phase of work. STACS will continue to evaluate future phases of the Upskilling Programme.

The Scottish Government’s procurement rules exist to ensure funds are spent in a way that delivers the most benefit to society. These rules apply across all Scottish Government grants and we have had no discussions about potentially changing them.

We are however discussing with CRT other ways in which they can best support community organisations where these meet the regeneration outcomes and conditions of its existing grant award. Officials have also asked CRT to examine alternative routes for future funding of community organisations.

It is for CalMac as the operator to assess the impact on services and advise Transport Scotland. The impact on the performance regime will be monitored in line with the contract.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.

Currently the Scottish Government has no evidence to support a new Allander rail station.

East Dunbartonshire Council undertook a transport appraisal in 2018 for the A81 corridor which concluded none of the rail options offered sufficient value for money. My officials at Transport Scotland engaged extensively with East Dunbartonshire Council as part of the Council’s work to develop their Local Development Plan. This included providing advice to the Council on the transport appraisal required to justify any new strategic transport infrastructure, including rail stations.

We are not aware of East Dunbartonshire Council having any plans to revisit their transport appraisal work. However, if a robust business case is presented for rail proposals, such proposals will be considered by Transport Scotland, subject to Scottish Government’s priorities, our rail investment strategy, affordability and other competing priorities.

Funding was allocated to Local Authorities on behalf of 304 secondary schools for computing science hardware on a demand-led basis. Local Authorities distributed funding on behalf of the Scottish Government, with the total claimed at approximately £730,000.

The 2020 review of deer management by the Deer Working Group estimated that Scotland’s wild deer population was around one million deer. Deer, like other herbivores, can have a devastating impact on the environment through overgrazing, trampling vulnerable habitats and preventing young trees from growing.

The 2023 State of Nature report found that Scotland is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Our Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045 sets out to tackle the nature emergency and address the twin climate and biodiversity crises.

The evidence is clear that effective deer management is absolutely vital to our ability to address biodiversity loss. Our consultation, ‘Managing deer for climate and nature’ published on 5 January sets out our proposals for deer legislation which aims to support nature recovery.

All regulated procurements are conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Sustainable Procurement Duty and in accordance with guidance and good practice, including Scottish Procurement Policy Note 3/2022 which provides guidance to support taking account of climate and circular economy considerations in our procurement processes. The sustainable procurement duty within the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (the “Act”) requires public bodies to consider how they can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the authority’s area, and act in a way to secure improvements identified.

The Act requires authorities to outline in their Annual Procurement Strategy how procurement will deliver local environmental impacts and report progress in their Annual Procurement Reports.

We have developed our centrally-funded, Sustainable Procurement Tools (the “Tools”) to include Climate Literacy eLearning which is mandated for Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate staff.

Opportunities to build sustainability into all frameworks and contracts are identified at strategy stage and embedded throughout the procurement process, highlighting key opportunities which can be assessed as part of our tender evaluation and monitored through ongoing contract management. Environmental objectives include opportunities to reduce emissions, appropriate climate change adaption, use of materials, waste, bio security and bio diversity. Tenderers are also encouraged to offer community benefits which will help to support our climate change objectives and our journey to net zero.

According to a 2023 report commissioned by Transport Scotland as of December 2022, there were 182 rapid/ultra-rapid charge points (>50kW) located within 100 metres of the trunk road and motorway network. There are also a significant number of lower powered charge points (<50kW) within 100 metres as well as many more rapid/ultra-rapid charge points within a reasonable travel distance of the trunk road network.

The most recent UK Department for Transport EV charge point statistics published in January this year show that there are over 1,000 rapid/ultra-rapid charge points across Scotland’s public EV charging networks, representing 21.4 per 100k people and more than any other region of the UK. Rapid charge points like these are more likely to be close to the main road networks to provide ‘en-route charging’ for EV drivers.