Chamber and committees

The UK Government has not confirmed an intention to replace the UK Railways Act 1993. We are currently awaiting the publication of the outcomes from the UK Rail Review (Williams Review), which were originally due in the Autumn of last year.

It remains our long-held view that the devolution of our railway is required to enable the Scottish Government to consider the full range of options for structuring Scotland’s railway.

It is the intention of the Scottish Government to publish redacted versions of the current Emergency Measures Agreements, in place from September to January 2021, on the Transport Scotland website in the coming weeks.

In order to maintain rail passenger service continuity throughout this period, the Scottish Government released significant funding of £250m which enabled Abellio ScotRail to maintain full employment of staff. The management fee associated with the earlier Emergency Measures Agreement with Abellio ScotRail included a performance element, ensuring focus on immediate service continuity for essential journeys. A similar approach was taken by the Department for Transport at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Further to the answer to question S5W-31754 given on 22 September 2020, while the Scottish Government is continuing to investigate if there are any suitable opportunities to utilise this funding, I need to be confident that any proposal identifies a gap in the market, can deliver the required outcomes and is deliverable in a way that practical for farmers and crofters. That assessment is continuing and if we are able to utilise this funding option. Parliament will be advised in due course.

The Scottish Government has already provided around £250 million of additional financial support which has allowed Abellio ScotRail and Serco Caledonian Sleeper to maintain full employment for their staff despite the significant drop in passenger revenue during the pandemic, and substantial additional sums will be required in future.

The UK Government has not yet provided clarity about the future additional funding for the Scottish Government arising from UK transport spending. Any pay discussions between ScotRail and its staff will need to reflect the extremely challenging budgetary position and the ongoing budgetary uncertainty.

Scottish Government officials are continuing to investigate other opportunities to encourage low carbon and more sustainable farming and food production through the Agricultural Transformation Fund allocation for 2020-21. Parliament will of course be updated of any such proposals.

The global figure for all rolling stock costs during the EMA period until 20 September 2020 is £84.8m. Disaggregated information cannot be provided due to the commercial sensitivities for both Train Operating Companies as well as the Rolling Stock Companies involved.

Caledonian Sleeper is bound by the Franchise Agreement to inform passengers in a timely manner of any potential changes to their timetabled travel.

Caledonian Sleeper advises it took the decision to announce on 29 September the cancellation of trains on 4 and 5 October to ensure that all passengers were fully informed ahead of the strike action, allowing them to make alternative plans for any travel or onward accommodation bookings.

The breakdown of allocations to individual local authorities is set out in the following table. We are working with local authorities to collate and assure more detailed information on how their funding allocations have been spent.

As agreed with COSLA, funding allocations to each local authority were based on a distribution formula calculated on the basis of deprivation (70%) and rurality (30%).