Speeches by Kane.

“So you can give me an assurance that you are talking to each other and there is an international conversation going on as well.”

“If there was 100% take-up of EVs in this country, what proportion of properties would have off-street parking versus on-street parking? I imagine that that is something that we could get a broadbrush look at, but do you then break down the take-up so that you get a sense of what is happening in areas with on-street par…”

“I get that you were talking about off-street parking, but we heard that there are differences in on-street parking. When you talk about properties that you cannot park outside, in my head, straightaway, that is a town centre street with terraced houses, whereas I live on an estate in my constituency where there is not …”

“I will ask a question about distribution and cold spots. I am reminded that, when I used to take family trips with my parents in the car, we always stopped at Killington Lake services coming down the M6. Stopping there almost became a habit because that is when the car would be running out of petrol. I am at Tebay, whi…”

“On the motorway network approach, certainly in Scotland, we have the strategic thing going up the middle. If we think of Cornwall not having that motorway provision, the behavioural approaches will come into play in the road network you are looking at. Are you confident that that human behaviour and the anxiety about c…”

“Will you excuse one last follow-up? If we look at the way Royal Mail works—”

“How are you going to ensure that within that overall 99% upkeep, you do not get areas of poor reliability? It could be 99% in one area, but there could be other areas that are very badly affected. How are you going to make sure that from the whole network perspective, there are not local areas of poor reliability?”

“To remind myself, I was reading an email from one of my constituents, Gemma, in the village of Thornhill. What I got from the email is just how well informed people are. If you have got an EV, you have a level of knowledge of the problems and how they compare with other areas. The users will be key to helping you devel…”

“As you say, you have a high standard of user and they have a high standard of expectations, which can be very useful at this stage because we can iron out problems reasonably early in the technology journey. Are there any other ways that you are improving that experience? Is there anything you want to add to give us a …”

“Can I ask specifically about slow chargers? How are you going to make sure that the reliability of slower chargepoints is maintained?”

“Okay. I think you picked up on drivers with disabilities. Can I get an assurance—you almost gave me one—that you are embedding that accessibility, no matter the disability? It is not all one disability; it is multiple disabilities that can manifest themselves in different ways. Are you embedding that accessibility chal…”

“If you are looking at accessibility for people with wheelchairs, it is sometimes not just the charger itself, but the area immediately surrounding the charger.”

“I wish you a merry Christmas, Mr Speaker, and a happy Hogmanay when it comes. My constituency is home to the rural community of Balquhidder, where, since 2018, community volunteers have laid more than 36 km of fibre cable to provide the community with a high-speed internet connection years ahead of when a commercial op…”

“Can I take you on to the next steps? You have the track 1 project—your first one was announced this week—you have your track 1 expansion projects, and then you have your track 2 projects. I want to start with all of them. How confident are you that the track 1 projects will go operational by 2027? How confident are you…”

“Will you talk to the pressure? My assumption is there is a lot of pressure to divert this into other areas. Are you finding that is a factor? There is a great deal of people saying, “No, do this”—”

“I have been learning about this over the past few weeks, and there is a real push to say, “Well, this money could be better spent somewhere else. It could go on other projects.” For me, the most defendable line is, “No, no, we have to do it in areas that we can’t decarbonise in other ways.” As we go forward, you will c…”

“Well done for bringing that out from your mind! Thank you for that. When you are looking at the value-for-money evaluation, what impact does being a first-of-a-kind project have in all this? It is always easier to do an economic impact assessment in 30 years’ time, when we have got lots of these under our belts. How ar…”

“Not going ahead with a project is obviously a consideration as well. Could you talk about that? How does that factor into your thinking?”

“I suppose there is always a case when you are talking about a theoretical future contract that you will say, “None of these tests have been met.” You have obviously had good news this week that you are moving forward with one. Could you talk about getting that over the finish line? How did you find looking at these fiv…”

“My instinct is that judging the economic benefit is easier to be theoretical about in terms of the deliverability. You have now got your five tests, you have got one project over the line, so what are your reflections on the tests themselves and how easy it was to say: “Yes, we are quite happy with this. We are going t…”