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The Scottish Government has no direct plans at present to extend the National Cycle Network (NCN) route 73. Sustrans manage the NCN in Scotland and have set out ambitions to improve and extend the NCN in their 2018 Paths for Everyone Document. The Scottish Government has funded Sustrans with £10.6 million in 2022-23 (increased from the £4 million award in 2021-22) to undertake this work.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) recommends creating new and improving existing active travel routes to connect Scotland’s cities, regions and major gateways, using high-quality active travel infrastructure that segregates users from busy roads, but makes use of quiet roads where appropriate. This will support long-distance active journeys, although it is anticipated that most benefit will arise from relatively short journey routes between or within the communities that the network would pass through.

The long-distance active travel network would enhance the existing National Cycle Network to create a strategic national network of active travel routes mirroring in part the Trunk Road and rail networks. The draft STPR2 report was published on 20 January this year for a three month consultation period. Feedback is now being considered and the final report is due later this year.

Programme for Government in 2016 and 2017 addressed potential transport issues in South West Scotland and extensive stakeholder engagement was undertaken to inform the South West Scotland Transport Study; the initial appraisal report was published in January 2020, and included 23 recommendations for consideration in STPR2, including one to develop the Strategic Active Travel Network in the South West of Scotland and better connect communities to key destinations with cycle paths parallel to trunk roads and improvements to the NCN. This intervention is currently subject to detailed appraisal as part of Phase 2 of STPR2.

The Scottish Government has welcomed the report from Environmental Standards Scotland. They requested some clarifications and made a number of recommendations on how processes relating to the enforcement of acoustic deterrent devices could be improved. They were content with Marine Scotland’s replies and the amendments made to procedures, and concluded that ESS had "no ongoing concerns."

Details of fish farm inspections relating to Acoustic Deterrent Devices will shortly be published on the Scottish Government website, all ESS recommendations will then have been addressed. Marine Scotland continue to monitor compliance with unannounced inspections.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10282 on‎ 26 August 2022. 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

As set out in our Part II consultation on the New Build Heat Standard (NBHS) ( New build heat standard consultation: part II - Scottish Government - Citizen Space ), the Scottish Government proposes that from 2024, new buildings must use zero direct emissions heating systems of the sort set out at section 2.2.1 of that consultation.

It is our intention for these regulations to be technology-neutral, to ensure developers have flexibility in achieving compliance.

The Scottish Government has previously commissioned research to establish the direct greenhouse gas emissions associated with all readily available low and zero direct emissions heating systems. A copy of this research is available here: Direct greenhouse gas emissions from low and zero carbon heating systems (climatexchange.org.uk)

Our Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project, published in June 2022, provided an analysis of the current scale of the existing workforce in Scotland trained to fit certain zero emission heating systems such as heat pumps. The report highlighted that there are no publicly available statistics regarding the total number of heat pump installers in the UK and Scotland, but estimated that there are around 500 trained heat pump installers currently active in Scotland, based on data from the Microrenewable Certification Scheme. The report highlights that other forms of zero direct emissions heating such as direct electric radiators can be installed by an electrician, without any specialist heating knowledge, and there were an estimated 22,000 electricians operating in Scotland in 2018.

Ultimately, sending employees on training courses to develop new skills is the responsibility of businesses in the supply chain and this will be guided by commercial drivers. However we have sought to support businesses by offering free heat pump training in Scottish colleges through our National Transition Training Fund, with over £470,000 funding to support over 500 college places since 2020. This support combined with our early signal of intent and consultation on the proposed NBHS standard has provided businesses with an opportunity to prepare their workforce for regulation.

There are no specific statutory minimum qualifications required to install zero direct emissions heating systems, however we have worked with industry to define the minimum skillsets and recommended minimum qualifications required to install a full spectrum of zero direct emission heating systems, and have published this as part of an Installer Skill Matrix .

We have worked to integrate this matrix into the certification schemes that underpin quality assurance in any public funded work, and we would encourage the private sector to also use this in any non-public funded works.

To date we have provided £164,700 capital investment in colleges in the North of Scotland for heat pump and thermal insulation training equipment, with further investment in the South of Scotland provided by the Scottish Power Green Economy Fund. According to the Energy Skills Partnership, there are currently 11 colleges in Scotland with capacity to train up to 120 heat pump engineers each month. Three new training facilities will come online later this year, taking capacity to 150 each month. We understand that this provision is capable of meeting existing levels of demand for training in the sector.

