 The next item of business is portfolio questions and the portfolio this afternoon is net zero energy and transport. If a member wishes to seek to ask a supplementary question, they should press the request to speak button during the relevant question or enter the letters RTS in the chat function during the relevant question. Again, I would appreciate in order to get in as many members as possible to sync questions and answers to match. 1. Willie Coffey Thank you to ask the Scottish Government how it's proposed renewables revolution will benefit the Kilmarnock and Irwin Valley constituency. Minister Richard Lochhead We are committed to working across society to deliver lasting action that secures a just transition to climate resilience and net zero for Scotland. This includes ensuring communities drive maximum benefit from the renewables revolution. For example, our Scotland programme will deliver initial lease option agreements revenues of over £750 million for the benefit of the people of Scotland. Specifically, in the Kilmarnock and Irwin Valley constituency, over £7 million investment has been provided through the Ayrshire growth deal with £1.2 million to support the installation of low-carbon heating and electricity generation, enabling over 100 homes to access low-carbon heating. 2. Willie Coffey I thank the minister for that answer. The renewables revolution is certainly under way in Scotland, has well and truly hit the jackpot. Local people in my constituency are supportive of the programme that look to see what the direct benefits to them will be beyond the obvious and welcome climate impacts. Can the minister offer a glimpse of what that future will look like in terms of more local jobs for local people, more community ownership and perhaps a share of the benefits that are made by energy companies, and ultimately the prospect of energy bills falling due to the energy benanza that we have here in Scotland? 3. Willie Coffey I thank Willie Coffey and, of course, he raises issues that get right to the heart of the just transition towards net zero. That just transition must be delivery of green jobs and I was delighted to see the reports in the last week produced by Warwick University, Strathclyde University and Skills Development Scotland. It says that there is now up to 100,000 green jobs in Scotland that shows good progress of one of the key aims of the just transition. In terms of the current energy crisis, Willie Coffey is correct in that we have to use our abundance of energy resources to deliver cheaper electricity and energy for the people of Scotland and the business community. Of course, we have the potential over the coming years to produce several times what we need as a country, and that should bring the provision of energy and electricity. Community ownership and other issues, I just want to assure the member, will be addressing the forthcoming refresh of the energy strategy that will go out for consultation, and alongside that is the publication of the first just transition plan for energy as part of that consultation. That will address the issues that Willie Coffey raises. In the meantime, we have seen significant community benefit from onshore wind to communities around Scotland, but there is a lot more to be achieved. 2. John Mason To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Friends of the Earth Scotland report, Hydrogen's role in Scotland's climate journey. The Scottish Government is fully committed to growing our hydrogen sector. Our support for hydrogen is underpinned by a broad evidence base, including our hydrogen policy statement and the draft hydrogen action plan, as well as findings from the Climate Change Committee and reports from the International Energy Agency. Our position that the growth of renewables and hydrogen are complementary is shared by key stakeholders such as Scottish renewables, and a systems approach combining increased renewable electricity, energy efficiency and hydrogen will be required to deliver at net zero. We will publish our final hydrogen action plan before the end of the year. 3. John Mason The report is somewhat sceptical about hydrogen, but I wonder if the minister would agree with me and others that green hydrogen is by far the best type of hydrogen and that there are specific uses, such as longer-term storage, industrial uses and perhaps remote rail lines, where hydrogen could be best. 4. John Mason Absolutely, green hydrogen taking advantage of Scotland's massive renewable energy resources is going to be a key plank of our hydrogen strategy going forward. However, our priorities to get as much renewable hydrogen into the energy system as quickly as possible, while also supporting the establishment of low-carbon hydrogen production at scale in the 2020s, linked to carbon capture and storage as well. As a Government, we are convinced that hydrogen alongside renewable electricity will play an extremely important part in the energy system going forward. Electrification will do the heavy lifting in our march towards net zero, but there are parts of our economy and energy system that are very difficult to electrify, and hydrogen in all its forms could provide a solution with sectors such as heavy duty on and off-road transport, shipping, aviation, industrial high-temperature heat, and potentially some parts of our domestic heating systems. Clearly, we are on a new journey here, and we will look at all the variety of renewable energy that is out there as we move forward. 