Chamber and committees

The Home Insulation Scheme which ran in 2009-10 and 2010-11 offered free loft top-up insulation and access to virgin loft insulation or cavity wall insulation through the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme. In some cases the measures available through CERT would be free to the householder and in others there would have been a client contribution to pay. Of the 7,444 loft and cavity wall insulation measures installed information is not held on how many were provided free. The information shown is therefore restricted to the loft top-up measures which are known to have been provided free to every household.

The scheme also generated 45,600 referrals for measures under the Energy Assistance Package.

An overview of Home Insulation Scheme activity is provided at the Energy Saving Trust website.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Take-action/Grants-and-offers/Home-Energy-Scotland/Free-and-discounted-insulation/Overview-of-Home-Insulation-Scheme-activity#All%20HIS%20phases.

Data on the Universal Home Insulation Scheme will be published shortly.

Scottish Ministers will report to the Parliament on energy-efficient discount schemes, as required under section 66 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, during the summer.

Training provided by Caledonian MacBrayne between 2002 and September 2006 and by CalMac Ferries Ltd from October 2006 to 2011 is as follows:-

In addition, between 2006 and the current year CalMac Ferries Ltd has sponsored 11 officer cadets per year. CalMac Ferries Ltd currently sponsor a total of 32 deck or engineer officer cadets. The officer cadets are all employed by Clyde Marine Training Limited and are sponsored by CalMac Ferries Ltd.

The Final Ferries Plan will provide details of future investment and of how we will ensure that funding priorities can be met over the period of the Ferries Plan to 2022.

The completed Final Ferries Plan will be published later this year.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Information on the punctuality of bus services is not held centrally.

Table 6 in Bus and Coach Statistics: 2010-11 provides information on bus ticket prices. This can be found at:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/files/documents/public-transport/Bus_and_Coach_Statistics_2010-11.pdf.

Tables 13 of Scottish Household Survey: Transport Local Area Analysis 2009-10 provides information on the bus passenger experience. This can be found at:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/node/7644.

The Scottish Government provides annual grants to the bus industry (£50 million in the current financial year), the aim of which is to keep fares at affordable levels and enable bus operators to run services that might not otherwise be commercially viable. This substantial subsidy, Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), supports the overall bus network.

This information is not held centrally. Bus operators must register local services with the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. There is a search facility for bus service registrations on the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency website at:

http://www.tan.gov.uk/tanen/VOSA_SelfServiceOpBusRegSearch_New.asp.

On ferry routes for which the Scottish ministers are responsible, the number of vessels deployed in each category is as follows:

(a) 31

(b) 6

(c) 6

(d) 0.

As set out in our 29 November 2011 news release, RET for passengers and cars will become a permanent feature in the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree. On ferry routes to the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree, RET has been extended to include small commercial vehicles. In addition, on these routes, we have taken a number of steps to reduce the impact of removing RET for larger commercial vehicles. Significant financial help has also been given to all hauliers and businesses using these ferry routes.

RET for passengers and cars will also be rolled out to other West Coast and Clyde islands within the term of this Parliament. Decisions about the exact level of RET fares for passengers and cars on each ferry route will be made available prior to the introduction of the scheme on each route. However, as noted in the Draft Ferries Plan, we want the RET single fare to be competitive with any discounts that would or might be available through any multi-journey ticket scheme.

In the longer term it is our aim to develop an overarching freight fares policy.