- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether its Just Transition (a) Fund and (b) plans will include and support contractor limited companies.
Answer
Our Just Transition plans (beginning with the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan due to be published later this year) will set out how the economic and social impacts of our transition to Net Zero will be managed in a way that delivers on our national just transition outcomes.
From this programme of work, and the co-design activity that will be undertaken to support the Plans, we will be able to assess the nature and scale of impacts on workers across the sectors of our economy. This will enable us to assess how we support the full range of businesses and business models currently operating across sectors, including contractors contracting via a limited company.
Our Just Transition Fund is a new financial commitment and is currently being developed. It will be shaped in discussion with regional partners. Further updates will be shared as this engagement develops.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, ahead of the publication of its Heat in Buildings Strategy, whether it (a) consulted any bodies, organisations or individuals representing rural and remote communities and (b) surveyed, or consulted by other means, rural householders.
Answer
We consulted on a draft of the Heat in Buildings Strategy in February 2021. 178 individuals and organisations responded. This consultation asked for views on the impact of the strategy on island and other remote communities. We have published the analysis of the consultation alongside the Strategy.
Alongside the consultation, we organised a series of 7 consultation workshops, including one on Place, one on Communities and one on Islands. These were open to all interested participants, aiming to communicate the vision and actions planned as part of the Strategy and collect feedback.
The consultation events were attended by 156 individuals in total, and included representatives of organisations, community groups, housing associations and local authorities located in rural and island areas of Scotland.
We have also published an Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) drawing on the engagement and responses generated from the Draft Heat in Buildings Strategy consultation. Officials also met with islands representatives from Highlands and Islands Enterprise during the initial stages of the ICIA. Where possible negative impacts on island communities were identified, relevant mitigating actions were outlined. The ICIA also noted multiple positive impacts heat decarbonisation will bring to islands communities.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 1 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it made of the financial implications for rural householders of its domestic heat decarbonisation policies, which are included in its Heat in Buildings Strategy.
Answer
Alongside the Heat in Buildings Strategy we published a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment which sets out the evidence relating to capital and running costs of converting to zero emissions heat.
We recognise that the costs of conversion for island and rural homes can be higher than equivalent urban properties for a variety of reasons, including supply chains, transport needs and weather disruptions. Further details and mitigating actions are set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy Island Communities Impact Assessment , and we will publish an Islands Energy Strategy later this year. Our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan will include a specific focus on developing local supply chains particularly in our islands and remote communities to help bring costs down.
The financial implications for households will depend on how heat and energy efficiency measures are funded and financed. This is an area of active policy development. We already run schemes to help households retrofit their properties to cut emissions, and are committed to supporting those least able to pay. We have established a new Green Heat Finance Taskforce which will recommend ways the Scottish Government and private sector can collaborate to scale up investment.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will (a) provide details of any formal meetings that have taken place between ministers and (i) trade unions, (ii) oil and gas companies, (iii) colleges, academia and education providers and (iv) oil and gas industry bodies in the North East Scotland region and Moray regarding the proposed Just Transition Plan and Fund and (b) publish the minutes of any such meetings.
Answer
The Scottish Government are currently collating this information for an Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) request which will then be published for the public by its deadline of 8 February 2022.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will (a) provide details of any formal meetings that have taken place between ministers and local authorities in the North East Scotland region and Moray regarding the proposed Just Transition Plan and Fund and (b) publish the minutes of any such meetings.
Answer
The Scottish Government are currently collating this information for an Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) request which will then be published for the public by its deadline of 8 February 2022.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason its draft Budget reduces funding to support the costs of maintenance, safe operation and renewal of the Scottish rail network from £501 million to £427 million; what aspects of maintenance, safe operation and renewal will either be reduced or not go ahead as a result of this, and what the evidential basis is for its conclusions regarding the appropriateness of such a reduction.
Answer
The independent Office of Rail and Road has determined that the five year settlement in Control Period 6 (2019 – 2024) will be £2,245m; this represents a 16% increase compared to £1,925m in Control Period 5 (2014 to 2019). This determination is based on the work Network Rail expects to carry out within the entire funding period.
The overall planned rail infrastructure budget for Control Period 6 (2019 to 2024) remains £2,245m and is continuing to fund Network Rail fully in line with this.
In each year of any 5 year funding period, Network Rail programmes its workbank, which may increase or decrease from year to year, and this defines its in-year funding requirement from the ORR determination. This is why the entry in the Scottish Budget can show year on year increases or decreases.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) service levels and (b) types of train sets ScotRail is required to run between Aberdeen and the central belt under the current franchise agreement, and whether this will change following it coming under direct state control from March 2022.
Answer
Service levels and the rolling stock used have been designed to match changing demand during the pandemic period, while at the same time considering efficiency of resourcing and overall affordability, for which Abellio ScotRail is responsible. Decisions on service levels are then considered at Scotland’s Railway Task Force which has met throughout the pandemic.
We expect ScotRail, from 1 April 2022, to continue to operate service levels and train capacity adjusted to reflect and encourage growing levels of demand as wider Covid restrictions are eased.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 31 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government from where specifically it will source energy that is currently generated by the Torness nuclear power station, following its closure.
Answer
Security of electricity supply is a reserved matter and is delivered by National Grid ESO across the whole of Great Britain under regulation from Ofgem. NGESO is also responsible for sourcing generation to meet demand.
Scottish electricity supplies are currently considered secure with around 9GW’s of secure supply to meet peak demand of around 5GW’s. National Grid ESO has conducted a study of the effects of the earlier than expected closure of nuclear generation in Scotland which concludes that the system will remain secure with any potential operational issues and risks being identified and mitigations put in place.
Scotland is a net electricity exporter and in 2020 exported 20.4 TWh of electricity, equivalent to powering every household in Scotland for 26 months. It only imported a little over 1 TWh of electricity, meaning that net exports of electricity were 19.3 TWh in 2020, its highest year on record.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether the current ScotRail franchise agreement requires it to run class 43 HSTs sets on its services between Edinburgh and Aberdeen; if it is not a franchise requirement, what the expectation is; how frequent these services are required to be, in terms of departures from (a) Edinburgh and (b) Aberdeen; what the breakdown of class of sets on services from (i) Aberdeen to Edinburgh and (ii) Edinburgh to Aberdeen has been since November 2021, and, in any instances since November 2021 where train sets on this route have not been class 43 HSTs, for what reason this has been the case.
Answer
It is for Abellio up to 31 March and the new operator ScotRail Trains Ltd from 1 April 2022, to decide what rolling stock it runs and this needs to deliver the required timetable performance and provide capacity to meet changing demand levels. Transport Scotland continues to monitor the capacity provided through the current service operation contract.
Since November 2021, a mix of class 43 HSTs (4 + 5-cars) and class 170 (3-cars) trains has been running between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. From time to time it has been necessary to substitute other types of trains for the planned HSTs due to a variety of operational reasons, including absence due to Covid of the staff trained to operate HSTs.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many class 43 HSTs train sets are in the ScotRail fleet; how many of these sets were in use on 3 January 2022 on the Inter7City network, and, if any of these sets were not being used on the Inter7City network on 3 January 2022, for what reason.
Answer
There are 25 HSTs in the Abellio ScotRail fleet which are formed from 52 locos (power cars) and 117 coaches into 4 and 5 car formations but not all of these are planned to run in daily service.
Abellio ScotRail has been providing appropriate capacity on these routes that is better matched to the period of reduced demand, down around 50% compared with early 2019.