4. John Mason Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. At First Minister's question earlier, in reply to my colleague Martin Whitfield, the First Minister said that the Scottish Government would focus on the growth of both hydrogen and green hydrogen as part of Scotland's renewable energy mix. As the Friends of the Earth Scotland report highlights the problems with both hydrogen and green hydrogen, can the Scottish Government at least assure me that its focus will be on the forms of energy that we can rely on for our transition to net zero? The First Minister Yes, our policy is based on exploiting the massive opportunities that hydrogen offers not only in terms of use within Scotland but for exporting to other countries, particularly the European continent, given the energy crisis and the expected increase in demand for hydrogen there, which could be produced in Scotland. Our policy is to support green hydrogen but renewable hydrogen and low-carbon hydrogen, and that is going to be necessary, as I said in my previous remarks to John Mason, for certain industries in Scotland that will offer massive opportunities. We have to learn as we go, and green hydrogen is a massive opportunity for Scotland in particular. 3. Murdo Fraser To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the sections of the A9 trunk road from Perth to Inverness on which made orders have been confirmed to create dual carriageways to progress to procurement. The A9 jewellian programme comprises of 11 projects. Of those two projects are now open to use. One project is in procurement, and seven of the remaining eight projects have had ministerial decisions confirmed to complete statutory processes. Only one project has not yet commenced the statutory processes. Work is on going to determine the most suitable procurement options for the remaining sections, which involves consideration of issues such as how the works can be delivered most efficiently by industry while minimising disruption to road users. I will update Parliament on the outcome of this work when it is complete. Murdo Fraser I thank the minister for her response. I welcome the progress that has already been made on the A9 jewellian, but as I know she is well aware, we have seen in the course of this year already no fewer than 12 fatalities on the single carriageway sections of the A9 between Perth and Inverness. Those tragedies make the case far more eloquently than I could for the reason why the jewellian programme needs to be completed. We now have a large number of sections where the legal processes have been completed. The only delay to move to procurement is a decision from the Government and the communities along the route. Those who use that road want to know when that programme will then proceed. Can the minister give us any update? When will we see the vital works commenced and when will they be completed? I thank the member for his question and also for his time yesterday. We met a group of cross-party MSPs yesterday following the debate that was held a couple of weeks ago now, in relation to the short-term urgent measures that I intend to bring forward to enhance road safety on the A9. The member raises a number of questions. It is worth recognising that we have already invested approximately £431 million to date, which includes delivering the jewell stretches between King Craig and Elradi and Lincartie and Passive Burnham, which opened in September 2017 and August 21 respectively. The member will understand that, as I alluded to in my first answer, there is now urgent and important work on going to look at the procurement options for the remaining sections of the A9. That is a very complex exercise that looks at a number of factors, including how the project can be delivered most efficiently by industry. Of course, I would be happy to update Parliament and the member as soon as I have had that advice from Transport Scotland. I thank the minister for her considerable attention to the matter. There are indeed four sections of the road that are ready now to go to procurement, Tate Crossing, Pitlachry, Dalnus Spidl and Dalwiney. Together, those four sections amount to 35km in length. It would be a massive proof positive of the Scottish Government's clear commitment to delivery of our dualling pledge if those four sections can now go to procurement. I understand that there may be capacity issues in industry, but what stage of preparation Transport Scotland is at in considering how to progress those four sections to dualling and whether that involves carrying out those sections and doing that work concurrently rather than consecutively? Minister. I thank Mr Ewing for his question and, obviously, note his considerable constituency interest in this matter. I think that it would be helpful to summarise the sections of the route that remain outstanding. The path of Burnham to Tate Crossing project has been subject of a co-creative process that is progressing towards the announcement of the preferred route, which will be