Thank you, convener. I am delighted to be with you this morning and I welcome the chance to give evidence on how, in particular, my portfolio spending helps to meet the Scottish Government’s climate change targets, which, given the comments that you have just made, might well be the focus of the committee’s budget scrutiny.
It is well known that the Scottish Government’s purpose is to deliver sustainable economic growth and to create the opportunity for all our citizens to flourish. We believe that with a relentless focus on tackling inequality and boosting productivity we can create the foundations for a stronger and more inclusive economy. At the same time, we are on track to reach our 2020 interim climate change targets. This year’s draft budget should also be seen in the context of the recently refreshed infrastructure investment plan, which supports the objectives set out in Scotland’s economic strategy and the Scottish Government’s programme for government.
The draft budget is a budget for investing in, protecting and extending our economic recovery. Over the next year, around £4 billion is to be invested in infrastructure, including house building, transport and digital links. Over the course of this parliamentary session, we will have successfully delivered 30,000 homes—I remember that, when I was minister for housing, that target was met with some scepticism—and we are committing to an increase of £90 million in affordable housing supply compared with 2015-16 and a total investment of around £690 million in housing. That will help to support our overall commitment to delivering 50,000 new affordable homes by 2020-21. We are also providing further investment of £130 million in Scotland’s digital infrastructure to help us meet our 2017 target of ensuring that 95 per cent of premises in Scotland have access to next generation broadband.
The infrastructure, investment and cities portfolio plays a significant role in helping to achieve the Scottish Government’s purpose, primarily through contributing to the wealthier and fairer, safer and stronger, and greener strategic objectives. In line with Scotland’s economic strategy, the majority of the portfolio’s spend is focused on investment in transport, including low-carbon transport, and water infrastructure. I will expand briefly on those aspects.
First, transport infrastructure is a critical part of the draft budget. Since 2007, the Government has invested more than £15 billion in transport and we are continuing in 2016-17 to invest more than £1 billion annually in public transport and other sustainable transport options to encourage people to get out of their cars. The roads budget has been increased as a result of the recent changes to the European Union’s statistical classification of the Government’s programme of revenue-financed infrastructure, which means that funding for the cost of constructing the Aberdeen western peripheral route is included in this year’s budget figures. Our investment in the strategic road transport network will ultimately support the low-carbon agenda, whether through providing efficient links for public transport and the new generation of low-carbon vehicles, taking traffic off local roads to improve conditions for active travel or facilitating modal shift.
Alongside that is the completion of the new Forth replacement crossing. The recent temporary closure of the Forth road bridge for essential repairs has served to highlight the need for the new crossing and I am very pleased that this budget will allow the crossing to progress towards completion in line with the latest timescales, which were previously advised. Funding for Forth road bridge capital maintenance has been protected. This year it is £9 million, an increase of £4 million from 2015-16 that matches—as it always does—the agreed programme of works.
As part of our efforts to deliver our transformational vision of the complete decarbonisation of road transport by 2050, through the electrification of transport as well as modal shift, we are providing leadership in relation to pump-priming low-carbon technology, modal shift and active travel initiatives, and we are promoting associated networks. We are working with partners to deliver actions from “Switched On Scotland”, which is our electric vehicle roadmap. Chargeplace Scotland, our electric vehicle charging network, currently comprises almost 1,000 publicly accessible charging bays throughout the country, including more than 100 rapid charge points, which makes it one of the most comprehensive networks in Europe. We have also launched the active travel vision and the first-ever national active travel summit, which brings together key stakeholders to seek support for our longer-term aspirations to increase the uptake of cycling and walking for shorter everyday journeys.
We are sustaining investment in active travel at the record level of approximately £39 million in 2016-17 and we continue to invest over £1 billion per year in public and sustainable transport to encourage people onto public transport and into active travel modes.
We will support the European regional development fund interventions on sustainable transport over the period up to 2020, which should yield match funding of up to £37.5 million to assist in the delivery of active travel hubs. Low-carbon transport hubs and a national smart integrated ticketing scheme will also be developed.
We will encourage the freight industry to reduce emissions through the mode shift revenue support and waterborne freight grant schemes. As announced in June 2015, we will support a continuation of the future transport fund to provide the infrastructure necessary to enable the uptake of low-emission vehicles and other sustainable forms of transport. We will continue to invest in infrastructure and behaviour change initiatives to encourage cycling and walking, working in partnership with local authorities across the country.
We also intend to complete the electrification of the Glasgow to Edinburgh rail line by December 2016 and to continue the delivery of key improvements to the route between Aberdeen and Inverness.
Turning to Scottish Water, we are committed to a significant programme of investment in Scotland’s water and sewerage infrastructure for the 2015 to 2021 period that is worth £3.5 billion. It includes £250 million to upgrade Glasgow’s waste-water infrastructure to improve the environment of the river Clyde and to tackle flooding, which will enable economic growth, safeguard public health and protect our environment.
On flooding specifically—which is obviously very topical—Mr Swinney previously announced that this year we will provide £4 million to the local authority areas that were affected most by recent flooding in Hawick, Newcastleton, Dumfries, Alyth and other localities, as mentioned by the Deputy First Minister yesterday, to help with recovery and to help households and businesses access the support that they need.
Funding for the flood forecasting service has been protected by the budget settlement put forward in December. Funding for that system is provided directly by the Government and is in addition to the grant in aid that we provide to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
As a hydro nation, we can capitalise on global economic opportunities and support the good stewardship of water resources. We have made resources available from within the Scottish Water budget to promote that agenda, which includes the climate justice fund.
In relation to procurement reform, we will continue to invest in the Scottish model of procurement through the procurement resources transfer from the core Scottish Government administration budget. That will secure the continued provision of shared services in order to underpin the transformation of public procurement in Scotland, which will deliver further savings and maximise the social, environmental and economic benefits of public purchasing activity.
We will, for example, continue to ensure that contracts for our large infrastructure projects include community benefit clauses to achieve continued employment and training opportunities. In 2016-17, the Scottish Futures Trust will continue to work to enhance the value for money of infrastructure investment across the public sector in Scotland, which will include working in partnership with others to produce delivery of the extended pipeline of revenue-funded investment and to support other innovative ways of financing and procuring infrastructure.
I believe that the 2016-17 budget is a robust plan to improve infrastructure and to introduce house building to ensure that all Scots can benefit from our post-recession growth. With that, I am happy to answer any questions.