Seòmar agus comataidhean

Rail is one of the transport modes with the lowest emissions. ScotRail provides details on managing its environmental impact on its website, which can be found here: Managing environmental impact

ScotRail also has a Sustainability Policy in place, which is available online at: Sustainability Policy | ScotRail

As with all projects, Transport Scotland Officials regularly discuss and review draft documents prepared by its technical advisors on an ongoing basis as part of the process to finalise reports prior to seeking Ministerial approval to publish. No changes were made by the Scottish Ministers to the draft outcomes of the A96 Corridor Review that identified an optimal Refined Package of improvements.

The position of the Scottish Government has not changed – the current favoured position is to fully dual the A96, and we are already taking forward the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including Nairn Bypass.

The Scottish Government is considering all sensible alternative fuel options for the development of the Scottish rail network.

The final subsidy for all Caledonian Sleeper services for the financial year 2024-25 will be known when the accounts for this year have been finalised and published.

896km of 2695km in Scotland is already electrified, based on ORR figures to 31 March 2024. However, 75% of ScotRail journeys are already made on electric trains. Future plans will be outlined in the refreshed Decarbonisation Action Plan.

As detailed in my letter to NZET Committee on 17 December 2024, the technological and financial landscape has changed significantly since the Decarbonisation Action Plan was first published. The Scottish Government currently faces significant financial and budgetary pressures. As a consequence of these challenges, it is clear that the 2020 Decarbonisation Action Plan commitment to decarbonise rail services by 2035 can no longer be met. A revised target of 2045 is planned for the refreshed Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan.

The replacement for ScotRail’s High Speed Trains (HST) is expected to be more energy efficient than the HSTs and therefore will significantly reduce emissions, a direct contribution to decarbonisation.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-31908 on 11 December 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database only contains information for offences that have records of at least one prosecution under which that offence was the main crime.

The Environmental Regulation (Enforcement Measures) (Scotland) Order 2015 provides SEPA with the power to issue penalties and accept undertakings for a range of environmental offences.

The latest available information is for the financial year 2022-23 and is provided in the following table.

Number of people prosecuted for environmental crimes, where main crime, 2018-19 to 2022-23.

The Scottish Prosecution College delivers a variety of training courses including online and in-person training which is available to all staff within COPFS. This encompasses a wide range of topics, and case types, ranging from domestic abuse and sexual offence case training through to High Court and Sheriff and Jury case preparation. Specialist units within COPFS also provide additional training to staff within those units.