expected in the coming months. The Tate Crossing to Balun Lug project has the made orders published, and that will complete the final stage of its statutory processes when the land has been vested. The Pitlachry to Kili Cranky section is at the same stage. The Kili Cranky to Glengari project has received ministerial decision confirming that the orders should be made. The Glengari to Dalwiney project has the made orders published. The Dalwiney to Crubinmore section is at the same stage. The Crubinmore to Concrete project has received ministerial decision confirming that the orders should be made, similarly for the Dalwiney to Slough project. It is only the tomato-moy section that is in procurement at the present time. I have not had advice on the potential to run the outstanding works concurrently. I think that my initial observation as to that suggestion might be that the disruption that would invariably cause Mr Ewing's constituents and others if we were to plan all those sections at the same time. However, I will ask my officials in Transport Scotland for that advice and I will be happy to discuss that with the member in further detail should he wish to do so. Question 4, Mary McNeill. To us Scottish Government, what support is providing to bus companies that are currently facing driver shortages? Minister Jenny Gilruth. There is currently a shortage of drivers for buses across the UK, which impacts on Scotland's economy and communities to help address this and other challenges. I have convened a bus task force in partnership with industry and local authority stakeholders. At its first meeting on 29 September, we agreed a range of work streams, including establishing a subgroup, to focus on how we can address driver shortages. I look forward to sharing the next meeting of the task force next month. Mary McNeill. I thank the minister for that answer. Driver shortages are having an impact on bus companies being able to provide a full service and reliable timetable in parts of my constituency, Clareyran Cymoghae. I have been advised with one bus company that the shortage is in part due to recruitment issues related to Brexit and Covid-19. Is the minister aware that those two issues have an impact? Can the minister offer any guidance on what is available to companies to help mitigate the issue? Minister. I am aware of those two concurrent issues having a real impact at the moment in relation to the delivery of services. The pandemic is obviously having an on-going impact and we are working hard to recover from it. It is notable, though, that bus patronage is down at around about 60 per cent of what it was prior to the pandemic. That is having a detrimental impact in relation to our NSID, or NSID rather, aspirations in terms of climate change. Brexit is also playing into that factor and it is causing an impact in relation to driver shortages. Of course, I have made representations to the UK Government on that matter in relation to the shortage occupation list. There are a number of factors here which remain at the current time reserved. I would be really keen to have the UK Government take part in that wider task force group. I asked the previous minister to join that group in September. I have asked the new minister to join the group when it meets in December. I very much hope that the minister will be able to do so. I have had a request from three members. I would be inclined to take all three of them if I could have brief supplementary questions and answers. Supplementary, Willie Rennie. This month alone, there have been 85 cancellations of services from stagecoach in North East Fife alone. There has been even more since I did the tallies. Brexit, there is no doubt, is a factor and I accept that. The Scottish Government has got a huge responsibility because this has been leading up to this point for some time. I am puzzled as to why it is only now that the task force has been established. What accelerated measures is the minister going to introduce to make sure that we can get drivers back on the buses so that we can ride these services? I have to say that it has not just been established. I met the sector over the summer. I met larger operators and smaller operators. They both have very different needs. It is important to say from the outset. We have provided significant funding to the sector throughout the pandemic, up to £210 million in emergency funding to support the bus sector throughout the pandemic. During the start of the summer, I chose to extend the NSG Plus grant, which ran from June until October. That additional funding has been important. I am committed to working with the sector to look at what additional funding we might be able to provide in the Scottish Government. I reflect to Mr Rennie some of the challenges that we face in the Scottish Government at the moment, having a fixed budget largely, and what that means for other economic pressures right across different portfolio areas that I do not have responsibility for. That is deeply concerning. I reflect to Mr Rennie that one of the real challenges is Brexit, which Scotland did not vote for. We are having to try to manage some of those challenges within the confines of devolution. I think that there is probably a divergence of views