Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-17176

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16277 by Kevin Stewart on 6 April 2023, which states that “Transport Scotland intends to achieve journey time savings via a series of infrastructure upgrades including signal enhancements and specific capacity alterations to facilitate the operation of more and faster trains”, what the (a) nature, (b) geographical location and (c) potential time-saving of each infrastructure upgrade is, and how it plans to reduce the ScotRail journey time between (i) Aberdeen and Dundee by three minutes and (ii) Dundee and Edinburgh by 17 minutes, by 2026.

As set out in my response to PQ S6W-16276 on 6 April 2023, Transport Scotland intend to publish the Outline Business Case for the Aberdeen to Central Belt Rail Enhancement Project later in the year. This will provide the requested details of the specific infrastructure upgrades and their contributions to journey time savings.

In the meantime, Transport Scotland has been updating key stakeholders on the progress of the design of this project.

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

Question reference: S6W-17069

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which companies and industry bodies from the energy sector the new Minister for Energy has met with since taking on her new role.

I have engaged with a number of stakeholders across the energy sector. On 13 April 2023, I visited the Hydrogen Refuelling site in Aberdeen, met Aberdeen City Council officials and technical experts, attended an Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub stakeholder meeting, and then a Scottish Cluster Roundtable Discussion.

I met with the CEO of NECCUS, on 26 April 2023 and attended the Energy Institute North East Highlands and Islands Dinner on 27 April 2023. On 2 May 2023, I visited Advice Direct Scotland, launching their Fuel Insecurity Fund. On 4 May 2023, I opened Scottish Renewables’ new office in Glasgow and on the 11 May 2023, I attended the All-Energy conference at SEC, Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-17054

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government which companies in the offshore and energy sectors the former Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work met with between August 2022 and March 2023.

Richard Lochhead, the former Minister for Just Transition, Fairwork & Employment engaged with a wide range of stakeholders in the offshore energy sector during this period. A comprehensive list of all Ministerial engagements for the year 2022 has been published and can be found online ( Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)).

For the period of January 2023 until March 2023 The Minister had the following meetings:

9 February – The Minister met with Opportunity North East, Energy Transition Zone and the Net Zero Technology Centre, discussing Just Transition and the next phase of the Just Transition fund.
21 February 2023 – The Minister attended SBCC (Scottish Business Climate Collaboration) SME (Small/Medium Enterprise) Net Zero Hub launch event, with EY (Ernest & Young) and Scottish Power representatives in attendance.
2 March 2023 – Mr Lochhead visited South of Scotland Enterprise in Dumfries and chaired a roundtable discussion that included representatives from Carbon Capture Scotland, and visited Cochran Ltd on site.
16 March 2023 – The Minister chaired a CBI round table event, which included representatives from Centrica Energy, Equinor UK LTD, Scottish Power and SEC (Scottish Events Campus).
21 March 2023 - Mr Lochhead attended the Scottish Renewables Net-Zero Dinner and spoke to representatives from EDF Renewables, Scottish Renewables and EY (Ernest & Young).
22 March 2023 –The Minister delivered a speech to the Scottish Renewables Conference, and participated in a panel discussion with representatives from Scottish Renewables, EDF Renewables and Ripple Energy.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15805 on 24 March 2023.

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 .

Question reference: S6W-17502

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the commitment on page 22 of the publication, Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership – A fresh start, to have "doubled the electric charge point network to at least 6,000" by 2026, what the projected cost of achieving this will be; whether these will be public or private charge points; whether the additional charge points will be provided by its agencies or if they include those provided by companies; in which regions the charge points will be located, broken down by a proportion of the total; from where the infrastructure will be sourced; what the projected extra electricity requirement will be; how rapidly the chargers will operate, and which body will be expected to maintain the chargers, and, if this role is to be carried out by one of its agencies, what plans it has to ensure that there are sufficient skilled maintenance contractors to provide the maintenance role.

The Scottish Government’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund aims to leverage £60m of public and private investment to double the size of Scotland’s public electric vehicle charging network to 6,000 charge points by 2026. This alone will be over and above the commercial investment in public charge points now taking place in Scotland.

The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund is focused upon growing the public charging network across Scotland where private investment on its own will be unviable. At present, the Scottish Government is supporting local authorities to develop public electric vehicle charging strategies and infrastructure expansion plans; these are identifying local and regional charge point needs, the investment requirements, as well as the best approaches to delivering collaborative investments with commercial Charge Point Operators. The exact type of public charge points including their charging power capabilities and demand on the electricity grid will be determined through this approach.

It is anticipated that the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund investment will be delivered across Scotland through local authority and private Charge Point Operator partnership models. The arrangements and responsibilities for supply and maintenance of charge points will be determined through contractual arrangements between the parties involved.

Question reference: S6W-17171

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 4 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the contract between Ferguson Marine and BAE systems, which is currently requiring a £25,000 working capital loan, is expected to conclude.

Question reference: S6O-02204

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it tracks how many GP practices are currently being run directly by NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-16935

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 28 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13727 by Michael Matheson on 18 January 2023, whether the "annual summary analysis report", referred to in the answer, is now published.

Question reference: S6W-16246

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates the first private finance investment pilot, focused on the Borders Forest Trust "Wild Heart" project in southern Scotland and expected to begin in spring 2023, will conclude, and how much funding it will provide to fund this pilot.

Question reference: S6W-16250

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done to analyse the accuracy of the statistic regarding a £20 billion finance gap for nature in Scotland, as used in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045: Tackling the Nature Emergency in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-16249

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 April 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it was able to determine that £2 billion in funding could be leveraged from the private finance investment pilot that was announced on 1 March 2023 on the NatureScot website.

Chamber and committees