Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has invested significantly in vessels and key ports and harbours to support lifeline ferry connections. Shore side power upgrades across the lifeline ferry network are planned for the introduction of new and current vessels.

However, for those ports that are privately owned, decarbonisation measures or supporting infrastructure for vessels is a commercial decision for the port operators. The Scottish Government can work with ports owned by local authorities, and potentially Trusts, to explore potential solutions which are proportionate to the scale of operation and the vessels served.

It is important to clarify the difference between Bus services improvement partnerships (BSIPs) in the Scottish and UK context. BSIPs in Scotland are partnerships between local transport authorities and bus operators to improve bus services in their areas, and are equivalent to the UK Government’s Enhanced Partnerships.

In England a Bus Service Improvement Plan or BSIP is a public document prepared by every Local Transport Authority in England, outside London, which sets out the vision and plan for improving bus services and growing bus patronage in their local area, in line with the UK Government’s National Bus Strategy aims. The document referred to in the question is intended to provide guidance for these authorities in updating their BSIPs for 2024.

In Scotland, as stated in the recently published Fair Fares Review, Transport Scotland, working with local government, industry and other stakeholders, will develop a bus service improvement plan and delivery framework, over the next 18 months to improve the future availability of bus services across Scotland.

As the framework is still to be developed, the Scottish Government has not rejected any approach at this time. As we develop the framework we will consider actions taken in other parts of the UK, to determine the most appropriate approach for Scotland. This includes the UK Government’s National Bus Strategy and supporting documents, such as the one mentioned in the question.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has supported individuals and businesses across Scotland with over £220 million of interest free loans to support the transition to zero emission vehicles.

In addition, the Plugged-in Communities grant fund has provided community transport organisations with grants worth almost £4 million to procure zero emission vehicles.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the future of its EV incentive schemes, with no final decision yet made.

The Scottish Government has commissioned a study which will look at EV adoption to-date and will model future demand across a number of scenarios. This study will help to inform the ongoing development of Transport Scotland’s strategic framework for the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) and the development of charging infrastructure across Scotland.

Freight transported by rail (whether hauled by diesel or electric locomotives) is an environmentally friendly mode of transport and a significant proportion of Scottish rail freight is already electrically-hauled. The Scottish Government’s leadership in support for rail freight is outlined in our rail freight strategy and put into practice with significant investment and through our regulatory rail freight growth targets.

We will carefully consider the report’s recommendations. The Scottish Government will continue to seek to maximise benefits for rail freight in its investments in the rail network, including in the refresh of the rail decarbonisation action plan highlighted by the Climate Change Committee.

The Community Bus Fund is intended to support local transport authorities to improve local public transport in their areas. This can include exploring the full range of options set out in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, including Bus Services Improvement Partnerships.

In 2023-24, the Community Bus Fund provided £750,000 in resource funding for transport authorities to complete initial feasibility and preparatory work required for the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. A further £5 million of capital funding was allocated to local authorities, with greater levels of support for rural areas facing different challenges to those in cities.

The Islands Connectivity Plan Strategic Approach paper and the updated Vessels and Ports Plan were published for public consultation on 1 February 2024.

One of the Priorities of the Plan is Low Carbon and ensuring that ferry services take action to reduce the negative environmental impact of their operations and help to achieve Scotland's net-zero targets.

The documents highlight that Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan sets a target that 30% of the Government (CMAL) owned fleet should be low or zero emission vessels by 2032 and that the successful delivery of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme will enable that goal to be met.

Following the public consultation period, the feedback received will be used to inform final versions of both documents by the end of 2024.

The Scottish Government will develop implementing actions to deliver our Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network in response to the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommendation.

The implementing actions will be developed in collaboration with key stakeholders who share responsibility for delivering public EV charging across Scotland to deliver the right charge points in the right locations to meet the needs of communities across Scotland, including rural and island communities.

The Scottish Government’s vision and priorities for Scotland’s transport system, including bus patronage, are set out in the National Transport Strategy which was published in February 2020. The Scottish Government will continue to explore opportunities to make bus, and public transport more generally, a more attractive option for existing and new users.

The Fair Fares Review, published in March 2024, sets out our aim to ensure Scotland’s public transport system is more accessible, available, and affordable, with the costs of transport more fairly shared across government, business, and society. The Review highlights the need to prioritise measures to grow bus patronage and sets out a number of recommendations and actions specific to bus to deliver on our vision for the Future of Public Transport. This includes a commitment to develop a bus service improvement plan and delivery framework, over the next 18 months to improve future availability of bus services across Scotland.

The document referred to in the question is intended to provide guidance for English Local Transport Authorities (LTA), outside London, in updating their Bus Service Improvement Plans, in line with the National Bus Strategy for England. This strategy, originally produced in 2021, sets out a mission to rebuild bus patronage and mode share first to 2019 levels, and then to go beyond.

In Scotland we have empowered local transport authorities with the flexible tools they need to respond to their own transport challenges, by delivering all the bus powers within the 2019 Act. This approach enables them to determine what actions are best for their local areas, allowing them to revitalise bus services according to their needs.

The Scottish Government wants a just transition to a fairer, greener transport system for all in Scotland. The final version of the route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car km will be published in the coming months. The draft route map recognised the need for its implementation to be flexible to adapt to emerging and changing evidence and it committed to setting out a monitoring and evaluation framework alongside the publication of the final route map. It does not expect car use to reduce equally for all, including some businesses using cars rather than vans, those in rural areas, and those who rely on cars for mobility or other reasons. But for those who are able to change their travel behaviour (travel less; stay local; switch mode and, where those options are not feasible, share or combine a journey) we want to recognise and enable that. Our next Climate Change Plan will also set out our approach to continuing delivery of Scotland’s net zero targets through a just transition.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the latest advice from the Climate Change Committee and remains fully committed to delivering net zero by 2045. We will provide a Scottish Government response to the Climate Change Committee.

The Scottish Government, working alongside the UK Government and the other devolved administrations, introduced the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes at the start of 2024. These schemes put legal obligations on car and van manufacturers to sell new zero emissions vehicles each year, ramping up to 80% of all new cars sold, and 70% of new vans, being zero emissions by 2030. At the same time, the schemes encourage car and van manufacturers to drive down the emissions of their new non-zero emissions car and van vehicles.

As set out in the Climate Change Committee’s 2023 report to parliament, decarbonisation of heavy-duty vehicle fleets in Scotland will depend on UK-wide markets. The Scottish Government continues to engage with its UK counterparts on regulatory approaches to the phase out dates for petrol and diesel heavy duty vehicles through the Inter-Ministerial Group on transport and associated official-level, UK-wide working groups that have recently been established on freight decarbonisation. The Scottish Government also participates in the UK Freight Energy Forum, which involves fleet operators, energy network operators and others on decarbonisation of the sector.

In 2022 the Scottish Government established the Zero Emission Truck Taskforce, which brought together key representatives from the logistics, manufacturing, energy and finance sectors to shape the pathway to the decarbonisation of Scotland’s road freight and logistics sector. The taskforce produced a Heavy Goods Vehicle Decarbonisation Pathway for Scotland, published on 19 March 2024 and is available on Transport Scotland’s website. That pathway and the evidence that supported it has been shared with counterparts in the UK Government to inform the regulatory options relating to zero emission heavy duty vehicles.