Seòmar agus comataidhean

Currently 2089 single track kilometres of Scotland’s Railway are electrified. This allows some 75% of Scottish passenger journeys to be made by electric train.

Works to electrify the East Kilbride and Barrhead Routes have commenced, though electrification of these routes will not be completed within 2021. Development work for electrification of the Borders Line and Fife Circle routes is also underway.

The Scottish Government supports the development of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) as a common whole-system decarbonisation infrastructure with the flexibility to adapt over time to play a central role across the decarbonisation strategies of key sectors such as heat, industry and power. A proven technology, there are more than 50 CCUS facilities worldwide, with an estimated combined capture capacity of 96 million tonnes of CO2 per annum.

The Committee on Climate Change describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net-zero emissions; indeed, the swift development of CCUS as a cornerstone of our energy transition is vital to achieving Scotland’s net zero emissions reduction targets.

Scotland is the most cost-effective place to begin CCUS in the UK, with existing oil and gas infrastructure available to repurpose for CO2 transport and storage. The development of CCUS could offer a range of transition opportunities for Scottish oil and gas firms and domestic supply chain companies.

We are already supporting efforts to deploy CCUS in Scotland, including through our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, which will provide £80m over the next five years to support the development of CCUS and negative-emissions technologies. We have also provided funding and policy support to the Acorn CCS project in Aberdeenshire, considered the most advanced CCS project in the UK.

There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) under this Government. As at March 2021 the number of GDPs in Scotland was 3,039 compared to 2,186 in 2007, an increase of 39%. This means that there are 55.7 dentists per 100,000 of the population providing NHS care and treatment in 2021, compared to 42.3 in 2007.

The release of red-legged partridges and pheasants is a legal activity and is expressly permitted under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981.

At present there is no evidence that gamebirds are having an impact on the features of protected areas as shown by NatureScot’s Site Condition Monitoring work and little information to suggest that they are having an impact on Scotland’s wider natural heritage. The Scottish Government therefore has no current plans to legislate in this area.

Social Security is integral to my Social Justice, Housing and Local Government portfolio . It’s importance is reflected in the fact there is both a Cabinet Secretary and a Minister with responsibilities for it.

We are doing everything we can with the limited powers available to us to support the tourism sector.

We have extended 100% NDR relief, which is more generous than the equivalent rates reliefs available in other UK nations, for all retail, leisure and hospitality premises for all of 2021-22. In addition, Tourism businesses on Non Domestic Rates have been supported by the Strategic Framework Business Fund.

We also launched a £129 million package of business support measures over December and January as part of our short term response to the Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce recommendations and followed engagement with industry to target support where it was needed the most.

We also invested £14 million in the Hotel Support Programme to secure up to 3,000 jobs in the hotel sector, and through the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund we awarded over £8.9 million to hotels and other accommodation last year – there was no equivalent fund in England.

Over the past year we have worked closely with sectoral organisations like the Scottish Tourism Alliance on support for the tourism and hospitality sectors and we will continue to do so. This includes £25 million, which we announced in March, to implement the Phase 1 recommendations of the Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce.

This fund will support domestic and international marketing to rebuild visitor demand, leadership and skills training, development of a net zero pathway for tourism, and social tourism and days out vouchers.

Development of phase 2 recommendations (years 2 through 5) is underway by the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group and proposals will be considered by the Scottish Government very shortly.

The National Public Bodies Directory provides information on all Scottish Government public bodies, including those bodies constituted as limited companies. The directory was last updated on 26 January 2021.

The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts also include a complete list of all nationalised companies where Scottish Ministers are the sole shareholder as well as providing information on other organisations and companies where the Scottish Ministers have an interest. The accounts are published on an annual basis with the most recent accounts published on 17 December 2020.

Full details of active travel funding for the next five years has not yet been agreed and will form part of the annual Budget process. The Active Travel budget for 2021-22 increased by £15 million to £115.5 million, and in the Programme for Government 2020 we committed to spending over £500 million on active travel over the next five years. This Government has given a further commitment to spending 10% of the Transport Scotland capital budget on active travel by the end of the parliament.

We are focused on supporting town centre businesses affected by change of working patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, both in the shorter term and for longer term adaption.

We have extended 100% non-domestic rates relief for all retail, leisure, aviation and hospitality premises for all of 2021-22. Additional funding announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy on 2 June will support businesses remaining in level 2 and we are launching a £10 million Scotland Loves Local programme. This follows support of £3.6 billion since the start of the pandemic directly benefitting businesses including town centre businesses.

We will deliver a response to the Town Centre Review which will help us work collaboratively to revitalise our town centres, aiming to increase footfall which will benefit town centre businesses. The Review recognises that there is an opportunity to lock in renewed interest in independent and local businesses, often in local towns and neighbourhoods, encouraged in part by home working and reduced commuting.

We are working with the retail sector to develop a strategy to support recovery from a year of limited trading through to the next five years and beyond, including considerations of how the sector may have to change and adapt to meet the challenges of the impact of Covid-19.

To support longer-term place based renewal and community-led regeneration, including for town centres, and 20 minute neighbourhoods, we have established a Place Based Investment Programme, backed with £325 million capital investment over five years.

The number of people who have been rejected for Home Energy Scotland loans as a result of poor credit scores is 886 out of a total of 9335 applications since 2017.