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As part of the transition to a public ownership of ScotRail, there was a continuation of four existing Abellio contracts. This was necessary to ensure consistency of service for passengers and facilitate a smooth transition. These four Abellio contracts are for 1) Shared Services Centre, 2) Bus Service link between Central, Queen Street and Buchanan Street, 3) Rail Replacement and 4) the Management of Station Tenancy and Advertising Management.

One of these contracts is now operating in-house within ScotRail with the remaining three being at various stages of procurement for replacement contracts.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that that this information is not held by the Registers of Scotland.

In order to establish the position for titles held in the Register of Sasines, an inspection of individual search sheets and deeds would be required, along with company searches to establish that the company was not registered in the United Kingdom.

These titles will move to the Land Register on the occurrence of a trigger event (such as transfer or long lease) or via a voluntary registration application made by the owner.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to improving the A96 and the current plan is to fully dual the route. We continue to push forward the transparent evidence-based review of the corridor that is currently being undertaken with outcomes from this expected to be ready for consultation this summer.

By the end of May 2023, there were 67,615 cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme in Glasgow. This represents 67% of the estimated eligible population in the local authority area.

Cardholder data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO) and is provided by local authority. As such, data is not available by constituency area. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile app.

In March 2022, the Child Poverty Action Group reported that free bus travel can save a total of £3,000 in the lifetime cost of a child in Scotland, compared to those living in England.

The Scottish Government’s Hydrogen Policy Statement sets out Scotland’s ambition to become a leading hydrogen nation, with an expectation that both battery electric and hydrogen systems assist in decarbonising transport in Scotland.

£3.5m Scottish Government funding was provided to convert a Class 314 train to a hydrogen fuel cell train in collaboration with St Andrews University and Scottish Enterprise which was displayed during COP26 in 2021, with trials on the track taking place during 2022. This also developed a local supply chain knowledge to support longer term zero emission fleets introduction.

Transport Scotland has also commissioned a study which is in the early stages of delivery, on multimodal refuelling stations.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18527 on 15 June 2023. 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

ChargePlace Scotland’s assets are owned by 400 separate organisations across the public, private and third sectors. These organisations are responsible for commercial decisions relating to their own charge point assets.

Transport Scotland are currently supporting Local Authorities to develop plans that will enable them to work with the private sector to invest in public charging across Scotland.

Circularity Scotland are a private limited company, Scottish Government do not hold records of Circularity Scotland and the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs discussions regarding DRS. However, we are aware that Circularity Scotland have written directly to Defra on a number of occasions regarding the Deposit Return Scheme.

The Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland consulted several organisations including Disability Equality Scotland and Inclusion Scotland in the process of assessing the potential impacts of the Deposit Return Scheme. This was accounted for in the Final Equality Impact Assessment, published in March 2020 and available at A Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland : Final Equality Impact Assessment (www.gov.scot).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18527 on 15 June 2023. 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