Skip to main content

Language: English / Gàidhlig

Loading…

Seòmar agus comataidhean

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

Criathragan Hide all filters

Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 16 January 2025
Select which types of business to include


Select level of detail in results

Displaying 2365 contributions

|

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

In your initial comments, you mentioned the Scottish Government’s response in updating the policy guidance as welcome, but is that enough to drive compliance? Is that the Government’s central tool?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

Thanks.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

You mentioned the tightening of air quality regulations quite a lot this morning and you alluded to the WHO limits. How do you see them driving targets in Scotland? Will the WHO limits drive European targets? The Scottish Government’s commitment is to stay broadly aligned. Would you expect a process of adopting certain milestones relating to WHO targets or a wider approach that looks at continual improvement? I am trying to get a sense of where you think those targets might be going. Your report is very much about existing targets and existing challenges around governance and creating a governance system that is fit for the future, but I am not quite clear what that future is going to be.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

Does it concern you that Perth and Kinross Council has not issued any FPNs for engine idling ever under that 2003 power?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

It does happen—that is the point.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

On air quality management, you make the point that air quality has a potential impact on vulnerable people, the elderly and schoolchildren. What should be done about monitoring around those populations, for example at schools and hospitals? What are you looking for the Scottish Government to conclude about what an adequate form of monitoring should be? Should all schools and hospitals be covered by air quality monitoring? Should it be targeted at certain areas? We have not had a response on that from the Government yet, because it is reviewing what the monitoring might look like, but what is your view at the moment? What are you looking to see?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

From where you are sitting right now, does that mean monitoring at every primary school, secondary school and hospital?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

If air quality limits change, as they might do if the Scottish Government remains aligned with the European Union, that might open up other areas, which potentially would breach air quality limits. Does the review of the current monitoring network look at how the limits might change over time and how that might bring in more communities? Is a weighting given to vulnerability within that? Does the air quality monitoring review look at the need to particularly identify the most vulnerable people in our society?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

I want to pick up on an issue that was raised in the air quality inquiry that was carried out in the previous session, on which we have had a bit of evidence in this inquiry—the issue of the source of emissions in rural areas and, in particular, the role of ammonia in seeding particulate emissions. This is a question about the joined-up nature of Government policy. Is that an issue that the rural affairs secretary is considering? Is it being considered as part of the reform of subsidy for agriculture? Is action being taken elsewhere in the Government to address that issue in CAFS, as well as any other sources of emissions that we have not covered this morning?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Air Quality

Meeting date: 25 April 2023

Mark Ruskell

Further to the convener’s point, we have had a response from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities in the inquiry, which is, of course, a broader inquiry that incorporates your report and looks at air quality in a broader sense. That response suggested that councils have been very busy on climate change and perhaps have not prioritised air quality. I am trying to tempt you to comment on leadership. Do you think that there is an issue around leadership in individual councils or across local authorities as a whole in Scotland? It was quite disappointing to get just a one-page letter from COSLA that said that councils have been quite busy and that there are resource issues.