Seòmar agus comataidhean

The £1m allocated to the project is to cover liabilities if awardees exercise their option to redeem their Peatland Carbon Units with Scottish Government rather than selling them on the open market.

There are no implications for the Peatland ACTION budget in the year 2026-2027 as a result of the carbon contracts pilot.

The Scottish Government has a number of contingent liabilities, which are disclosed in its consolidated accounts each year. The Scottish Government seeks the prior approval of Parliament, via the Finance and Public Administration Committee, before entering into any specific contingent liability unless it arises in the normal course of business or the sum of the risk is £2.5m or less.

The Scottish Government seeks to manage the impact of contingent liabilities crystallising within existing departmental budgets, in line with portfolio accountabilities. Only where necessary would these be funded centrally.

The budget treatment of crystallised contingent liabilities depends on the nature of the underlying transaction, in line with HM Treasury’s Consolidated Budgeting Guidance and accounting regulations. At present based on the latest contingent liabilities, if these were to crystalise there would be more call on capital over resource budgets.

Scottish Government undertook a robust process to assess a total of 14 different possible blended finance mechanisms for peatland restoration. Officials used Green Book appraisal methods to filter this list and employed a wide range of evidence to select a preferred option.

Scottish Government and NatureScot have engaged with a range of parties interested in taking part in the pilot. However, Scottish Government and NatureScot have not at this stage sought formal expressions of interest.

The Island Connectivity and Vessel and Ports Plan outlines our investment in new vessels and port and harbour projects that have been delivered within Phase 1 period of 2021-2026 reference to pages 11, 12 and 22 of the VPP.

Whilst we would have liked to have made more progress given the long lead-times for vessel and port projects, it was always known that a number of these projects would require further funding for construction beyond the five-year period of the IIP.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-35362 and S6W-35361 on 24 June 2025. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The recently published Strategic Approach of the Islands Connectivity Plan sets Accessibility as one of four priorities for future ferry services and identifies a number of actions to support the delivery of this priority, including development of a Ferries Accessibility Standard and reopening of the Ferries Accessibility Fund.

Carbon Contracts are to be piloted as part of the Peatland ACTON programme. All projects will be required to meet Peatland ACTION quality criteria. Scottish Government has not undertaken modelling to estimate the exact impact of the Carbon Contracts pilot on levels of peatland restoration and CO2 emissions reductions. The pilot itself will play a key role in assessing the potential impact of the Carbon Contracts mechanism on rates of peatland restoration.

As a part of the Carbon Contracts pilot, Scottish Government intends to spend up to a total of £1m in capital.