Chamber and committees

Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) was put into administration in 2019 and since then the company has been dissolved. Operating the Crane at Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow is classed as an operational matter for Ferguson Marine as such the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) was put into administration in 2019 and since then the company has been dissolved. Operating the Crane at Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow is classed as an operational matter for Ferguson Marine as such the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of ferry connections to our island economies, communities.

We work closely with our local authority partners, transport providers and island communities and businesses to understand the impacts of service disruption through a variety of fora such as Ferry Committees, the Islands Strategic Group and Transport Forums.

We also fully understand the importance of ferry services to the transportation of goods and services. Our ferry operators prioritise food supplies and essential services during disruption. They are part of local resilience partnerships, and remain in contact with local communities and hauliers.

Scottish Ministers’ primary focus is to improve resilience in the ferry network to minimise the risk of service disruption. We continue to task CMAL and operators to identify and present suitable second hand tonnage options for charter or purchase to support the existing fleets. This has helped to provide additional resilience and capacity in the short-term through, for example, our purchase and deployment of the MV Loch Frisa, chartering the MV Arrow, and currently chartering the MV Alfred.

We continue to invest in our ferry network, including commissioning the two new vessels for Islay and two more for the Little Minch routes. These four ships are being built now and are currently expected to be in service over the period between early 2025 and 2026. These four new vessels are in addition to the vessels being completed at Ferguson’s.

While we continue to invest in the network to minimise the risk of cancellations, weather conditions will always result in some unavoidable disruption. For example, statistics show that in 2022 of the 171,403 scheduled sailings across the CHFS network 11,301 (6.6%) were cancelled, with only 1,830 (1.1%) of these being cancelled due to technical issues.

The Scottish Government recognises that local bank branches provide an important service across Scotland – particularly for rural communities. The regulation of financial services is reserved to the UK Government and, therefore, Scottish Ministers cannot intervene in commercial decisions made by banks to close branches, even where it leaves some rural communities without convenient access to a local branch.

We note the cash access provisions within the Financial Services and Markets Bill progressing through the UK Parliament and the additional powers the Bill will grant to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to monitor access to cash across the UK. Scottish Government officials are in regular dialogue with the FCA to ensure Scotland’s unique interests are articulated and advanced, and the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy will meet with Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA, shortly where he will set out the need to ensure that the banking needs of rural areas are fully considered by the FCA’s new regulatory regime. The Scottish Government regularly engages with the banking sector in Scotland through bi-lateral meetings and the Financial Services Growth and Development Board. We will continue to urge all banks to address their customers banking needs and to support rural communities without branches with industry initiatives such as shared Bank Hubs, improved Post Office banking services and Community Bankers.

Recognising that many services, including banking, are becoming increasingly digitised, the Scottish Government is also providing significant investment in Scotland’s digital infrastructure. The £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) broadband programme and the £28.75 million in the Scottish 4G Infill (S4GI) mobile programme will enable communities to better access online banking services. Around 70% of premises that will be connected through the £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) contracts are in rural areas and all of the 55 mast sites to be delivered through S4GI are located on islands or in rural Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many GP practices are able to send prescriptions to a community pharmacy by (a) fax only, (b) email only and (c) either fax or email: NHS Boards are responsible for these arrangements.

There are currently 2522 publicly available charge points registered on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

The Scottish Government offers a range of grants for the installation of electric vehicle charge points at properties, including flatted dwellings where there is access to shared off-street parking. The residential grants are delivered by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) on behalf of Scottish Ministers and are designed to ensure that a lack of traditional off-street parking is not a barrier to EV adoption. More information can be found on the EST website.

Being unable to charge at home using a private charger should not be a deterrent to making the transition to EV. The Scottish Government has invested over £65m to develop the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) public electric vehicle charging network. CPS now has a network of over 2,500 publicly available charge points spread across Scotland, making it the 4th largest network in the UK and the most comprehensive per head of population outside London.

As part of the comprehensive approach being taken by the Scottish Government, new legislation has also been introduced to ensure new buildings in Scotland are equipped with charge points – for flats with designated parking, one socket for per flat should be provided. Steps have also been taken to amend existing Permitted Development Rights legislation to make it even simpler and quicker to install charging infrastructure, including in residential areas containing all dwelling types.

Our Agencies, on behalf of Scottish Government, commissioned a series of reports into the economic opportunities around battery use and the circular economy, including Scotland as a potential location for future gigafactory opportunities. Our Enterprise Agencies in partnership with Department of Business and Trade and others will continue to respond positively to any business considering gigafactory scale manufacturing in Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collate data about electric vehicle charge points which are not part of the ChargePlace Scotland public charging network. Data about public charging devices on privately-managed networks can be obtained from third party data suppliers, such as Zap-Map, who publish monthly statistics on electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

SEPA and Scottish Water communications campaigns highlight the public’s role in managing our water environment, this summer and beyond.

SEPA encourages the reporting of dry rivers and burns. They request that photographs of the conditions are submitted if available together with location data. This helps provide the best possible understanding of the impacts of dry weather.

Scottish Government urges households using private water supplies for drinking water which have run dry to contact their local authorities for assistance.

While we encourage public reporting SEPA and Scottish Water have the lead in monitoring water resources and ensuring action can be taken swiftly where required.