Chamber and committees

Insurance pricing is a commercial decision for insurers. The motor insurance market is, however, very competitive and consumers may benefit from shopping around and obtaining quotes from a range of different providers before making a decision.

Consumers may be able to offset any higher insurance costs for electric vehicles by savings in yearly maintenance costs, which are on average lower than for petrol or diesel vehicles, as well as savings on fuel costs. Consumers can also consider applying for other incentives in Scotland, such as funding towards the costs of a home charge point and an interest-free loan of up to £35,000 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, both of which are funded by Transport Scotland via the Energy Saving Trust.

The Government will carefully consider the judgement regarding the use of wheelchair spaces on buses. It involves a reserved policy area and Transport Scotland will work with the UK Government and affected stakeholders in Scotland to develop policy options which satisfy the published outcome.

Transport Scotland works closely with disabled people and with them has developed an Accessible Travel Framework in which wheelchair accessibility on buses was identified as an issue. We are now working with stakeholders to identify actions which will deliver our shared vision where ‘all disabled people can travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity and opportunity as other citizens’.

Anyone travelling on air services should be able to do so without having their journeys disrupted by drunk or unruly passengers. The Scottish Government welcomed the introduction of the UK Aviation Industry Code of Practice on Disruptive Passengers which was launched in July 2016 with the aim of reducing incidences of disruptive behaviour by passengers on flights.

Temporary accommodation is a key part of the safety net of the homelessness legislation and ensures all people have accommodation if they become homeless.

Scotland’s strong statutory homelessness rights mean households with children are placed in temporary accommodation while they wait for appropriate, sustainable permanent accommodation. We want time in temporary accommodation to be as short as possible and we are increasing housing supply to help with this.

In the latest figures, the vast majority (86%) of households with children or pregnant women were given temporary accommodation in social housing and fewer than 1% placed in B&B accommodation and then for very short periods of time. The remaining households not in social housing or bed and breakfast are in hostels (3%), refuges (2%) and ‘other’ (8%), where other includes households in all other accommodation not owned by the local authority. This includes property leased by the local authority from other providers, such as private landlords.

As most temporary accommodation is in social housing it should be at the same standard as for permanent accommodation. We have strengthened the Unsuitable Accommodation Order to ensure accommodation is wind and watertight and we have plans to strengthen this further. We are committed to introducing a cap of one week, down from the current cap of 14 nights, for families with children and pregnant women living in B&B accommodation unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The latest export data shows that despite challenging times for the global economy, total international exports from Scotland have continued to grow, increasing by £1 billion in a year, excluding oil and gas. We are working with our partners to further improve our exporting performance by delivering Scotland's Trade and Investment Strategy and ensuring that we are seen to be an outward facing nation that's open for business.

The Scottish Government supports the work of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, which in turn provides support and advice to local authorities across Scotland on dealing with empty homes. This includes support for Empty Homes Officers, one of whom works for the City Council, who are dedicated to identifying, tackling and returning empty homes to good use.

Ministers also provided additional powers in 2013 for local authorities to reduce discounts and to apply an additional levy to council tax liabilities for long-term empty properties where they consider it an appropriate tool to encourage homes back into use in their areas. Although not intended to provide funds (instead to encourage better use of homes), councils may use funds raised as a result to tackle empty homes or for other priorities.

The Scottish Government ran a marketing campaign comprising PR, partnership and social media. This campaign was launched in early December to support the Police Scotland festive enforcement campaign. Indicative results include:

• National and local press coverage resulting in around 70 articles being published.

• 15 key strategic partners were engaged, such as Wetherspoons who displayed our posters and beer mats throughout their 70 pubs in Scotland.

• Radio activity on 26 national and community stations from 2-15 December.

• Bauer Radio “Life Matters” platform aired 19-25 December reaching approximately 1m. people

• Social media posts reached approximately 525,000 people.

The total cost was approximately £29,000.

Tables ‘[Table 1 of 2: Court of Session - Initiated Cases]’ and ‘[Table 2 of 2: Court of Session - Disposed Cases]’ are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre – BiB number 58464.

The results of the 2016-17 Police Scotland Festive enforcement campaign indicate that there is still a minority of drivers who persist in driving after consuming alcohol. We will carefully consider the results of the enforcement campaign to help ensure that future awareness campaigns are effectively targeted as they can be at those who are continuing to drive while under the influence of alcohol.

As set out in the Switched on Scotland Plug-in Vehicle Roadmap Review, published on 7 November 2016, we will engage with bodies such as Skills Development Scotland, training providers and employer groups to ensure education and skills requirements to support the developing electric vehicle market are understood and review and revise training provision accordingly.