Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-05252

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 24 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether, according to the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland 2020-21, taxes generated are greater or less than total public expenditure.

Question reference: S6O-00585

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value of applications received from local authorities was, as part of the £32 million Local Bridge Maintenance Fund.

Question reference: S6W-04523

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it is allocating to the Hydrogen Economy Cluster set out in the Draft Hydrogen Action Plan; how many people will work at the Hydrogen Economy Cluster, and by what date it will be operational.

The Hydrogen Economy Cluster will raise awareness of the opportunities in the hydrogen economy, support a Team Scotland approach and provide practical steps to help companies realise opportunities in hydrogen and associated low-carbon markets. The cluster will be pan-Scotland and will play a key role in helping the energy and oil and gas supply chain move into hydrogen production, distribution and/or key areas of hydrogen demand such as transport and low-carbon heat.

Hydrogen policy officials are currently working with the Enterprise Agencies on the development of the Hydrogen Economy Cluster and further details will be available in 2022.

Question reference: S6W-04522

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it is allocating to the development of regional hydrogen energy hubs in each of the next five years; how many will be established; how many people will be employed at each, and by what date each will be operational.

The Scottish Government will, over the next five years, continue to create a supportive policy environment which, alongside private investment, will enable the creation of a network of renewable and low-carbon regional hydrogen production hubs near demand centres across Scotland.

The development of regional hydrogen energy hubs will be strategically supported through the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF) – a £180m package of funding over five years that will provide capital support to accelerate low-carbon infrastructure projects that will be essential to deliver net zero. The EETF will make £100 million available to support renewable hydrogen projects.

Policy officials are finalising the eligibility and project assessment criteria for the EETF, and have invited views on this from stakeholders by the 19 January 2022.

Views can be provided at https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/hydrogen-action-plan/ .

Further details on the Fund and its eligibility criteria will be provided in early 2022 alongside a call for projects.

Question reference: S6W-04520

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it will allocate to the Scottish Hydrogen Innovation Fund in each of the next five years.

The £10m Scottish Hydrogen Innovation Fund is part of the Scottish Government’s Emerging Energy Technologies Fund. It aims to support Scottish researchers and innovators to drive technological progress and advance innovation to improve the cost-competitiveness of renewable hydrogen produced in Scotland. It will support Scottish companies to benefit from and contribute to the global research and innovation network through international collaboration.

Hydrogen policy officials are currently finalising the development of the Scottish Hydrogen Innovation Fund and have invited views from stakeholders on the scope of this Fund.

Views can be provided at https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/hydrogen-action-plan/ .

Further details will be provided in early 2022 as part of the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund.

Question reference: S6W-04521

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how the £100 million funding set out in the Draft Hydrogen Action Plan will be allocated each year.

The Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF) is a £180m package of funding over five years that will provide capital support to accelerate low-carbon infrastructure projects that will be essential to deliver net zero. The Fund will make £100 million available to support renewable hydrogen projects in line with our Hydrogen Policy Statement.

Policy officials are finalising the eligibility and project assessment criteria for the EETF, and have invited views on this from stakeholders by 19 January 2022.

Views can be provided at https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/hydrogen-action-plan/ .

Further details on the Fund and its eligibility criteria will be provided in early 2022 alongside a call for projects.

Question reference: S6W-04518

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates during COP26 (a) the First Minister and (b) its officials met the former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, and what was discussed.

Question reference: S6W-04533

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the date by which the Deposit Return Scheme will be introduced.

Question reference: S6W-04534

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the cost of the Deposit Return Scheme, in light of the delay in its implementation.

The costs and benefits of delivering Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) are set out in the Full Business Case (FBC) Addendum, published on 16 March 2020, which sets out the clear economic case for DRS. It is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-full-business-case-addendum/documents/ .

We are aware that some in industry have been exploring alternative values for some of the assumptions set out in the FBC Addendum. We have not had the opportunity to assess the evidence for these alternative assumptions in detail. However, where the figures appear credible we are analysing them and will respond in due course.

In line with the principle of producer responsibility, the operating costs of DRS will be borne by the drinks producers who supply the Scottish market.

Question reference: S6W-04243

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric vehicle charging points have been installed in each year since 2012.

The installation of electric vehicle charge points is supported through a number of funding schemes. Funding supports a number of charging activities: charging by households at home, by business (public and private sector) to support fleet decarbonisation and public charging by EV owners. The date of installation for all supported infrastructure is not routinely collated. The following tables set out details of domestic and workplace charging infrastructure and information on chargepoints commissioned onto the ChargePlace Scotland network.

The ChargePlace Scotland table sets out figures for new chargers installed and commissioned onto the network, this includes charging units that are publicly available and those for public sector and business use. Up to 2014 these figures have been recorded in August of each year, from 2014 this has been recorded as total installs commissioned within each financial year. Over this period some chargers may have been upgraded, replaced or decommissioned meaning the total number of chargepoints currently available will be less than the total commissioned since 2012.

We do not hold information that details the number of private sector charge points installed on other networks from 2012, online platforms such as ZapMap do provide details of publicly available electric vehicle charge points across Scotland, including those on the ChargePlace Scotland and other networks.

Domestic and business use electric vehicle chargers (not on ChargePlace Scotland)

Year	Domestic Installs (not CPS)	Business Fleet Installs (not CPS)
Year	Domestic Installs (not CPS)	Business Fleet Installs (not CPS)
Apr 2011 - Mar 2012	0	0
Apr 2012 - Mar 2013	0	0
Apr 2013 - Mar 2014	102	14
Apr 2014 - Mar 2015	114	14
Apr 2015 - Mar 2016	409	55
Apr 2016 - Mar 2017	491	38
Apr 2017 - Mar 2018	1042	80
Apr 2018 - Mar 2019	1304	76
Apr 2019 - Mar 2020	1966	140
Apr 2020 -Mar 2021	3241	139
Apr 2020 - end June 21	3093	182
Totals	11,762	738

ChargePlace Scotland - all new electric vehicle chargers connected to the ChargePlace Scotland network (public and fleet use)

Year	Chargers commissioned on CPS Network
To Aug 2013	64
Sept 2013 - Mar 2014	71
Apr 2014 - Mar 2015	265
Apr 2015 - Mar 2016	285
Apr 2016 - Mar 2017	114
Apr 2017 - Mar 2018	202
Apr 2018 - Mar 2019	367
Apr 2019 - Mar 2020	990
Apr 2020 - Mar 2021	785
Apr 2020 - end June 21	77
Totals	3,220