Chamber and committees

Two class 385 trains have just concluded the required testing on the newly electrified Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk route and the data from these dynamic tests will be part of a raft of documents which is submitted early in 2018 to gain approval from the ORR to operate the new fleet in passenger service. Two more class 385s are now in Scotland to help support the on-going driver training and staff familiarisation programme ahead of gradual service introduction of the new longer, faster, greener fleet in the coming months.

The modern class 380 electric fleet (3 and 4 cars) provides the vast majority of services across these three routes and are supported by class 314 and class 318 trains. Diagramming a mixture of the trains across the routes helps deliver a more efficient operation as well as enable drivers and staff to maintain different traction and route knowledge.

The four class Class 380 trains which are now providing 9,500 extra seats per day have been used since December 2016 to support ScotRail staff training programme which is required to support the switch in fleet provision on the newly electrified Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk route. These trains have been drawn from adjustments to maintenance programmes and from Ayrshire/ Inverclyde services which in turn were replaced by existing electric trains and additional class 320/4 trains which have been operating since late 2016 across the Strathclyde network.

The Scottish Government collects information from local authorities on the number of homelessness applicants who have slept rough a) the night before; and b) in the three months previous to their application.

This information is provided by local authority area in the following table:

Homelessness applications where the applicant slept rough:

Source: HL1 dataset at 23 May 2017

Note: All figures are rounded to 5 for disclosure purposes

This information is published in the Annual Homelessness in Scotland 2016-17 publication and is available at this link:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/8907/downloads

The Scottish Government has committed to work in partnership with local authorities to introduce low emission zones into Scotland's four biggest cities between 2018 and 2020. Part of the preparations for introducing these LEZs will be to understand how they will effect each City’s wider group of citizens. We anticipate that local councils will carry out a Equalities Impact Assessment as part of the process of designing their low emission zones, particularly in relation to communities who rely on public transport to move around.

The consultation Empowering Schools: A consultation on the provisions of the Education (Scotland) Bill asks a number of questions with regards to the establishment of the Education Workforce Council including question 21 that specifically seeks views on what education professionals and practitioners should be subject to mandatory registration. A list of proposed practitioners is provided within the consultation paper which includes classroom assistants and additional support for learning support workers.

Given the opportunity which the Education Bill provides we wish to consider the scope of the Education Workforce Council as broadly as possible and carefully consider the consultation responses on this issue as the policy position is finalised.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12767 on 27 November. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Minister for Transport and the Islands gave the keynote speech at the annual Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) Conference, which took place at Trump Turnberry in November. He did not have a meeting with CPT on that occasion.

I have regular discussions with my ministerial colleague. Ultra Low Emission Vehicles have a key role to play in tackling climate change as set out in the draft Climate Change Plan.

T

Disappointingly, 2016 saw an increase in road fatalities . One death on Scotland’s roads is always one too many and, while Police Scotland figures illustrate a slight improvement for the first half of 2017, all partners remain committed to securing our challenging and ambitious casualty reduction targets.

I recently attended the Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board meeting, which brings together key road safety partners, and I am encouraged by the work being done. The average speed camera system on the A9 continues to demonstrate a radical improvement in driver behaviour and the new A90 average speed camera system will, I am sure, be just as successful. Road Safety Scotland maintains delivery of effective learning resources, and the Seatbelts on School Transport (Scotland) Bill continues its progress through the Scottish Parliament.

It is encouraging that, overall, casualties fell by 1% between 2015 and 2016 from 10,973 to 10,901, the lowest number since records began, and the clear longer term downward trends should be acknowledged. Through continued education, enforcement and engineering, we are well placed to progress in the right direction towards our Road Safety Framework to 2020 targets.