Consumers will be reimbursed deposits in the form of a cash payment should they wish.

Packaging design choices are a matter for producers and there are a number of factors which influence their decisions. The costs associated with different materials already vary and the DRS producer fee will only be one element of total costs of using any given material. Producers using packaging which sits outside the scope of the deposit return scheme will incur costs under extended producer responsibility obligations, with these costs likely to increase significantly in the period ahead. Our understanding is that the choice of material is also often associated with branding and positioning in the market. Against this background, Ministers have taken an approach which seeks to avoid the preferred scheme design favouring any particular material.

Whilst recognising there is limited scope to draw direct comparisons, the Scottish Government has considered a broad range of evidence from established schemes which collect glass. It is clear that there are a wide range of factors which can impact packaging design choices and Ministers have been careful to avoid the preferred scheme design favouring any particular material.

The Scottish Government’s deposit return scheme design, published on 8 May, was informed by extensive engagement with a wide range of partners. Scottish Ministers intend to bring forward the secondary legislation to establish that scheme in the near future, providing a further opportunity for stakeholders to share their views on the proposals. In the meantime, the Scottish Government, working in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, is continuing to work closely with stakeholders on plans for implementation of the scheme.

Transport Scotland provides funding to our delivery partners Energy Saving Trust to deliver the Low Carbon Transport Loan which offers interest-free loans for domestic consumers up to the value of £35,000 as well as business loans for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles up to the value of £120,000. This scheme has been in place since 2011.

Please see the table in which it breaks down how much of the Low Carbon Transport Loan Fund has been distributed, broken down by spend and by project type.

Transport Scotland delivers walking and cycling infrastructure and behaviour change projects together with national partners such as the Energy Saving Trust, Cycling Scotland, Cycling UK and Sustrans. These partners have developed programmes from 2018 that deliver on the 2018/19 Programme for Government action to “subsidise bike hire for jobseekers, modern apprentices, young people and students”. Subsidy is being offered in response to the specific local needs of communities and the most disadvantaged groups.

The Scottish Government published its draft National Transport Strategy for consultation on 31 July 2019. It recognises the importance of improving the quality of travel information and providing an integrated transport network in order to achieve our vision for transport: We will have a sustainable, inclusive and accessible transport system, helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors.

The Scottish Government funds Traveline Scotland which provides multi-modal passenger information on public transport services in Scotland. Since 2018, Traveline Scotland has improved access to real time information when journey planning and to push alerts on travel disruption information. Furthermore, the Transport (Scotland) Bill will provide local authorities with a range of tools to improve bus services depending on local needs and includes measures to improve the information available to passengers on bus services. Our rail and ferry contracts commit operators to providing passenger information and engaging with other operators on integration between services. On rail this includes the work of the Transport Integration Group and a range of committed obligations and investments aimed at improving passenger information and integration. On ferries this includes funding for CalMac Ferries Ltd (CFL) to procure a new booking, reservation and ticketing system, which will include the provision of integrated ticketing capability.

In addition, the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept includes the integration of various modes of transport to provide people with easy, digital access to travel information to support travel choices. We have launched the MaaS Investment fund with £2 million funding over three years to grow the evidence base on the potential for delivery of MaaS solutions in Scotland for the benefit of end users. The MaaS fund was launched on 20 June 2019 during the MaaS Scotland event.

There have been eight rounds of the Scottish Green Bus Fund (SGBF). Funding amounting to £17.2 million has seen the introduction of 475 low carbon vehicles to the fleet. SGBF award details are published on the Transport Scotland website at:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/scottish-green-bus-fund/#45456 .

Transport Scotland’s Switched on Towns and Cities initiative was announced in June 2018. The challenge fund attracted a number of bids from Local Authorities and 5 successful applications received funding, averaging £2.4m each over 2 fiscal years. The successful bids were from Dundee, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow and Stirling.

With the programme expected to have further funding rounds, making up to 5 awards in each round, we will be on course to developing up to 10 electric towns and cities in Scotland by December 2019.

Between March 2018 and March 2019, the number of green buses operating in Scotland changed from 577 to 793, an increase of 216. Data is not available to detail the change in the number of green buses in Scotland since September 2018.