Chamber and committees

Table 1 outlines the revenue and capital subsidy provided to HIAL by the Scottish Government and its agencies, other than that which was included in the response to question S5W-07547, broken down by body and financial year.

Table 1: Subsidy to HIAL

Scottish Government funded modern apprenticeships are advertised on apprenticeship.scot. Employers can indicate on their vacancy that they comply with the Two Tick or Disability Confident processes. Two Ticks information is located in the vacancy upload process of apprenticeships.scot.

Employers uploading vacancies will select whether they are a Two Ticks Employer. If they choose this option, the recruitment process is carried out in accordance with Two Ticks procedures. As part of this process, information on Two Ticks will appear on the screen to inform applicants that this vacancy is being carried out in line with the scheme.

SDS will shortly update apprenticeships.scot to replace Two Ticks with Disability Confident procedures, information and logos.

The new passenger access system at Brodick is being installed in two phases. The first phase has already begun and is due to be completed by the end of March 2017. Work on the second phase is due to start on site in June and is anticipated to be completed in August 2017.

Both phases of the installation are currently on programme.

The Brodick ferry terminal redevelopment works are on programme and due to be substantially complete in August 2017.

The final outturn costs of the project is anticipated to be within the £30.8m project budget.

The Farm Advisory Service’s (FAS) main aim is to increase the profitability and sustainability of farming and crofting enterprises across Scotland.

The delivery of the service is provided through two contracts and the overall budget is divided between them; a one-to-many contract managed by SAC Consulting and a one-to-one contract managed by Ricardo Energy and Environment. It is worth noting that whilst Climate Change is an important aspect of FAS, it’s role is to provide high quality advice and information, it is not responsible for the actual delivery of mitigation or adaptation measures.

The one to many service can be broken down into three activity headers: cross compliance; climate change and the environment and; business viability and efficiency, with a projected budget for 2017-18 split around 15%, 26% and 27% respectively. However due to the cross cutting nature of the topics such as climate change and bio-diversity, advice that is given through cross compliance and business viability and efficiency can also have a positive impact in these areas.

Through the one to one service there is the provision of Integrated Land Management Plans, Carbon Audits of which there are around 250 free each year and specialist advice visits. With this service being demand lead, and due to the integrated nature of the advice that will be given, it is not possible to proportion out the level of spend for specific topics.

The delivery of the two will be co-ordinated through a single service point (hub): website: www.fas.scot / phone: 0300 323 0161 / email: [email protected]

Revaluation could lead to unwelcome and unplanned increases to the amount many households would be required to pay, incur administrative costs estimated to be between £5.5 million and £8.5 million and potentially alter the tax base in every local authority area, thereby impacting on each council's ability to raise revenues. These implications are all avoided by not revaluing properties for council tax purposes.

For the purpose of the Climate Change Plan baseline, bus demand in 2035 is projected to hold at its 2015 level.

This baseline 0% rise assumes no further intervention.

However, We are intervening through our continued support to the bus industry to further green the fleet coupled with the broader transport ambition set out in the Climate Change Plan aims to increase both patronage and kilometres above this baseline outcome.

As part of the Transport Bill, we will consult on improvements to the regulatory framework for bus services, which we are committed to exploring with the intention to introduce legislation during the current Parliamentary Session.

All of this is with the aim of increasing patronage.

The rise in demand between 2005 and 2015 and the projections for the future are set out in the following table as an average annual change.

For bus, by assuming a 0% demand increase between 2015-2035 as the baseline, we are assuming that current policies will stop the decline in bus patronage. The government provides £53.5 million per year bus subsidy from April 2017 to encourage increased bus use through supporting the bus network, making fares more affordable and incentivising the operation of greener vehicles. We also help with the capital costs of greener vehicles through the Bus Service Operators Grant and the Scottish Green Bus Fund.

We are also committed to introducing a transport bill with the aim of improving the options available to local authorities to improve bus services in their areas such as through better partnership working with bus operators, setting up their own bus operations or introducing local franchises.

As it is a baseline figure, the 0% demand increase from 2015-2035 does not take into account the impact of new measures included within the Climate Change Plan to encourage modal shift, such as low emission zones.

The current document is intended to be a draft Plan only. Identifying a quantifiable indicator for this policy outcome is complex and Transport Scotland is currently refining this. An appropriate indicator will appear in the final version of the Plan.

The draft Climate Change Plan sets out a package of policies and proposals which encourage individuals and businesses to move towards public transport.

For policies, we will continue to electrify Scotland’s rail network, with up to 35% of the network electrified by 2032. Rail plays a key role in encouraging a shift away from the private motor car in mid to long range journeys. We will also continue to support the Scottish Green Bus Fund and the Bus Service Operators Grant, allowing operators to purchase new, low emission buses improving the service quality on these routes and reducing the emissions from the Scottish bus fleet.

For proposals, we have stated we will collaborate with local authorities to put in place a pilot low emission zone by 2018, improving air quality and sending a clear signal to individuals and businesses that behaviour change is needed. Work to identify and set up the first low emission zone by 2018 is currently underway. Secondly, we will explore with local authorities the role that parking policies (including workplace parking levies) play in encouraging individuals and businesses to choose public transport or low emission vehicles. If there is sufficient demand from local authorities, and workplace parking levies are shown to reduce CO2 emissions, then we will consider introducing legislation.