Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-12179

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce fees for the use of ChargePlace Scotland rapid-charging EV charging stations.

The responsibility for applying fees for use of the public ChargePlace Scotland network lies with the owners of charge points, which includes public, private and third sector organisations. The Scottish Government’s draft Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network makes it clear that a shift towards a public charging network largely financed and operated by the commercial sector is necessary. As noted in the joint report published by Transport Scotland and Scottish Futures Trust in July 2021, the existence of free provision or below market rates does not incentivise commercial investment in the charging network, and it is important that tariffs reflect true operation, maintenance and asset replacement costs. The Scottish Government is taking steps to support the development of the public charging network in line with our draft Vision, including through our EV Infrastructure Fund.

Question reference: S6W-12181

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how ChargePlace Scotland tracks and responds to EV charging station faults, and what the (a) average and (b) longest time is between a fault at a charging station being identified and the station being made operational again.

Overall reliability across the ChargePlace Scotland network is typically very good with the entire network up and running around 95% of the time each month . Most faults on the network are short-lived and in the majority of cases require no physical intervention or a visit by an engineer. Typically around 90% of faults are resolved within 48 hrs with the ChargePlace Scotland helpdesk often remedying faults remotely.

ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) has a robust fault management process in place underpinned by KPIs as set out in the CPS contract. The CPS website provides information on fault management and relevant KPIs.

The Scottish Government does not have ready access to information regarding average and longest time in between a fault being identified and being made operational again. However, a new Network Performance page has recently been published on the , which will routinely be updated with detailed information on fault tickets and the performance of the network.

Question reference: S6W-12182

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many ChargePlace Scotland EV charging stations are currently fully operational along the A9.

Question reference: S6O-01635

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Age Scotland's report, Keeping the Doors Open.

Question reference: S6W-12120

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the impact of the Deposit Return Scheme on delivery of the Carbon Neutral Islands Project.

Question reference: S6W-12123

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the impact of the Deposit Return Scheme on existing recycling services provided by island local authorities.

Question reference: S6W-12122

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling it has undertaken on the carbon footprint of any increased transportation generated by the Deposit Return Scheme in island communities.

The Island Communities Impact Assessment ( ) that we published in March 2020 confirms that the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme will not increase the amount of waste that will arise in island communities. Since most waste is currently transported off the islands it is unlikely that there will be any significant increase in number of journeys made by waste hauliers. No further modelling has been undertaken.

Question reference: S6W-12121

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of the net environmental impact of the Deposit Return Scheme in island communities.

Question reference: S6W-11971

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05102 by Graeme Dey on 5 January 2022, how much Highlands and Islands Airports Limited's (HIAL) Air Traffic Management System project has cost to date.

Question reference: S6W-11891

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been paid in subsidies to (a) Barra, (b) Benbecula, (c) Campbeltown, (d) Dundee, (e) Inverness, (f) Islay, (g) Kirkwall, (h) Sumburgh, (i) Stornoway, (j) Tiree and (k) Wick John O'Groats Airport in each year since 2017-18, broken down by capital and revenue allocations.

The following table provides the information requested in relation to capital allocations. For completeness, HIAL Head Office figures are also included. Figures include both grant and loan funding.

Airport	2017-18 (£)	2018-19 (£)	2019-20 (£)	2020-21 (£)	2021-22 (£)
Barra	183,481.08	108,483.61	457,063.78	353,902.34	867,883.49
Benbecula	779,393.75	627,447.75	135,974.70	600,168.73	1,690,104.96
Campbeltown	193,284.51	131,895.32	615,854.76	286,619.78	4,776,933.08
Dundee	207,058.60	367,727.00	184,316.62	1,394,046.70	965,679.77
Inverness	3,082,271.52	2,759,966.51	4,726,100.48	9,406,498.54	11,645,971.05
Islay	100,276.74	125,036.04	170,835.64	470,970.26	735,028.98
Kirkwall	620,656.50	1,654,164.92	354,782.05	1,556,529.87	4,673,773.88
Stornoway	2,802,889.70	433,188.33	291,442.76	2,187,427.27	4,028,778.43
Sumburgh	1,069,276.36	1,018,554.48	2,787,491.56	3,404,861.35	1,912,617.76
Tiree	170,282.71	667,049.27	269,461.82	582,983.03	630,003.17
Wick John O’Groats	341,024.96	269,639.44	400,068.75	315,326.56	530,130.34
Head Office	339,733.76	224,446.02	3,690,673.05	3,241,700.54	4,445,809.64

The Scottish Government does not provide HIAL with revenue allocations on an airport by airport basis. Revenue funding is provided to HIAL as a Group with HIAL then allocating funding across the company, including on Head Office functions, on an as needed basis in order to achieve a breakeven position in any given period. The following table shows the revenue funding provided to HIAL in each year since 2017-18.

Year	Revenue Allocation (£)
2017-18	20,431,303.22
2018-19	21,617,923.68
2019-20	24,304,094.00
2020-21	38,009,537.28
2021-22	38,086,473.99