Chamber and committees

The current financial year marks a very significant change in our delivery model for active travel behaviour change initiatives, being the first year the Scottish Government has allocated grant funding for this purpose across all seven Region Transport Partnerships (RTPs) under the umbrella of a new Active Travel People and Place programme.

The grounds for the creation of this programme are the increased scale and pace of the government’s ambition in active travel, which has already brought wholesale reform of the delivery model for active travel infrastructure through the creation of the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) working primarily with Local Authorities through a new tiered system.

Similarly, the previous active travel behaviour change delivery model whereby Transport Scotland continued to centrally grant fund several national third sector partners across 30+ projects and programmes also needed to be reformed to deliver at scale.

For 2024-25 we therefore developed a new regional approach whereby this funding has instead been invested in RTPs, who in turn have designed programmes of active travel behaviour change initiatives which are more responsive to local circumstances and suit their needs. This is a more streamlined, scalable, and strategic model, with strong alignment to wider Scottish Government priorities and ways of working. This includes delivering on STPR2 Recommendation 6 that we build on existing behavioural change initiatives, and the Verity House Agreement principle that public responsibilities should be exercised by authorities closest to the citizen, with presumptions in favour of local flexibility.

STPR2 recommends that these initiatives are likely to be most effective if they raise awareness of new infrastructure and services. In taking a behaviour change approach we want to ensure that interventions tackle the individual, social, and material (ISM) factors that influence people’s travel choices. We have therefore developed four ‘themes’ that sit across the Active Travel People and Place programme that address long-term social trends, target our largest trip generators, help secure a Just Transition, and systemically strengthen delivery, as well as providing structure for our overarching monitoring and evaluation framework. These themes are: Schools and Young People, Workplaces, Accessibility and Inclusion, and Capacity and Capability Building.

We recognise that these programmes of behaviour change initiatives, some directly linked to infrastructure development, do require an appropriate blend of capital and revenue funding. Of overall spend across our legacy behaviour change / access to bikes programmes in 2023-24, capital accounted for 82%, and revenue 18% of funding. Of spend on the RTP Active Travel People and Place programmes in 2024-25, capital accounts for 63% (£12m), and revenue 37% (£7m) of funding. This has been achieved in the context of a particularly challenging budget and resource spending review, which has required, and will continue to require, difficult decisions to be taken across government.

Nestrans and its partners Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and the North East Bus Alliance, are working to develop the business case for Aberdeen Rapid Transit (ART). Building on work undertaken to support the Regional Transport Strategy and the second Strategic Transport Projects Review, Nestrans is drafting the business case which includes detailed planning to understand how ART could be implemented. This includes work on transport corridors identified as being potential routes for ART to identify opportunities for transport improvements, including bus priority.

Transport Scotland's involvement in Project CAVForth demonstrates the Scottish Government's belief that a modern transport system is fundamental to sustainable and inclusive economic growth and has the potential to deliver economic and societal benefits.

Transport Scotland’s involvement in Project CAVForth, as a partner, came to a conclusion at the end of July 2023 when the funding period for the project ended. The project aim of delivering an autonomous bus service was successfully achieved and my officials obtained considerable operational knowledge relating to the steps required to support the safe implementation of such a service. As Transport Scotland was only a partner for a 12 week period of the trial service, there was a constraint on the amount of evaluation that could be undertaken within that time period. Nevertheless, through Transport Scotland’s involvement, my officials met regularly with City of Edinburgh Council and Fife Council to provide updates on the project, in addition to sharing learning at a number of industry events that representatives from various local roads authorities attended.

As the trial service continues until March 2025 under the successor project (CAVForth 2), the project partners (which does not include Transport Scotland) are continuing to evaluate the project including via Stagecoach as the operator of the service. In Transport Scotland’s role as the roads authority for the majority of the route, my officials will continue to support the project and share further learning with other Scottish Transport Authorities. Most recently this was done through the delivery of a presentation by my officials at an ITS UK event, which was attended by Glasgow City Council on 8 February 2024.

My officials also continue to actively engage with partners to gain a greater understanding of the impact that the deployment of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, the benefits that they bring and opportunities to share this knowledge more widely.

In 2023, SG published its Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network , highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. In late 2024 we will publish an Implementation Plan identifying the key actions be taken to deliver our Vision in response to the UK CCC recommendation.

This Implementation Plan will include a route map for delivering approximately 24,000 additional public charge points by 2030 and will be developed in partnership with key stakeholders who share collective responsibility for delivering public EV charging across Scotland and outline an agreed set of actions to meet Scotland’s needs, including the needs of rural and island communities.

The new interim chief executive of Ferguson Marine is not entitled to relocation expenses. His remuneration package includes a travel and subsistence allowance and Ferguson Marine will pay any such costs properly incurred.

The Ferguson Marine Board shared their new business plan with Scottish Government on 5 April 2024.

This is now being considered and an update will provided in due course.

The future investment in our transport network will be set out in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) Delivery Plan. This will align with the sustainable mode and investment hierarchies. New roads projects will normally only be taken forward where they reduce the maintenance backlog; address road safety concerns or adapt the network to deal with the impacts of climate change or benefit communities such as bypassing settlements.

The impact of climate change is built into Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) with a specific Climate Change criteria introduced in the latest update. As part of this approach two transport modelling scenarios in transport appraisal ensure that the 20% car km reduction target is a key part of the appraisal of transport projects, including road project appraisal. As such, climate change impacts are a key part of our investment decision making processes, including prioritising investment in line with the sustainable investment hierarchy.

We will publish a final 20% reduction in car use route map by autumn 2024 which includes a timeline for implementing demand management. This will include consideration of how local government action can further incentivise the switch to EVs in addition to reducing overall car km.

We will carefully consider the UK Climate Change Committee report recommendations and provide a Scottish Government response in due course.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the A96. This is despite stark challenges we face as a result of the severe budgetary restrictions imposed by the UK Government including an almost 9% cut in our capital budget.

The current plan is to fully dual the route and as part of this process we are undertaking a transparent, evidence-based review of the programme.

The significant interest in the review’s initial consultation, with nearly 4,600 responses, generated 11,000 options to improve the corridor. It is only right that it has taken more time than originally anticipated, in order to properly examine and fully appraise these.

It is expected that the draft outcomes from the Review will be consulted on in the coming months, before a final decision can be reached.