Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has made the following progress against the targets set out in its 2011-2016 Travel Strategy:

Target 1 – to reduce business related travel emissions by 25% between 2005-06 and 2016-17.

Target 2 – to reduce business related travel emissions by 42% by 2019-20 against 2005-06 levels (aligning our target with the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009).

Reductions in travel-related emissions between 2005-06 and 2009/10 are reported in the 2009/10 Annual Environmental Performance Report:

(http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/11/01111158/0).

Equivalent reductions between 2009-10 and 2011-12 are reported in the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Sustainability Report:

(http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/09/2732).

These reports show that the Scottish Government is making good progress towards achieving these targets.

Target 3 – to increase the share of more sustainable travel practices to 35% by 2014-15 from a baseline year of 2005-06.

The Scottish Government promotes sustainable travel options through the Travel Hierarchy set out in its 2011-2016 Travel Strategy:

(http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Information/travel-strategy).

This hierarchy requires the promotion of video conferencing, public transport, walking and cycling and the appropriate use of air travel, taxis and private cars. Between 2009-10 and 2011-12, the Scottish Government reduced its emissions from business related air travel by 18.4%. Over the same period, the number of business related journeys made by taxi in Edinburgh reduced by 55.0%.

The Scottish Government also promotes a number of initiatives to encourage lower carbon options for staff travel to work including: Walk to Work Week and schemes promoting cycling and car sharing.

The above highlights some of the progress that is being made towards achieving the 35% target for the adoption of more sustainable travel practices. This progress will be quantified in the 2012-13 Public Sector Sustainability Report that will be published in the Autumn.

Target 4 – establish a baseline for the commute to work [probably 2010-11] with a view to establishing carbon targets for the commute to work to be achieved by
2014-15 taking into consideration business need, location and staff work life balance.

A full staff travel survey was carried out last July and 2012-13 will be used as the baseline year for future commute to work carbon reduction targets. The results of the survey, and associated commute to work targets, will be published later this year.

Use of the National Cycle Network has increased by 50% in the past four years and it now carries 35 million trips a year in Scotland. It is over 2,000 miles long and the route through the Great Glen is the largest missing link in the Network.

In addition, both Highland and Argyll & Bute council areas have among the highest returns for children cycling to school, as monitored by the Hands Up Scotland Survey carried out by Sustrans. Indeed, Highland is double the national average at over 8%. Both local authorities already more than match the funding made available by Transport Scotland and are, therefore, well placed to market and promote use of this new infrastructure.

We are confident that communities along this route, and in the larger urban areas of Oban, Fort William and the city of Inverness, who have been consulted from the beginning of this project, will be encouraged to choose cycling for every-day short trips that they might otherwise make by car and will contribute to the 10% vision for cycling by 2020.

The report has been discussed with stakeholders during a meeting in November, and is available via:

http://www.sruc.ac.uk/info/20005/sac_consulting/812/distillery_feed_by-products_briefing.

Animal feedstuffs are a globally traded commodity product. The price of animal feed is commercially driven and determined by the supply and demand balance on world markets. It is up to livestock farmers and their business advisors to factor in input cost volatility and risk when preparing their forward business plans.

Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Scottish Green Party): To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the (a) plans and (b) timescale for phase two of the Highland Main Line Improvement Project; what the estimated cost of the project is, and how many jobs it will create.

(S4W-11812)

Keith Brown:-The 2012 High Level Output Specification states that phase two of the project will be delivered in control period five (2014-2019). Due to the complexity of this project, detailed analysis must first be undertaken to ensure that the aspirations of stakeholders are achieved. Network Rail is expected to deliver a report on options for phase two by summer 2013.

The overall cost of the Highland Main Line project is between £250 million and £600 million, as published in 2011 in the government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan. More accurate information on the project will be available when we receive the report from Network Rail.

The first phase of the Highland Main Line improvements has been completed delivering two extra trains per day each way from December 2011 and journey time improvements of up to 18 minutes from December 2012.

The contract between Expotel Ltd and easyJet allows for travel to and from Edinburgh; Glasgow; Aberdeen; or Inverness and London Gatwick; Stansted; or Luton.

The Scottish Government’s Travel Strategy (2011-16):

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Information/travel-strategy, focuses on sustainable business travel, which is essential to allow the Scottish Government to carry out its business across Scotland and to meet its ambitious emissions targets. The strategy includes targets relating to both business travel emissions and to sustainable travel practices and commits the Scottish Government to developing carbon targets related to staff commuting.

The strategy is supported by an annual action plan which sets out the actions that will be undertaken in order to achieve the Scottish Government’s targets. The action plan promotes the use of public transport and in particular, where reasonable, the use of rail for journeys from Scotland to London. The strategy includes a travel hierarchy that encourages staff to adopt more sustainable travel practices. The first option in the travel hierarchy is that, where possible, staff should avoid travelling - through the use of technologies such as video and telephone conferencing - but where travel is unavoidable they should next consider sustainable travel options such as walking, cycling and public transport.

It is recognised that in some cases travel by air will be necessary. In May 2010, the Scottish Government signed up to the World Wildlife Fund One in Five Challenge which commits participants to cut their business flights by 20% within five years and we are on target to achieve this. Over the four-year period 2007-08 to 2011-12, the Scottish Government reduced its annual expenditure on air travel from £2.0 million to £1.3 million, a reduction of £0.7 million, or 35%, per annum.

The Scottish Government supports the wider public sector’s efforts to tackle climate change emissions in a range of ways. These include publishing guidance to assist public bodies in relation to their duties under the Climate Change Act to contribute to carbon emissions reduction targets; working with the sector to provide strategic leadership and direction, and through supporting the development of the Sustainable Scotland Network to support best-practice, performance improvement and capacity building in key areas of sustainability and climate change.

Transport Scotland funds the Energy Savings Trust to offer information to organisations on how to cut travel costs and emissions, which is on the Choose Another Way website:

http://www.chooseanotherway.com/. The Trust is also funded to offer Low Carbon Transport Loans and fuel efficient driving training.

As there has been no change to Scottish Government travel policy, no carbon impact assessment was carried out. Scottish Government travel policy continues to reinforce the view that staff must consider if their journey is actually necessary (whether video-conferencing is a viable alternative). If there is the need to travel then staff are advised to use the train on the UK mainland. Air travel should only be taken where this is the most cost-effective and time-efficient method.

Expotel has confirmed that their deal offers sustainability benefits in that by using the latest technology, operating efficiently and filling the majority of seats, an easyJet passenger’s carbon footprint is 22% less than a passenger on a traditional airline, flying the same aircraft on the same route.

There is no contract in place between the Scottish Government and easyJet. The contract agreement is between Expotel Ltd and easyJet. There was no obligation on Expotel to abide by the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and, as such, undertake a competitive tender exercise. Expotel already have deals in place for the east coast main line and also with hotel groups throughout the UK.