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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 MSPs 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

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Question reference: S6W-26614

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will make a decision on the proposals to reduce journey times between the Central Belt and Aberdeen by 20 minutes.

Question reference: S6W-26532

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to meet the Climate Change Committee’s reported recommendation that the deployment rate of charging infrastructure will need to nearly treble by 2030.

The Scottish Government has invested over £65 million to support the installation of over 2,800 public EV charge points across Scotland as part of the ChargePlace Scotland(CPS) EV charging network. As a direct result, Scotland has over 4,880 public EV charge points and the best provision of public charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region in the UK.

Transport Scotland has also provided £5.7 million to support the installation of 18,861 domestic charge points and £10.8 million to support 1,432 higher powered workplace charge points, complementing the public network.

In addition, the Scottish Government published the Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network last year, highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. This work is being supported through the £60m EV Infrastructure Fund(EVIF), where we are supporting local authorities across Scotland to work with the private sector to lever in the private investment needed to develop the EV charging network in Scotland at the pace and scale required to meet future demands.

Question reference: S6W-26610

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it plans to meet its target of achieving a 20% reduction in car kilometres travelled by 2030, in light of 47.4 billion vehicle kilometres having been travelled in 2022, according to the Scottish Transport Statistics 2023.

Question reference: S6W-26615

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to subsidised bus travel for people in employment.

The Fair Fares Review, published on 22 March 2024, considered the range of discounts and concessionary schemes which are available across all modes including bus, rail and ferry.

On bus travel, the Review maintains existing eligibility to the National Concessionary Travel Schemes for those groups who currently benefit, which comprise over 2.3 million people across Scotland – a higher percentage than anywhere else in the UK and commits to development of a proposal for a bus flat fares pilot for an area-based scheme to provide flat fares on bus travel, or reduced fares on zonal integrated travel for consideration in future budgets.

In addition, the Review has recommended that further policy development work be undertaken by the Scottish Government to consider better targeting of public funds towards supporting access to public transport for those who need it most, including consideration of concessionary travel support for those experiencing financial poverty.

Question reference: S6W-26611

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it plans to meet its target of achieving a 20% reduction in car kilometres travelled by 2030, in light of 34% of people having driven every day in 2022, according to the Scottish Transport Statistics 2023.

Question reference: S6W-26608

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it plans to meet its target of achieving a 20% reduction in car kilometres travelled by 2030, in light of road traffic having increased overall by 9% in 2022-23, according to the Scottish Transport Statistics 2023.

Question reference: S6W-26533

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to meet the Climate Change Committee’s reported recommendation that the reliability of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure must improve.

Since 2011, Transport Scotland has invested over £65 million, on behalf of Scottish Ministers, to support the installation of over 2,800 public EV charge points across Scotland as part of the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) EV charging network. These public EV charge points are owned and operated by over 400 separate public, private and third sector organisations.

As a direct result, Scotland has over 4,880 public EV charge points and the best provision of public charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region in the UK.

Overall reliability across the CPS network is typically very good, with all charge points on the network up and running around 95-98% of the time each month . The reliability of EV charge points will soon be regulated following the introduction of new UK-wide Public Charge Point Regulations , which were introduced under powers reserved to the UK Government, and came into force in November last year. All public EV charging networks in Scotland must comply with these new regulations, with the charge point owner and operator responsible for compliance.

The Scottish Government launched a new Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (EVIF) in January 2022. Through a partnership approach with Scotland’s local authorities, it aims to leverage £60m of public and private funding to double the network to 6,000 charge points by 2026. A greater commercial sector involvement underpinned by fair, transparent pricing will help to drive up reliability standards across Scotland and encourage more drivers to make the switch to EV

Question reference: S6W-26530

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 April 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the condition of roads across Scotland.

Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. Transport Scotland specify requirements for regular surveys and inspections to ensure that the trunk road network is safe and fit for purpose, and to provide appropriate information to support maintenance decisions. Transport Scotland commission contractors to undertake annual machine-based surveys on trunk roads using specialist vehicles to gather information on the surface integrity of the road; the friction characteristics of the surface; and the structural capacity (strength) of the underlying road construction. This is supplemented with a series of targeted inspections to obtain specific information about the road asset undertaken by Operating Companies under the term maintenance contract. The combined information is used to determine future maintenance programmes and investment requirements.

In addition Operating Companies have a contractual obligation to inspect the trunk road network at 7-day intervals. These inspections are primarily to identify defects that require prompt attention because they present, or could present, an immediate hazard to road users. The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all such defects, and the term maintenance contract sets out strict timescales for their repair.

With regard to local roads, local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic. Neither the Scottish Ministers nor the Scottish Government would become directly involved in their day-to-day duties.

Question reference: S6W-23452

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how the current CAVForth project success and how follow-up proposals will be communicated to local authority transport teams.

Question reference: S6W-23454

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2024
Current Status: Answer expected on 10 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how local authorities have been involved in shaping future data collection requirements, and to understand future outputs and how these will be shared, as described in STPR Reference ID National 163 and National 164.

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