Chamber and committees

It might be helpful if I write to the committee about bus funding issues.

As the committee will know, many such issues stem from the need for resilience in the fleet. The focus on delivery of the six ferries is absolute.

However, within that, there is the issue of operation and how that could be improved by driving up standards of management and communication. There are issues in relation to CalMac’s communication and relationships, and it knows that. When I met CalMac, I made clear my views and concerns about its lack of customer focus, and it has acknowledged that and is making steps to improve what it does. At the end of the day, that is an issue for the board that has oversight of CalMac.

The way in which we can address some of the issues is through the standards for the CHFS 3 contract and the expectations of whoever will be delivering that. The ferries community board report made strong points about what the expectations would be, and we can try to build those into the contract. The committee’s report raised a number of other issues and listed the principles by which any new contract should be judged.

Driving change and improvement can and should be done through the contract change as well. Change and improvement also require acute and fastidious ministerial oversight, although there should not be any interference in things that are a matter for the board or for management. I reassure the committee that, having spent a considerable amount of time looking at the ferries issues, I will take a keen and active interest in that.

I am expecting to see such schemes among the comparators that Alison Irvine has talked about. What is interesting is that those are reduced fares—not zero fares—to encourage activity and use.

I agree, and that is why accessibility is as important as affordability. From the figures that I have seen, I suspect that the evaluation will demonstrate that, although take-up is fantastic, particularly among people who can travel independently—the figures are very strong for the over-12s—take-up is lower in areas where buses are less available. That includes my constituency.

I know that you have a constituency interest in the matter and I know how important it is to you, but I am not going to engage in expressing different opinions. You might want to say that. I am not going to say that.

I am not going to speak on behalf of the community board—it is perfectly capable of speaking for itself. That is not something that I have raised or discussed with it.

Yes, convener, it will be brief. Good morning. It is good to see familiar faces from my time as deputy convener of the committee. I also recognise and acknowledge the two new members. I am pleased to be making my first appearance at the committee as a minister following my appointment to the new role in June.

A fortnight ago, the First Minister presented the 2023-24 programme for government to Parliament. Our transport package represents a clear focus on the First Minister’s priorities of equality, opportunity and community, and it builds on our previous record of delivery for all of Scotland.

We are making our transport system more accessible. We know that good public transport is a key economic enabler that provides opportunities in training, education and employment. We recently introduced regulations to enable the bus franchising and partnership options of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. They will come into force on 4 December and will allow transport authorities to begin developing their preferred options for improving their local bus services. We intend to introduce further regulations before the end of this year to begin to give those powers full effect.

Other regulations are also planned in relation to pavement parking, road works and zero-emission vehicles, and we also expect a number of United Kingdom statutory instruments to come before the committee.

Starting in October, we will undertake a six-month pilot to remove ScotRail peak time fares. The pilot will make rail travel more affordable and accessible during that period of time, and it will help to identify longer-term steps to reduce car use.

To support our island communities, which rely on our ferry services, we have frozen fares on the Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles routes, and we will continue with the construction of six major vessels.

The fair fares review will report by the end of this year. It will recommend a package of measures and actions for the future of public transport in Scotland.

We are continuing to improve our infrastructure. Progression of the A9 dualling continues to be a Government priority, as demonstrated by the First Minister’s announcement of new procurement for the dualling of the A9 between Tomatin and Moy. We will also reopen the railway line to Levenmouth, including new stations at Cameron Bridge and Leven.

This month, I confirmed funding of £140 million that will ensure that the delivery of the East Kilbride enhancement project and the Barrhead route electrification improvement works remains on track for completion in December. We plan to publish a refreshed rail services decarbonisation action plan.

Measures such as those demonstrate our determination to make our transport system ever more accessible and reliable, and to reduce the impact that we have on the environment and climate. I look forward to working with the committee as a minister and, I hope, to building a constructive relationship as I account for Scottish Government policy and action and, importantly, receive advice and recommendations from the committee.

This is obviously a big challenge for everybody. We are all seeing the impacts of climate change globally and also locally. Within our responsibilities, transport, as one of the major emitters, has to take steps forward.

I said in my opening remarks that we anticipate that the electrification of the Barrhead route, which is a major line, will complete by December. The Government also announced that work will commence at East Kilbride. I know that the member has an interest in the Levenmouth rail line, which is ready for electrification as part of the wider work that needs to take place, and, clearly, the next steps relate to the Fife-Aberdeen lines. All of that work is subject to setting out plans, budgets and so on.

In relation to the commitment and vision, other parts of the UK look enviously at what is happening in Scotland, because there is determination and activity here. In fact, I am due to speak at a major rail conference this afternoon, and there is a lot of interest from elsewhere as to what is happening in Scotland. There are a lot of challenges, but there is also a lot of activity and commitment from partners to deliver on decarbonisation. Mark Ruskell was right to say that there will be a refresh of the rail decarbonisation plan.

We treat the performance standards very seriously, and we will ensure that their delivery is reinforced. I have done that already in looking at the next plans across the UK—I have made it quite clear to those who are in charge of them that I expect the performance standard to be part of the plans and expectations for performance.

Passenger satisfaction is strong, but on rail performance, we are not delivering on the standards that we have set, in which we are clear about what we expect to achieve. You are right to identify that, but all that I can say is that we are driving that improvement forward. It is going in the right direction—your issue is the pace and how we can deliver that.

With regard to customer focus, since ScotRail has been under public ownership and control, that aspect really has been driven forward, as any of us who regularly use the rail system will know. In terms of time and delivery, we need to ensure that we have a reliable but safe railway; we will be looking at performance management in that regard, and I am sure that the committee will come back to that to identify how the performance standard is being reached.

Yes, there are. I will meet officials this afternoon to set out the next stages for ensuring that we report by the end of this year, as intended. The name of the fair fares review is a bit of a tongue-twister and, if I wanted to make changes, I would probably change that title, not least because the review is not just about fares—it is about how we make sure that our public transport system is accessible and affordable.

We have a fragmented system that involves deregulated services, such as buses, and the nationalised rail service. We have fares issues in relation to the ferries. We are looking at what is subsidised and what provides concessionary travel. In many other countries, the concessionary travel system is more varied, but Scotland has 2 million people with free concessionary bus travel.

The fair fares review is looking at all those issues. There are plenty of suggestions about anomalies. I know that the committee has heard about the situation for accompanied people who have sight impairments and about challenges in relation to disabilities and rail services.

There are lots of individual issues—for example, can something be done for under-22s who use interisland ferries? We also want to set out parameters for what a fair system might look like. Fares are set in advance of a period, so the idea is to produce the report by the end of the year so that implementation of recommendations can start—but not be completed—from 2024-25.