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The Scottish Government has not held discussions with the UK Government regarding the provision of public funds to Port of Cairnryan since 2022.

The Scottish Government has not made any payments to P&O Ferries or the Port of Cairnryan since 17 March 2022.

The legal use of electric scooters and decisions around their introduction is broadly a reserved matter for the UK Government. The UK Government has stated its intention to bring forward a new regulatory framework for vehicles such as electric scooters, however the timescales for this are unclear and it may take a number of years for such a new framework to be in effect.

Enabling the use of electric scooters through such a regulatory framework would also require amendments to devolved legislation, therefore the Scottish Government are monitoring developments in this area and will continue to engage with the Department for Transport on this matter.

As is recognised by Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework, it is crucial that disabled people are involved in the design, development and improvement of transport policies, services and infrastructure. Therefore, before any changes are made to devolved legislation the Scottish Government would engage with all stakeholders and ensure all necessary impact assessments are carried out.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has supported individuals and businesses across Scotland transition to electric vehicles by providing £223 million of interest free loans through the Low Carbon Transport loan, this scheme delivered on behalf of Scottish Ministers by Energy Saving Trust (EST) has funded over 8,300 loans and has saved an estimated 230,000 tCO2e.

Transport Scotland officials are currently finalising details of the fund prior to the loan relaunching. Energy Saving Trust, who administer the loan on behalf of Scottish Ministers, will provide up to date information regarding the loan and interested parties can register their interest on their website here - Used Electric Vehicle Loan - Energy Saving Trust .

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to the total number of public or private electric vehicle (EV) charge points in each local authority area. Information about public EV charge points in each of Scotland’s local authority areas can be found in the UK Government's Department for Transport’s ‘Electric vehicle charging device statistics’ which are published on a quarterly basis. The next quarterly report is scheduled for release in July 2024.

There are no publicly available statistics on the number of private charging devices in Scotland, such as those in workplaces, fleet depots and at residential properties.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28245 on 10 July 2024. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28245 on 10 July 2024. 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 .

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

We know that registered social landlords are uniquely placed as housing providers to identify and assist people at risk of homelessness, building on existing housing management practice and the delivery of housing support.

There is already good practice happening across the country by social landlords. Their services, such as tenancy sustainment, are already key features of their work with tenants. We want to build on this so there is a consistent, robust and sector wide approach to prevention across Scotland.

We make a significant annual investment in discretionary housing payments (over £90 million in 2024-25) to help people who are struggling with housing costs to remain in their homes. We also have a multi-year fund of £100 million to deliver actions in our homelessness strategy, the Ending Homelessness Together action plan, which has prevention at its heart.

I welcome the work that local authorities already undertake in ensuring the data they share is accurate, allowing offers to homeless households can be made swiftly – but we also recognise that more can be done here to improve the accuracy of data provided. Data published by the Scottish Housing Regulator shows that 60% of registered social landlord lets to homeless households come through section 5 referrals, when a local authority requests that a registered social landlord provides the household with permanent accommodation. However, around 15% of offers to homeless households are declined due to the right information about the household’s needs not being provided. We want that situation to improve.

The Scottish Government produced the Code of Guidance on Homelessness to help guide local authorities in their duties to assist people who are threatened with or are experiencing homelessness. Local authorities must take account of this statutory guidance, which sets out how the legislation and related policies should be implemented, when making an assessment of the hosing support needs of the household. The Code of Guidance states that, to facilitate effective case management, local authorities should establish protocols and procedures for the sharing of information about people making homelessness applications between housing departments, social work, housing support providers and other relevant agencies. The protocols developed should set out the type of information to be shared and the stage at which this should be carried out.

In declaring a housing emergency, the Scottish Government expects action to be taken in response to the issues identified by organisations across the sector, which contributed to this situation. Local authorities have a key part to play in ensuring comprehensive and adequate data is passed to registered social landlords through the referral process to support the transition of a homeless household into a settled home, helping to ensure as little time as possible is spent in temporary accommodation.