We are committed to working with the new build sector to ensure that our investment in skills and training matches the needs of the sector as demand grows in the future.

The Scottish Government is introducing the New Build Heat Standard from 2024 in direct response to the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change on how to meet the net zero legal obligations legislated for by the Scottish Parliament.

Within the 2019 UK housing: Fit for the future? publication, the Committee on Climate Change recommended that “from 2025 at the latest, no new homes should be connected to the gas grid. They should instead be heated through low carbon sources”. A copy of this report can be found here: UK housing: Fit for the future? - Climate Change Committee (theccc.org.uk)

In a subsequent letter to the UK Government , the CCC recommended that: “The full definition of the Future Homes Standard should be set now and legislated ahead of 2024 to give market certainty. Waiting until 2024 to legislate is likely to drive up compliance costs in the long run, given the history of the cancelled Zero Carbon Homes policy which left many investments stranded and weakened industry confidence. We also urge you to consider bringing forward the 2025 introduction date - we note that Scotland are due to introduce equivalent standards a year earlier.”

We initially announced our intention to regulate new build heating systems in September 2019, five years in advance of the regulations coming into force, and we are actively working with the construction sector to inform the development of these new regulations – including through establishment of an external working group, membership of which includes trade bodies representing Scottish and UK house builders.

That five year prior notification has given the construction sector significant time in which to plan for these new regulations coming into force. It is longer than the three year duration of a building warrant - meaning that no builder could have pre-ordered fossil fuel heating for an active or planned building warrant without being aware of the proposed prohibition on fossil fuel heating systems in new buildings applying from 2024.

The regulation and funding of electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government. However, we are engaging closely with Ofgem and BEIS to ensure that its policy and regulation recognises and enables Scotland’s world leading net zero target, and this includes our plans for heat decarbonisation.

The Scottish Government has also worked closely with network companies to ensure their business plans reflect the scale and pace of low carbon technology deployment required to meet net zero targets. We have also set up a new Heat Electrification Strategic Partnership (HESP) with them as a forum within which to further develop our understanding of the scale, pace and location of network investment needed.

Ofgem’s draft determinations on these plans have proposed a combined allowance of £2.5bn for both Scottish Network companies with additional allowance being made available, should the rate of deployment be higher than anticipated.

Since its launch in August 2020, the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund has committed £15.3 million for the retrofit of 1804 Social Housing properties across Scotland. The fund offers grant support of up to 50% of the total eligible costs of the project, with the average amount of support provided per property being £8,300.

The Scottish Government is introducing the New Build Heat Standard from 2024 in direct response to the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change on how to meet the net-zero legal obligations legislated for by the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government has previously commissioned research which considered the capital costs associated with delivering zero direct emissions heating (ZDEH) technologies within new homes.

The research found that the installation of ZDEH systems ranged from £2,000 to £5,000 more than compared to a gas boiler counterfactual. However, these costs are highly variable and depend on a range of factors from the choice of system used to the nature of the construction of the individual development. It is also expected that both innovation and economies of scale will reduce the price of ZDEH systems as Scotland and many other countries increase their deployment.

Conversely, in off-gas areas, the capital costs of ZDEH systems were found to be comparable with fossil fuel alternatives (such as oil boilers).

Copies of the research papers are available here:

• Renewable and zero emissions heating systems in affordable housing projects: evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Costs of zero emissions heating in new buildings (climatexchange.org.uk)

At the introduction of these regulations, a full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) will be published – and the findings from these research reports and other relevant information will be incorporated into the final BRIA.

The sale price of a new building is a matter that is determined by each individual developer and takes into account a range of variables related to the cost of construction of the building and the local housing market.

Security of electricity supply is a reserved policy area, delivered through UK Government electricity policy, Ofgem as the independent GB energy regulator, and National Grid ESO (the GB Electricity System Operator).

A mixture of renewables, storage and increased interconnection across GB and to the continent – as well as a potential role for carbon capture in some scenarios – can support a secure and decarbonised power sector in Scotland.

Transport Scotland holds information on charge points registered on the ChargePlace Scotland network only and by local authority boundary and not by parliamentary constituency.

Across the local authority boundary areas that this constituency covers there were a total of 28 public charge points commissioned onto the ChargePlace Scotland network between 01 June 2021 and 31 May 2022.

Our approach, which includes our new £60m fund, is designed to attract private investment and create the conditions for the public network to be largely financed and operated by the commercial sector.