Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provided in 2015-16 £53.4 million subsidy for bus services through the bus service operators grant, which supports the bus network and benefits passengers by helping to make fares more affordable. Payments are based on the distance buses are operated, which is of particular assistance in rural areas where the routes are generally longer.

Funding is also provided to local authorities in their annual settlement to support services they consider socially necessary and for community transport services, which can play an important role in rural transport networks.

The Scottish Government does not distinguish between bus operators according to their ownership status. Payments to operators in the private, public and voluntary sectors over the last five years have been made through the Scottish green bus fund, bus service operators' grant (BSOG), grants to support smart ticketing development under section 70 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 and reimbursement payments for carrying concessionary passengers under the national concessionary travel schemes for older and disabled people and for young people.

Approximate spend through the Scottish green bus fund, which supports the roll out of low carbon buses, is noted in the following table.

Approximate spend under BSOG is noted in the following table.

The Scottish Government has provided Section 70 grants to bus operators to support smart ticketing development as noted in the following table.

The Scottish Government reimburses bus operators under the national concessionary travel schemes. Payments made to all participating bus operators for each of the last five years are detailed in the following table.

For the concessionary travel reimbursement figures above, 2015-16 includes estimation in respect of claim finalisation outstanding.

Transport Scotland publishes monthly details of all items of expenditure at a value of £25,000 or over. This information is available at: www.transportscotland.gov.uk/about-us/expenditure/reports

The aim of statutory notification of diseases as contained in the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 is to give early warning of potential threats to human health caused by infectious diseases in order to assess what, if any, health protection action might be required to minimise the spread of such diseases and the subsequent risk to human health.

The list is confined to diseases which are likely to give rise to a significant risk to public health, having regard to the seriousness of the disease and whether it is easily transmissible through casual contact. Although endemic in the UK, Lyme disease does not cause outbreaks requiring urgent public health action following diagnosis of a case and is not transmissible through person to person contact. As a result, it is not a notifiable disease in Scotland. However the organism which causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, is a notifiable organism under the Act and there is on-going national surveillance of all positive serology (blood tests) reported by diagnostic laboratories in Scotland.

Crofters have long been concerned at overly complicated and outdated legislation so the Scottish Government will modernise crofting law and make it more transparent, understandable and workable in practice. The decision in relation to the timing of a future Crofting Bill will be made in due course, taking into account discussions with stakeholders and the other legislative priorities of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is aware of the Branchliner project led by The Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership regarding timber extraction in the area around Kinbrace and the options detailed in its recent report which include the passive provision of a future loop at Kinbrace. This work is subject to a number of factors such as detailed appraisal, agreement from all parties, proven early stage viability and funding.