Hansard

Tackling local air pollution is also a matter for local authorities, with support and guidance provided by the Scottish Government and other partners.

The Scottish Government provides practical support to local authorities through our policy and technical guidance and provides financial support through a series of annual funding schemes. Since 2000, Fife Council has received a total of around £530,000 to support air quality monitoring and associated work, plus around £520,000 since 2010 to help to implement the action plans in Cupar and Dunfermline.

Many actions that are being implemented at a national level, such as the green bus fund and the plug-in vehicles road map, are having a positive local impact across Scotland.

We have our stage 3 budget debate this afternoon and I am sure that the Deputy First Minister will say more then. Compared with 2013-14 we have increased investment in active travel by more than 80 per cent, from £21.35 million in 2013-14 to £39.2 million in 2015-16—and that is at a time when our overall capital budget has decreased by 26 per cent.

The Scottish Government invests more than £1 billion a year in public and sustainable transport to encourage people on to public transport and active travel modes. We have also invested £11 million in the development of the chargeplace Scotland network of electric vehicle charging points, which now comprises more than 400 units, with many more being commissioned over the coming months.