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The Scottish Government is fully committed to the decarbonisation of its vehicle fleet, including vehicles used in the Government Car Service.

The 2019/20 Programme for Government outlined our commitment to phase out the need for all petrol or diesel cars in the public sector fleet by 2025 and for all other new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030. Investment in ultra-low emitting and electric vehicles is necessary to meet that commitment.

Prior to procuring any replacement vehicles, evaluations and trials are conducted to identify potential future options for fleet replacement. This approach identifies vehicles that are fit for purpose, meet current and expected future business requirements and ensure that the Scottish Government continues to honour its commitment to decarbonisation.

At the time they were purchased, Tesla Model 3s had been identified as the most suitable fully electric vehicle capable of meeting operational needs. The Scottish Government will continue to investigate available options before purchasing any further vehicles for its vehicle fleet.

Transport Scotland undertakes an annual assessment of the safety performance of the entire trunk road network, including the A90, and considers accident patterns and rates in the form of Route Accident Reduction Plans. In the short term, a Vehicle Activated Sign will be installed at this junction, with the aim of raising driver awareness and improving safety.

Recommendations for future transport investment will emerge from the ongoing second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) which is considering potential improvements to the trunk road network (and all other modes) across Scotland. The Aberdeen City Region Deal - Strategic Transport Appraisal Pre-Appraisal Study, recommended a package of possible road improvements for the A90 from Ellon to Peterhead and Fraserburgh. This, together with the other 34 remaining recommendations, are now subject to further appraisal as part of this review.

The appraisal process for STPR2 is considering the performance of all options against transport planning objectives, which are aligned to our National Transport Strategy priorities and outcomes. We also need to consider Value for Money based on performance against these objectives and the five Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance Criteria. This will be an important consideration given the pressures on current and future public finances. The interventions will seek to contribute to our vision of a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors.

Until the appraisal process is completed, it is not possible to make individual decisions on upgrading specific sections of the A90, including the Toll of Birness. STPR2 will conclude later this year, with publication of recommendations for investment and an appropriate statutory consultation period.

Since 2014, there has been a 45% increase in household plastic waste recycling. Plastic recycling rose to 57,379 tonnes in 2019, which is the most recent data available, continuing the trend of increasing each year for the last eight years. While we don’t have a detailed breakdown of the impact, the measures outlined below will have made a positive contribution.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 set requirements for the separate collection of key materials and prohibit separately collected material going to incineration or landfill.

In 2015, Scottish Government launched the Scottish Household Recycling Charter, supported by a Code of practice. This aims to bring more consistency to household recycling services, which deliver local and national benefits and encourage high levels of citizen participation in waste prevention, recycling and reuse.

The Scottish Material Brokerage Service was introduced in 2015 to deliver collaborative contracts for waste and recyclable materials from local authorities and other public bodies of sufficient scale to help local authorities and public bodies achieve a better deal, and reduce risk from price volatility. It supports the business conditions for investment in domestic reprocessing in Scotland by providing certainty in the volume and duration of supply of valuable materials.

Additionally, the statutory Code of Practice for Materials Recovery Facilities introduced a sampling procedure to improve transparency on material quality in the supply chain and to improve the quality of materials arriving for sorting.

Scotland’s councils have been allocated an additional £1.5 billion in direct support through the local government finance settlement.

Furthermore in 2020-21, the Scottish Government replaced £972 million of Non-Domestic Rates Income for the cost of COVID-19 reliefs with additional General Revenue Grant of the same amount, effectively protecting this important income stream for local government and at the same time providing rates relief for businesses. In 2021-22 the Scottish Government replaced a further £726 million of Non-Domestic Rates Income with additional General Revenue Grant of the same amount for the same reason.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. Local authorities must use their resources as efficiently as possible and deliver services effectively to ensure the best possible value. Decisions on the level of reserves and how reserves are used, are also rightly the responsibility of individual councils. In light of this, how much of this additional funding local authorities have allocated and to which services is not yet available and similarly how much remains within local authority reserves is not held by the Scottish Government. All of this information will be provided in the annual Local Financial Returns (LFRs) which individual local authorities complete and return to the Scottish Government. The summary of these returns is subsequently published on the Scottish Government's website.

On the 22 December 2020, the Scottish Government published research that assessed the suitability of low carbon heating technologies in residential buildings in Scotland. It found that , of the 507,000 homes off the gas network, around 105,000 would require a low carbon heating technology other than a heat pump.

Table 1: Number of homes located away from the gas grid, not suitable for heat pump technologies,

Of the £5M budget available in FY 20-21, £4.8M was spent on the Milngavie platform works. The total cost of the works was £5.55M. The additional funding was provided by Scottish Ministers through funding allocated to Network Rail in Control Period 6.

Due to a technical issue with some electronic ticket machines (ETMs), most operators can only accept cash payment when a Young Scot National Entitlement Card is used for discounted travel. This issue impacts across the UK and relates to the ETMs themselves as opposed to the Transport Scotland travel product on the card.

The ETM suppliers are working to enhance the payment facilities, however the launch of Young Persons Free Bus Travel Scheme in January 2022, will mean this functionality is not required as those aged under 22 will be provided free bus travel.

CalMac Ferries Ltd conducted a vessel inspection prior to the time charter of the MV Arrow to operate the Ullapool – Stornoway freight service. These checks were conducted using Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE), an exemplar of vessel inspection, from which no faults were identified.

The technical issue encountered by the MV Arrow was unforeseeable and was due to fishing equipment being caught wrapping around the propeller.

We are currently analysing responses to the consultation. We will publish the final Heat in Buildings Strategy in due course, which will include our response to the consultation.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01651 on
‎ 18 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