between Mr Rennie and I on that subject. However, it is important to recognise that, and I am happy to continue to work with the sector through the task force on this issue. Specifically, they have been tasked at looking at driver shortages, and I look forward to hearing the reports from that work when I meet with them in two weeks' time. Bus services have been getting cancelled at short notice across Scotland due to driver shortages. Has the Government compelled information or compelled or received information on the number of those cancellations over recent months to understand the scale of the problem across the country? If not, will the minister commit to doing so and publishing them so that we know how that is affecting different areas in different companies across the country? We run a deregulated bus market. To that end, we do not gather that data at a national level, as far as I understand it, because we have a number of commercial bus operators, but I will ask my officials in Transport Scotland if it is possible to gather that data in one sense, as Mr Bibby has asked for, and to publish it. It is a reasonable request, but I just reflect that there are challenges in that respect because some of those decisions are being made at a commercial level by private operators and they may not want to share that information with the Government. I will ask the question. I will be hosting an online summit next week with my constituents to discuss the future bus services and I will be happy to share the results of that with the minister. Can I ask her whether she believes that she has enough powers to hold the bus companies to account over minimum standards of services? Brief response, please, minister. I understand people's frustration very much in relation to the current situation as we have heard from a number of members today. As I mentioned, I am also pressing Westminster colleagues to look at what more might be able to be done at a UK-wide level, particularly in relation to the shortage occupation list on driver shortages. Under the Transport Act, bus services need to be registered with the traffic commissioner and if the commissioner considers an operator to be with their registration, she can take action against them, including fines and posing conditions on their PSV licence or rejecting future service applications. I will be more than happy to hear from the member following the results of the meeting that he will be convening later this week as his constituents views on that matter. Question 5 to Elaine Martin. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress on the A96 appraisal. Minister Jenny Gilruth. As I updated Parliament during the recent debate on essential road improvements, we are undertaking a transparent evidence-based review of the corridor. The recent public consultation received nearly 5,000 responses, which generated more than 11,000 suggestions and potential opportunities for the route. Rightly, it has taken more time than was originally planned to look at and to appraise all those options, but there will be a report on the public consultation and the initial appraisal published by the end of this year. Julie Martin. I thank the minister for that answer and for our time this week in meeting with me and her officials. I am keen to know how the review report by the end of the year will show the strength of public feeling towards the options. As the minister knows, a great deal of work was done on the part of the route that would bypass Inveruri as part of the A96 dualling plans involving a great deal of public engagement which resulted in the decision to progress with the orange route west of Inveruri, a decision that was welcomed by my constituents. I would like to know what the status of that is, given the pause in the developing teller that the A96 review will take place and how the extensive work on that particular section of the route might be progressed in light of the review, which I do appreciate will not be published for a few weeks. I very much welcome the opportunity to meet with the member yesterday and, of course, I recognise the interest in the route. It is worth saying that the substantial consultation that she alluded to and that development work that was undertaken previously on the dualling programme is not going to go to waste. It is proving extremely important in relation to informing our understanding of the route and also in supporting the evidence-based review, which, as I mentioned, will end at the end of this year in a few weeks' time. Turning to the point that the member mentioned on the strength of public feeling, I can further assure her that the unprecedented level of response clearly shows the importance of the A96 corridor to those who live and work in the north and northeast of Scotland. That feedback will be captured in the public consultation report, as I mentioned, which will be published in the coming weeks. I understand the importance very much to Ms Martin's constituents in that regard and her constituency interests. I have asked the review's project team to meet with her in her constituency to disseminate some of the review results when it publishes. The consultation closed in June, and there were, as we have heard, nearly 5,000 responses. If