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The SPCB provides the staff cost provision to enable Members to employ up to the equivalent of 4 full time staff. Individual Members have flexibility to decide how to use their staffing budget, including setting staff salaries within the agreed pay ranges and overall capped provision limit set by the SPCB. It is for Members as the employer to decide how they employ their staff so long as it is within the rules of the Scheme and the job families and salary ranges set out by the SPCB. Members also set their own hours of work.

The Scottish Government through the Energy Savings Trust (EST) deliver the Domestic Charge Point Fund to assist with costs associated with installation of a home charger, this provides enhanced support to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV’s) Electric Vehicle Home charge Scheme (EVHS).

As part of EVHS, OZEV currently offers applicants £350 towards the cost of a home charge point and EST will provide up to £250 further funding on top of this, with an additional £100 available for those in the most remote parts of Scotland where the cost of installing charge points has historically been higher.

The installation of domestic charge points is carried out by accredited installers approved by OZEV and EST, currently there are 491 installers able to install charepoints across Scotland a map of these installers can be found on the EST website https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/grants-and-loans/domestic-charge-point-funding/ . The map displays the installers main office, the location of these offices doesn’t not affect their ability to install a charge point as some companies will employ engineers working remotely.

To date Scottish Government has provided grant funding to install over 8,849 domestic charge points across Scotland which further supports Electric Vehicle (EV) uptake.

In addition to governance arrangements for the entire EST programme, which includes a detailed annual work plan setting out agreed outcomes and deliverables, accountable governance owners within TS and EST, quarterly Board meetings alongside progress, risk and financial management controls, officials monitor the provision of domestic charge points at monthly intervals with EST, and evaluate the performance of the scheme annually.

The principal means of meeting the 2035 rail service net zero target will be to continue the Scottish Government’s rolling programme of electrification. Thanks to a programme of investment delivered by the Scottish Government consistent with this approach, some 75% of Scottish rail passenger journeys are already on electric trains. Regrettably, only 45% of rail freight movements in Scotland are electric, chiefly due to the lack of electrification to key freight terminals and ports at the English end of the freight journey.

Concerning investment in Hydrogen trains, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00852 on 1 July 2021. 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 .

An independent review of Adult Disability Payment will commence in summer 2023. We will consult with stakeholders on the specific details of undertaking the review, including on the appropriate duration, and will provide an update in due course.

The Scottish Government has recently announced a suite of measures to continue to support NHS dentistry, including a vital funding package of up to £5M for improved ventilation in dental premises, and an extension of free PPE for the dental sector, which from July will increase by up to 50%. This builds on the continued phased remobilisation of NHS dental services, ensuring that as many patients can be seen within the current set of infection, protection and control measures required for the safe operation of dental treatment.

NHS dental services are largely provided by independent dental contractors. Information on appointments is held by each individual dental practice.

We continue to develop our COVID-19 vaccination communication strategy and marketing campaign.

To date the following groups have been targeted, in order, through communications:

• those aged over 80 – through targeted letters
• care home staff and residents and health and social care staff through letters, leaflets, and care home staff and resident posters
• those eligible over 50 – targeted by a national advertising campaign
• those 18-49 – targeted by a national advertising campaign
• those under 30 – targeted by a national advertising campaign to encourage early registration for vaccination
• vulnerable and seldom heard audiences – through stakeholder engagement including liaison with a wide range of groups and communities via trusted voices.

We also continue our Roll up your sleeve COVID-19 communication and campaign activity, and accurate up to date information is available from NHS Inform .

Protective measures, and the Levels Approach, are informed using a range of data on epidemiological conditions and health system capacity. Numbers of Covid-19 cases being just one of these considerations. PCR tests are the key diagnostic tool in identifying infected persons. They are highly accurate and represent the gold standard for Covid-19 testing. They work by detecting the Covid-19 virus from a swab sample taken from the nose and or throat. There are a variety of PCR tests used in Scotland, all of which are rigorously tested and are regulated and approved by the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The Scottish Government are aware that, as with any medical test, there is a margin of error and that false results can occur. This margin however is very small.

Further information regarding the RT-PCR test can be found in Public Health Scotland’s frequently asked questions document: https://hpspubsrepo.blob.core.windows.net/hps-website/nss/2961/documents/1_covid-19-laboratory-testing-faq.pdf .

Further information regarding how the various protective measures are informed can be found here: Coronavirus (COVID-19) protective measures: indicators and data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Zero Emission Train (ZET) project is currently on target to run during COP26 in November at Bo’ness. It is managed by world-leading hydrogen-technology company Arcola Energy and the £3.5 million project will fully test Hydrogen powered traction options, which will be required where electrification is not appropriate.

Rail Industry partners are working to test the integration of alternative traction power supply equipment within a live train environment through this Hydrogen Accelerator initiative overseen by St Andrews University. As a result, issues associated with creating, approving and then enabling a hydrogen-fuelled train will be addressed as well as growing the local supply chain for future decarbonisation fleet requirements in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-00019 on 26 May 2021. The answer is available on the Parliament's website at: Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament

We remain on target to decarbonise rail passenger services in Scotland by 2035 as set out in the Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan published July 2020.

Good progress is already being made to decarbonise the East Kilbride and Barrhead routes, Borders line and Fife Circle (providing services to Leven) as a first phase of delivery. Development work is also progressing on the wider decarbonisation plan including decarbonisation/electrification infrastructure and electric, battery and hydrogen rolling stock.

Updates on progress will be published as the strategy develops, key elements of which will also form part of the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2, with phase 1 having been published in February 2021.

Regarding part (b) of the question, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00852 on 1 July 2021. 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 .