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-00265

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 11 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reduce funding or support to OGTC during the current parliamentary session.

Scottish Government funding for the OGTC as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal was set out in 2016 in tripartite agreement with regional partners and UK Government. There are no plans to review the terms of the Deal within the current Parliamentary session.

The stated purpose of the OGTC is to support the oil and gas industry to develop and deploy technology to accelerate the transition to an affordable net zero North Sea.

The Oil and Gas industry is a significant component of Scotland’s economy and remains an important player in ensuring energy security for Scotland and the UK . It can contribute to a sustainable, secure and just and inclusive energy transition, ensuring that a green recovery and a just transition is created that supports good green jobs, skills and expertise and critically leaves no-one behind.

Question reference: S6W-00205

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric charging points ChargePlace Scotland has installed in each year since 2012-13.

The shift to electric vehicles is an important part of responding to the climate emergency and improving air quality in our cities. To help incentivise this shift, the Scottish Government have invested over £45 million in Scotland’s own electric vehicle charging network, ChargePlace Scotland, which has steadily grown since 2012 with the highest number of installs being recorded in 2020 for both private and publicly owned charge points.

The ChargePlace Scotland network currently hosts 2080 electric vehicle charge points, which includes 335 charge points that are not available for public use but will support the blue light services, fleets and depot charging.

Year	Total	Public	Private
2013	122	122	0
2014	129	129	0
2015	277	277	0
2016	107	107	0
2017	170	170	0
2018	118	118	0
2019	321	267	54
2020	556	371	185
2021	280	184	96
	2080	1745	335

Question reference: S6O-00045

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that delays to criminal trials are adversely affecting victims’ mental health.

Question reference: S6W-00203

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many kilometres of Scotland’s railways are electrified, and how many additional kilometres are planned to be electrified in 2021.

Currently 2089 single track kilometres of Scotland’s Railway are electrified. This allows some 75% of Scottish passenger journeys to be made by electric train.

Works to electrify the East Kilbride and Barrhead Routes have commenced, though electrification of these routes will not be completed within 2021. Development work for electrification of the Borders Line and Fife Circle routes is also underway.

Question reference: S6W-00264

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the First Minister’s statement on 26 May 2021, how public ownership of ScotRail will contribute to the decarbonisation of Scotland’s railways.

Question reference: S6W-00302

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Scottish Green Party’s manifesto commitment to “oppose public investment in carbon capture and storage”, and whether it will continue to provide investment and support to carbon capture utilisation and storage projects, regardless of any future deal negotiated with the Scottish Green Party.

The Scottish Government supports the development of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) as a common whole-system decarbonisation infrastructure with the flexibility to adapt over time to play a central role across the decarbonisation strategies of key sectors such as heat, industry and power. A proven technology, there are more than 50 CCUS facilities worldwide, with an estimated combined capture capacity of 96 million tonnes of CO2 per annum.

The Committee on Climate Change describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net-zero emissions; indeed, the swift development of CCUS as a cornerstone of our energy transition is vital to achieving Scotland’s net zero emissions reduction targets.

Scotland is the most cost-effective place to begin CCUS in the UK, with existing oil and gas infrastructure available to repurpose for CO2 transport and storage. The development of CCUS could offer a range of transition opportunities for Scottish oil and gas firms and domestic supply chain companies.

We are already supporting efforts to deploy CCUS in Scotland, including through our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, which will provide £80m over the next five years to support the development of CCUS and negative-emissions technologies. We have also provided funding and policy support to the Acorn CCS project in Aberdeenshire, considered the most advanced CCS project in the UK.

Question reference: S6W-00266

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish a revised Energy Strategy, as set out in its recent Energy Strategy Position Statement.

Question reference: S6W-00204

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the current status of low-emission zones.

Regulations to support the delivery of Low Emission Zones came into effect on 31 May 2021. These are the Low Emission Zones (Emission Standards, Exemptions and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, and the Low Emission Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2021.

Although the timescale for Low Emission Zones (LEZ) implementation has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain committed to the introduction of LEZs within Scotland’s four largest cities in 2022. We are continuing to support the local authorities with their implementation plans, including the provision of grant funding contributions for the enforcement systems. Work to deliver the LEZs is now at an advanced stage, with the relevant local authorities expected to launch public consultations on their proposed schemes later this year.

The Scottish Government is also providing funding through the LEZ Support Fund to assist small businesses and individuals with the cost of complying with the LEZ requirements.

In addition we are continuing to support the bus industry through a range of measures to provide cleaner, less polluting LEZ compliant buses.

Question reference: S6W-00201

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much transport emissions have been reduced by in each year since 2017-18.

Question reference: S6W-00200

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 3 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether any feasibility studies have been carried out regarding plans to move ScotRail to public ownership and, if so, whether it will publish these.

Following detailed analysis and consideration of all available options against the current UK rail legislation, the Scottish Ministers took the decision that it was not appropriate to award a franchise agreement to any party at the expiry of the current ScotRail franchise. In such circumstances, the Scottish Ministers have a statutory duty to provide, or secure the provision of, rail services. This will be done through a wholly owned company of the Scottish Government in a similar manner to the UK Government’s current direct control of the Northern and LNER train operating companies.

The analysis of options that was undertaken included consideration of a range of commercially sensitive matters. Therefore it is not Transport Scotland’s intention to publish the analysis.