- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to build manufacturing capacity in order to enable infrastructure for the ScotWind projects to be manufactured in Scotland; what proportion, if any, of the Just Transition Fund it will use to assist this development, and whether it plans for manufacturing capability to be situated in the north east region, or throughout Scotland.
Answer
The ScotWind projects committed to investment of up to £25 billion across the Scottish supply chain across the 17 ScotWind offshore wind projects as set out in their Supply Chain Development Statements. This work is further complemented by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s (SOWEC) Collaborative Framework as a practical way for developers and Scottish ports to work together, helping to build a long-term pipeline of work, creating certainty that ports need to prioritise investment in higher value activities like fabrication. By working together developers can identify joint opportunities, mitigating risks in bringing together the infrastructure needed to build out the full pipeline of ScotWind projects. The call for year one projects of the Just Transition Fund closed on 15 July 2022 and expressions of interest are currently being assessed against the published Fund criteria. It will not be possible to indicate what portion of the Fund will be allocated specifically to manufacturing capability until final decisions on awards have concluded.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the Just Transition Fund it plans to allocate to the training and upskilling of installers of renewable technologies.
Answer
The Just Transition Fund was established to support and accelerate the transition of the region and support the role of Aberdeen and the wider North East as one of Scotland’s centres of excellence for the transition to a net zero economy. The call for year one projects closed on 15 July 2022 and expressions of interest are currently being assessed against the published Fund criteria. It will not be possible to indicate what portion of the Fund will be allocated specifically to upskilling activity until final decisions on awards have concluded. An announcement of successful bids will be made in due course.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to maintain the gross value added (GVA) of the north east throughout and following a fair and managed Just Transition.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and accelerating the transition of the North East as a centre of excellence for the transition to a net zero economy, as evidenced by our £500 million Just Transition Fund. The Scottish Government is also a full partner in the Aberdeen City Region Deal, contributing £125 million over 10 years alongside an additional £254 million, which will help ensure economic transformation for the North East with inclusive growth, increased wellbeing and a just transition to net zero. We are investing a separate £32.5 million through the Moray Growth Deal to support a number of projects that will grow the region’s economy.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken the "detailed cost information by route" analysis, as set out on page 30 of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan, in full.
Answer
Detailed cost analysis for all of the routes included in the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan are undertaken on a phased basis as initial plans for each route are progressively prepared.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the volume of carbon emissions associated with the electrification of Scotland's rail network, as set out on page 8 of the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan, by 2035.
Answer
Savings in carbon emissions from replacement of Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) rolling stock are calculated using emission rates from the DfT’s TAG Databook A3.3 (November 2021). This is undertaken when each individual project or line of route reaches the Outline Business Case stage of development.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage a modal shift of HGV traffic to rail, as per the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan.
Answer
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 a first of a kind regulatory growth target. Our £25 million ring-fenced fund for rail freight for the period 2019-24 is unique to Scotland and we continue to offer Freight Facilities Grants unlike some other parts of the UK. These funding opportunities are generating private investment in rail freight facilities and unlocking opportunities for rail freight across the country.
Our rolling programme of efficient electrification, detailed in the Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan, will also encourage and facilitate modal shift to rail freight as it brings significant environmental benefits, improves connectivity and creates additional capacity supporting the key role rail freight has to play in helping us achieve our transport emission targets.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many ScotRail services were required to operate at a 20 miles per hour speed limit in the week beginning 18 July 2022 due to extreme heat, and what preparations it has undertaken since ScotRail's nationalisation to equip the network to deal with extreme weather events.
Answer
Speed restrictions on the Scottish rail network are imposed by Network Rail, as the owners of the rail infrastructure.
ScotRail advised that for week beginning 18 July 2022 there were approximately 11 services with a 20 mph speed restriction and 4 of these were likely to be as a result of rainfall rather than heat. The majority of services (approximately 26) had either a 30 or 60 mph speed restriction imposed for similar period.
Network Rail and ScotRail Trains hold weather plans in the event of extreme weather and these are activated when required.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost has been of operating waste incinerators in Scotland in each year since 2007-08.
Answer
Information on the total cost of operating waste incinerators in Scotland in each year since 2007-08 is not held centrally. Most waste incineration facilities in Scotland are privately operated and the Scottish Government does not routinely collect or hold data on the operational costs of these facilities.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many ScotRail staff have reported being assaulted in the period since April 2022; whether it holds records on how many assaults on ScotRail staff were reported in each year since 2016 and, if so, whether it will provide this data, and what measures it has taken since ScotRail's nationalisation to reduce the number of assaults on staff.
Answer
Safety and security on our railways is reserved to UK Government and as such the British Transport Police (BTP) is responsible for the enforcement of the law on Scotland’s rail network. BTP can only investigate matters that are reported to them and not every incident reported to and recorded by ScotRail as the employer will be reported to BTP.
Therefore, ScotRail advised the following for how many assaults on ScotRail staff were reported since 2017, noting that 2017 is the last year that ScotRail holds data for:-
Year | Physical | Verbal | Total |
2017 | 60 | 106 | 166 |
2018 | 71 | 116 | 187 |
2019 | 60 | 124 | 184 |
2020 | 54 | 95 | 149 |
2021 | 61 | 166 | 227 |
2022 (to date) | 46 | 156 | 202 |
BTP continue to work closely with ScotRail around staff assaults, particularly around encouraging the use of body worn cameras by their staff to act as a visible deterrent and ensure best evidence is captured.
ScotRail has also introduced several mitigation measures to assist in the reduction of staff assaults. These include close working with BTP on various intelligence led data initiatives, expanding the travel safe team from 8 to 28 members and reviewing the level of conflict resolution training provided to all front-line colleagues to ensure that everyone is up to date with their knowledge and to ensure the content is still relevant and captures the challenges being presented. ScotRail has also set up a Steering Group internally to look at the issues associated with anti-social behaviour.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its strategy is to deliver public advice and messaging regarding a transition to renewable heat sources in order to ensure that homeowners can access comprehensive advice in relation to the decarbonisation of homes.
Answer
As committed to within our Heat in Buildings Strategy, work is currently underway to develop a new Heat in Buildings Public Engagement Strategy, to be published in early 2023.
This will build on the broader approach to public engagement on climate change that we published last year, and will aim to:
- Increase understanding of the changes we need to see in how we heat our homes and buildings, and why;
- Raise the profile of energy efficiency and net zero carbon heating options so that people are aware of the benefits and begin to see them as a positive choice; and
- Raise awareness of advice and support services to maximise uptake of the help available.
The strategy will to set out a range of activities for public engagement that will be implemented over the transition to zero emissions heating, including: national marketing campaigns; education initiatives; a social research programme; and public participation in policy and delivery programme design, to ensure the needs of different (domestic and non-domestic) groups are considered. This reflects our commitment to supporting a just and fair transition.
To inform development of the strategy, this autumn we will undertake a Call for Evidence. Alongside publication of the strategy, next year we will launch a national conversation and campaign on heat decarbonisation, working with a range of practitioners, consumer organisations and others across Scotland to increase awareness of the heat transition with different audiences over the coming months. Early focus will be on building readiness for change amongst a wide cross-section of society ahead of the introduction of proposed regulations. We will also launch a national marketing campaign this autumn to promote awareness of our free and impartial advice and support services – Home Energy Scotland and Warmer Homes Scotland.