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That is an interesting proposition. When I was on the economy committee, we looked at how we measure carbon miles, and that would obviously need to be done. Such issues are live and current. There would need to be reciprocal international agreements and so on, and we could see the EU collectively moving more quickly in that area than Germany. If you have defensive procurement, which some countries are alive to and considering as we speak, there are knock-on consequences. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, which tends to be in imports and exports.

I understand that you have the UK minister coming to give evidence to you, and that may be an appropriate question to ask them.

I think that I did. I said that, when I was in Inverness, I announced one of the early allocations for this year.

Grid capacity is the single biggest issue that we face in our transport network and, indeed, in our decarbonisation work. I know that the committee has taken an interest in the issue; indeed, when I was deputy convener, we had a very short and sharp inquiry on it, because it does link with the wider issue of transport connectivity.

Along with Alison Irvine, the chief executive of Transport Scotland, I met with SSEN in relation to some of the wider connectivity issues, because we have a number of issues across different modes. However, you are right; we need to ensure, in particular, that there is capacity and that the capability to deploy is met. Clearly, local councils will be engaging on this, too, as they lead on such issues.

My concern is that, when it comes to the current UK provision and the decision making on priorities with regard to connectivity, we as a Government and as a Parliament collectively ensure that Scotland’s needs are properly met. The convener has previously pointed out the geography of Scotland’s rural and island areas, and we want these things to be deployed as well as possible.

However, this is a constraint, and if the committee wanted to look at the issue further, it could do so. I should point out that I do not lead on energy and grid connectivity, but I do make my interest known to colleagues and increasingly have more direct contact. We have agreed with SSEN to look more widely at some of the strategic issues in response not just to its needs but, more important, to the public’s needs with regard to grid connections.

Yes, it is, but it is also an enabler in helping deployment. Alison, did you want to come in?

I think that that is a very important point to identify. Even those of us who represent constituents in the central belt will know that, in rural areas, the availability of buses is important, and a number of us have reflected on that in the past in this committee. We must remember that we have a deregulated system of buses, in which the vast majority of bus providers are private companies.

As far as the funding model is concerned, you are right to identify that the vast majority of funding goes towards supporting our very popular and welcome concessionary scheme, whereby 2.3 million people in Scotland have free bus travel. Does the funding model allow us to use that funding to organise the system in a better way? It does not, because of the deregulated position that we are in. Can and should that change? Yes. That is why the committee has looked at all the different statutory instruments that have come forward under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, which provides the opportunity for franchising and bus partnerships. Those regulations are now in place and local authorities have the power to establish such arrangements.

I am not pretending that that will happen any time soon, but there is a wider issue that I have asked Transport Scotland to work on with the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, who has direct responsibility for buses. I would like them to identify what we can do to make better use of, and to leverage, the investment that is provided to local authorities. However, the committee will be well aware that the legislation on concessionary travel is quite prescriptive in its provision of an entitlement and a funding mechanism, so making any strategic changes to that will be a task for the next session of Parliament. All parties should come together to look at how we can best use that heft of public investment to ensure that, as part of that arrangement, we have stronger provision in those areas where there are currently challenges.

The problem that we have is that bus patronage has gone down post the pandemic, and it is a struggle to get that back. You have identified that there is a vicious cycle here. People will not use buses if they are not reliable and the routes that take them where they need to get to have been lost. Through the work that we are doing at East Kilbride and Hairmyres, we are trying to make sure that we end up with a hub that allows people to use buses to access the rail infrastructure. That connectivity with other transport modes will be very important.

We cannot continue as we are. We need to bring about change, but we face challenges with regard to the pace at which we can do that and the levers that are available to us. Bettina Sizeland might want to comment more generally on our work in this area.

There is a particular increase in more recent years and for this year coming. There will be increasing costs in relation to bringing in the six new vessels, the payment for that and the loan arrangement that was put in place for that. As you will recognise, over 10 years, there are big increases from inflation and our costs on the harbours and ports investment work, and so on. There are also significant pay issues. The biggest subsidy that we have put into services has been in relation to the road equivalent tariff, which came in substantially around that time—in 2015. If you look at the journey from Oban to Craignure, for example, with RET that fare for next year will be £4.70, whereas immediately before RET was introduced, that fare was £5.65.

We need to identify subsidising our fares structure as a way of realising income to an area. If we are in a position that ferries from Oban to Craignure are cheaper now than they were almost 10 years ago in 2015, that shows the level and degree of subsidy that we have put into the ferry services to make sure that our lifeline ferry services are providing the value that our islanders need.

You will know that one of the consequences of bringing in RET is that it also made tourism more attractive. That has brought challenges in some of our island communities, but it has certainly brought economic benefit to our islanders. They have been able to benefit economically from more tourists coming to visit our islands. RET is a substantial increase in subsidy. I am not sure whether you are suggesting that you want us to remove road equivalent tariff—I hope not. We know from our islands’ connectivity plan, and I suspect from the investigations of the committee, that RET has proved very popular with islanders.

That is because subsidy is not a one-off thing. Subsidy carries on each year.

No.

Part of the work on that selection process will help identify what time reductions would be provided. On the update about the implications for journey times, we have already seen some improvement as a result of some of the investment that has taken place, but I will be able to come back to the committee in writing if there is anything additional to what I have set out to you in my answer.

Reliability is really important, and we are investing in buses to ensure that we have reliability. On the paused funding, we are now releasing funding for bus infrastructure, which is very welcome.

I reflect that Mr Fairlie and I had very good meeting with the Scottish road works commissioner, who will focus on the information that can be provided for buses. There is an increase in the amount of emergency works that are being carried out on bus routes. Clearly, as those are emergencies, they must be dealt with. Utility works are increasing, which causes disruptions. If bus companies know about problems with road works, they can put in place diversions and so on. We are looking at everything that we can do to identify how we can help to make buses more reliable, and I welcome the fact that the commissioner, who has responsibility for looking at such issues, is engaging directly with bus companies, which will be helpful.

On what we can try to do to leverage in funding, I will just reflect on my comments to the deputy convener. There is a significant amount of funding in buses, some of which goes on free travel for the under-22s. That is determined by legislation that is scrutinised by this committee and passed by this Parliament. Making changes—to leverage that into providing more security for more rural routes, for example—will take a significant amount of thought. We are working on that.