that has been done properly, most will be from people in the northeast and most, if not all, will say, dual it. We surely owe that to the 13 people who have been killed and the 180 injured in just the last three years. If this Government doesn't follow through on more than a decade of promises, people across the northeast will regard it as an outright abdication of responsibility. Minister, after the consultation is published, showing the people of the northeast demand it, how quickly will the dualling of the entire A96 commence? Minister. I thank the member for his question. Of course, as he knows, I recognise very much his constituency interests in this matter as well. He regularly asks questions on this topic and I think it's important that we get this right. I don't want to prejudge the outcome of the appraisal, which will publish in the coming weeks. The current plan is to fully dual the route. However, we have committed to conducting this transparent evidence-based review. As I offer to Ms Martin and I will offer to Mr Kerr, I have been more than happy to arrange for the consultants who undertook the review to meet with him, to disseminate those results. It's hugely important that we get this right for local communities. We had a vast response rate to the options that were put to the local community. Over 11,000 suggested options to consider. That's taken the consultants some time to work through, but I recognise that Mr Kerr is feeling more than happy to ensure that the consultants engage with him on the review. When we have that data to come back with a timeline to Parliament to update on the next steps in relation to Tulu. To ask the Scottish Government how it is assisting delivery firms to decarbonise heavy goods vehicles. I convene the zero-emission task force and chaired their inaugural meeting back in May of this year. The group brings together leaders such as road haulage, logistics, manufacturing, the energy sector, commercial finance, government and unions, with the sole aim of putting the sector on a pathway to net zero. We are also providing £28 million of innovation funding to help companies involved in the development and manufacture of zero-emission heavy vehicles. That is over and above the interest-free loans that we are offering to companies to purchase electric fans. I thank the minister for that answer. I am aware of the work of the zero-emission truck task force. I look forward to seeing action as a result of it. I have been speaking to the Scottish Wholesale Association. They just fell short of the minimum entry criteria for the DFT's recently closed zero-road freight demonstration programme. That could have kickstarted the deployment of long-haul zero-emission hydrogen lorries in Scotland. A question to the minister is, would she consider investing in the consortium's HGV trial proposal because that could help to decarbonise Scotland's food and drink supply chain? I think that it is certainly a worthwhile recommendation that Mr Simpson has raised today. I do not have the detail of it to hand but if he is able to share that with my private office I am more than happy to consider that proposal. Of course, our forecast indicates that a demand for hydrogen from HGVs could reach up to 1.6,000 gigawatt hours by a year by 2035 if an affordable supply is in place. It is really important that we look at a range of opportunities including hydrogen in relation to decarbonising particularly heavy goods vehicles and, of course, vans additionally. There is also, I think, a ask here in relation to that modal shift from road to rail and rail will have a key role to play in that regard, which is exactly why the Government provides support through the freight facilities grant, for example, unlike in some other parts of the United Kingdom. Rwyf supplementary, please, Emma Roddick. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Tory Economics has had a hugely detrimental impact on the road haulage industry in Scotland from rising fuel costs to Brexit paperwork, cabotage, groupage issues and driver shortages all clearly linked to their ideologically driven Brexit. Does the minister agree with me that contending with this myriad of issues is an unwelcome distraction for the industry in terms of considering its journey to net zero? There is no doubt that the impact of Brexit and other damaging UK Government policies has hit the road haulage industry hard at a time when it was also contending with a global pandemic and now the impacts of the war in Ukraine, including, of course, higher fuel costs. Without the resilience that has been shown by industry in that regard, the type of shortages that we have experienced on supermarket shelves, for example, and elsewhere have been even more problematic than they might have been. The historic driver shortage issue that we have touched on already today in the industry has been exacerbated and, although the acute problems of last year have stabilised to an extent, the UK Government needs to ensure that its testing regime is more responsive to that enduring problem. The journey to net zero was already challenging for an industry characterised by SMEs as we have, of course, the majority of in Scotland. We are very much committed to adjusting transition