Chamber and committees

The draft budget for rail passenger services for (a) 2023-24 is £458 million, as published in December and remains subject to the Parliamentary approval process.

The following table sets out (b) budget against expenditure and explanations for variances that are included in the published outturn statements within the Scottish Government consolidated accounts each year.

Following the recent publication of the draft biodiversity strategy, a delivery plan is now being developed and this will include the development of an investment plan. The delivery plan is being led jointly by Scottish Government and NatureScot officials, drawing on engagement from key policy areas and across a wider network which includes significant stakeholder engagement. No expenditure has therefore been directly devoted to the development of the Biodiversity Investment Plan yet.

No organisations or individuals have provided paid consultancy services in relation to the development of a Biodiversity Investment Plan.

The Scottish Government drew on data from Wood Mackenzie and other organisations in developing the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

As we committed to in the Bute House Agreement, the Scottish Government is undertaking in-depth analysis work to better understand Scotland’s energy requirements as we transition to net zero, ensuring an approach that supports and protects our energy security and our highly skilled workforce whilst meeting our climate obligations.

This work has already provided evidence which was used to underpin elements of the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan relating to the oil and gas sector, together with other commercially available data.

The independent report on the analytical work we have commissioned will be published in full, once it is complete and following independent panel review. We expect publication during the consultation period for the draft ESJTP.

The information that is recorded and available in relation to delays and cause attribution across train operators is published routinely by the rail industry economic and safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), on its data portal.

This can be accessed at: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/ .

There are only five vehicles in the entire SG and wider SG agency fleet which would not comply, zero in Glasgow, two in Aberdeen and three in Edinburgh, out of a total fleet of 197 vehicles.

The Outline Business Case will, when fully endorsed, be published on the Transport Scotland website as is normal practice.

Transport Scotland would not routinely publish the other completed areas of work including the development of a concept timetable. However, progress on this project has been and will continue to be shared at regular intervals with key stakeholders.

The draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan sets out our vision for the transformation of Scotland’s energy system and includes a route map of milestones and actions to deliver this vision – including actions that the UK Government must take in reserved policy areas. The draft Strategy is out for public consultation until 4 April 2023.

The draft Strategy has been made available to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), but there is no statutory procedure for submitting such plans to the CCC. There is regular official-level engagement with the CCC on key aspects of the draft Strategy.

A response is being prepared to the CCC’s annual progress report and Scottish Ministers will request advice from the CCC on the draft version of the next Climate Change Plan as part of the procedure for finalising climate change plans.

The Scottish Government’s capital budget increased from £5.8 billion in 2022-23 to £5.9 billion in 2023-24, a rise of £115 million. In my previous response, I explained the process the Scottish Government undertakes when agreeing annual budgets. It considers a whole range of factors, including the phasing of and the delivery arrangements for projects, particularly those which span several years, and this allows resources to be allocated accordingly to meet our commitments and our priorities while delivering a balanced financial position.

The Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency publish detailed data on industrial carbon dioxide emissions. There are three different, but complementary, sources of such data with each defining industries in different terms.

The first source of data relate to a commissioned study in 2020 which defined industries using the Standard Industrial Classification (2007), a classification scheme used in economic data. The ten largest emitting industrial groups in Scotland during the calendar year 2018 are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 - Largest CO2 emitters by industry group, excluding residential emissions, Scotland, 2018.