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I will approach the issue from two directions. Colleagues who remember when I was a member of the committee will know of my personal interest in hydrogen and its potential in relation to the wider energy mix of Scotland, our exports and demand from mainland Europe and Germany in particular.

On what can be done for Scotland, there is long-term potential around green hydrogen and how it can be deployed, particularly for the transportation of heavy goods, including maritime transport, in relation to which I think that it will be used at some point. Obviously, we are not in the lead on those areas but having the capacity for refuelling will be essential. That is why deep water ports are increasingly important from a global point of view. What is unfortunately happening with the polar ice cap will open up routes that previously were not there. In the long term, we are looking at 30-year cycles particularly for freight, which is relevant with regard to our moving into the hydrogen area. Might Scotland be well placed to take advantage of that, particularly with regard to the routes, but also with regard to the manufacturing of green hydrogen? How might that manufacturing capability be deployed in particular parts of the country? For example, might the north-east of Scotland be extremely well placed to take advantage of the opportunities?

I have taken interest in the development of hydrogen for rail and keep apprised of that. It might be used in some far north lines, for example, or lines that do not yet exist.

I want to see the use of green hydrogen in that vision of where the country could get to. I will not say that that is happening any time soon, but we should be exploring that. I am open to the issue and I engage with colleagues in the energy sector who deal more with hydrogen.

In the short term, we established a truck task force that looked at how we could map provision for a decarbonised approach to heavy goods vehicle transport, working with the sector—obviously, it is a commercially competitive sector, so there are issues around sharing data about where the optimum routes would be. The UK is interested in that work and would like to see it explored further. That task force also identified the potential for hydrogen fuelling as well as for electric power. That was a more immediate piece of work that has already reported. The work was done with Heriot-Watt University, and I am continuing to take an active interest in it.

It is either that or we can come back to you in writing. I had better not talk about that issue.

There is funding that will be made available for Ardrossan over the coming year should we get to the position that I can make a decision that makes sense for the Government, North Ayrshire Council and the provision at Ardrossan.

In terms of delivery, at any point it will be more than one year for that investment.

A lot of companies benefited from the modal shift revenue support scheme—companies that make good profits and want to reduce their carbon emissions. Public funding to subsidise companies can help to kick-start that shift; it is a question of the balance of investment, and capital investment provides permanency. However, I know that there is interest in that scheme. When I spoke at a recent conference in Grangemouth about connectivity to the port there, that was a particular area of interest, as that is an example of where such funding could be used. I am not saying that it would be, but that is an example of where the industry needs it, and I was being lobbied very hard for the reinstatement of that funding.

My recollection is that the community bus fund for the previous year was capital.

I think that the UK Government should. To be fair to the UK Government, it has been in power only since July. I am sure that the issue will be at the top of somebody’s in-tray, particularly of those in the Treasury. I want to make sure that discussions are also informed by transport ministers.

I think that I have good behaviour on that count, convener. Good morning, and thank you for the invitation to give evidence on the 2025-26 transport portfolio budget. The budget, which is investing more than £4 billion in transport, seeks to make real, substantive and sustainable progress in delivering on the priorities of Government and, critically, of people, businesses and communities in Scotland.

Across Government, we want to improve public services to be more efficient and effective. In transport, that means making them more productive and sustainable for the public purse. We are proud that, here in Scotland, our rail services and a significant part of our ferry services are publicly owned and controlled, and we want more people to choose to travel by public transport for work, study and leisure. That helps make our public transport system more financially sustainable and reduces carbon emissions from travel.

We are investing more than £1.5 billion in Scotland’s railway to support the provision of ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper passenger rail services, and to maintain and renew network infrastructure in Scotland. We are renewing Scotland’s rail fleet with investment of £158.6 million, which will allow us to start the procurement of the intercity train fleet replacement and complete the enhancement and electrification of the East Kilbride line.

We will spend £533 million on our vital ferry services, supporting our island economies and connectivity, as well as strengthening resilience across the network. We intend to deliver six new major vessels to serve Scotland’s ferry network from early 2025, followed by a further seven electric vessels in future years.

Improving public transport is part of our response to the climate emergency, but we know that we need to do more. Therefore, in 2025-26, we will prioritise £263 million for sustainable and low-carbon travel to encourage more people out of their cars and on to more sustainable transport options; to help local authorities leverage more private investment for electric vehicle charging; and to create safer and improved routes for walking, wheeling and cycling.

Crucially, the budget will include a new bus infrastructure fund to help local authorities to reduce the impact of congestion on bus journey times for passengers and make travelling by bus more efficient and attractive. That comes on top of our record funding for bus services, ensuring that more than 2.3 million people continue to benefit from free bus travel. We will begin to extend our offer to asylum seekers and young islanders relying on ferry services.

The ability to move people, goods and services around Scotland and beyond is a key building block to growing the economy, leisure and tourism, and making our nation more prosperous. Next year, we will invest more than £2.1 billion in transport infrastructure to maintain and improve our assets and make our transport network safer.

I am determined that we make progress towards completion of key projects. The Scottish budget will enable the Tomatin to Moy section of the A9 to be dualled, and for progress to be made on procurement and development of the remaining sections, as well as on dualling the Inverness to Nairn part of the A96 corridor.

The budget will enable Transport Scotland to invest in a safe and reliable network, support the transition to net zero and improve how we help to keep families, friends and communities connected, nationally and internationally. I welcome the opportunity to discuss how we intend to do that and to take members’ questions.

In terms of funding and deployment, a lot of the £30 million of the total of £65 million that we have allocated to date is being spent this year. Eighteen local authorities have already received funding, with another 14 to receive it in this financial year. That allows us to leverage in investment from the private sector. Increasingly, people are aware that the private sector should be picking up more of the responsibility for that. We set out our EV draft implementation plan at the end of last year.

On charging, some electric vehicle infrastructure funding has been paid out to date. On additional funding, I ask the officials where we are likely to get to next year. However, most of it will be deployment of funding this year for delivery next year. A lot of the focus on electric funding next year is on what we can do to help vehicles in particular.

If any of the officials wants to give information about additional funding for EVIF for next year, that would be helpful.

We obviously need reliability and resilience in the fleet. We know that, and that is what we are providing. We are also very keen to have a spare vessel for deployment when there are—