to net zero for the industry in Scotland so that the work in relation to the zero-emission task force will be vital in that regard. Question 7, James Dornan, who is joining us remotely. Thank you, convener. To ask the Scottish Government how its recent award of £6.437 million to Glasgow City Council to deliver energy efficiency improvements to homes could benefit those in the Glasgow constituency. Minister Patrick Harvie. Our area-based scheme is to provide funding to councils so that they can directly target fuel-poor areas to provide energy efficiency measures to a large number of households to reduce fuel poverty. Glasgow City Council intends to use our investment this year to target 10 areas with projects focusing on external wall insulation. The council is directing the support to areas of the city with the greatest concentration of fuel poverty and the least energy efficient housing. Since the start of our area-based schemes, we have funded energy efficiency upgrades for over 330 fuel-poor households in Glasgow. James Dornan. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Research and analysis published by the Child Poverty Action Group in August 2022 has estimated that from January 23 around 180,000 households in Glasgow may be in fuel poverty. Can the cabinet secretary expand on how this energy efficiency measure will not only help to achieve our net zero goals but also support my constituents out of fuel poverty during this cost of living crisis? Minister Dornan is quite right that it needs to achieve both these objectives. We are already providing significant support for households to mitigate the impact of the cost crisis. By the end of March 2023 we will have invested around £3 billion in a range of measures for households that include supporting energy bills, childcare, health travel as well as social security payments that are not available anywhere else in the UK or are more generous such as the Scottish Child Payment and the Bridging Payment. The Scottish Child Payment has been further expanded to eligible 6 to 15-year-olds and increased in value to £25 per week per child, and around 400,000 children are now eligible. That is in addition, of course, to our national fuel poverty scheme, Warmerhomes Scotland, designed to help those living in or at risk of fuel poverty. Presiding Officer, we are doing all of this with hands tied behind our backs. We cannot borrow to meet short-term challenges but the Scottish Government has refused to inflation-proof the Scottish budget to support our investment in services, direct support or increases in public sector pay. I think that we should all be conscious of how much more we can do with the full powers available to us on social security, on pay and on regulation of the energy market. I can squeeze in question number 8 if I get brief questions and answers to match. To ask the Scottish Government whether it is in place to help to tackle fuel poverty in my Motherwell and Ministerial constituency, including for people with prepayment metres who are worried about rising energy costs. Minister Patrick Harvie. We are using all of our available powers to help those who are vulnerable customers. We have doubled the fuel insecurity fund to £20 million this year. We have provided an additional £1.2 million to boost advice services which will further support prepayment meter households. In addition, we have allocated £119 million in energy efficiency measures to benefit fuel poor households. That includes our highest-ever annual budget of £55 million for warmer home Scotland services and £2.9 million for North Lanarkshire Council's local delivery scheme. A recent cost-of-living event hosted by myself and Marion Fellows MP in the constituency, assistance advice advisers raised a concern with us that there seems to be an anomaly in relation to people in universal credit who are having their money paid directly in housing benefit to their landlords who sometimes in a month will not receive a cash transfer into their own bank accounts and are being excluded from the energy bill support scheme as a result of this. Is the Government aware of this anomaly and what redressed individuals have if they feel that this is not a correct interpretation of their policy position? Yes, we are aware that consumers who do not have a direct contract with an energy supplier but pay their landlords for their energy consumption are not eligible for the UK Government's energy bill support scheme. We continue to engage with the UK Government to highlight this issue. They have committed to distributing equivalent support to those consumers as soon as possible and on 26 October the UK Government published legislation to ensure that landlords pass on to tenants who pay all-inclusive bills. It would, of course, have been more desirable if they had done this in the first instance rather than now backfitting it on to the interventions that they have made. However, we will continue to maintain close dialogue with the UK Government to ensure that these changes take place. Thank you, minister. That concludes portfolio questions on net zero energy and transport. There will be a brief pause before we move on to the next slide of business to allow front bench teams to change position. Thank you.