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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

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

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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 4 April 2025
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Displaying 2616 contributions

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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Environmental Governance

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

A related issue on which we have had correspondence is the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023, and one piece of EU legislation that was revoked under that act was the National Emission Ceilings Regulations 2018. You raised concerns at the time about that whole framework and about how we would report and develop plans around air quality after going over the Brexit cliff edge. What do you see coming forward now? Do you have any more intelligence as to how that gap can be filled? I think that those regulations went in the autumn of last year. To my knowledge, no replacement in that area has been announced yet by any of the Governments.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Environmental Governance

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

Is there a practical implication if an organisation wants to challenge the Government on whether it is meeting its air quality standards? Is there an immediate gap there, and is that a problem?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

I was going to ask about how long the ODPS has been in place and how many times the cap has been breached during that time, but I think that Ms Sizeland has already answered that question. If there is any more detail about that that you want to get on the record, it would be useful to know.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

Was that at a time when patronage was growing substantially, or was that predicted? I think that we are now growing back very slowly from Covid—that seems to be the case from the modelling that I have seen. From discussions with bus companies, I think they are not expecting a huge surge in older people being back on the buses. What was the trend that led up to the breach of the cap in a single year, in 2018?

09:45  

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

The young persons scheme has been really successful. There were a few teething problems at the beginning, but there is now substantial uptake among young people under the age of 22 who have the card.

Is there a target for how much you want the percentage of cardholders to go up in the next year? Will we reach a plateau in the numbers of people and their families who want a card, or do you think there is still a gap and that councils and schools could encourage young people to take up the card in greater numbers? Are we at the limit of uptake of the card, or do you think there is still a little way to go in getting the last folk on board?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Environmental Governance

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

That all sounds substantial. I am sure that it will be a great help to the committee when those reports are published and we can look at that.

Can I take it from your answer that that will feed into ministerial objectives for Scottish Water’s investment and that the report will be timed in such a way as to inform ministerial thinking and choices?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Environmental Governance

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

I will move from water to air. The committee did an inquiry on the back of ESS’s first air quality report. I note that you have now produced a subsequent air quality report, which recommends the adoption of the World Health Organization’s very stringent limits for particulates. That was not an improvement report on the Scottish Government, so I am interested in what that report’s headlines are—the top asks—and also what the conversation with the Government on air quality now looks like, given that you have, in effect, produced an advisory set of recommendations with a slightly different status to the first report on air quality.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

I was going to ask about how long the older and disabled persons scheme has been in place, how many times the cap has been breached, and what happened, but I think that Bettina Sizeland—

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Environmental Governance

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

This is obviously an issue of great public concern, and I note the number of submissions that ESS has received. The primary focus of those submissions has been SEPA’s discretion under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 to regulate in that area and take enforcement action. Can you give the committee the top line from your investigations and spell out the next major steps for regulators and others in that area?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Environmental Governance

Meeting date: 5 March 2024

Mark Ruskell

Are you talking about CSO monitoring?