Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in the labour market and the haulage industry. We recently announced the Workplace Equality Fund to reduce employment inequalities and barriers to employment, particularly in relation to recruitment and progression practices. The fund will support delivery of the Scottish Government's Race Equality Framework. Businesses can apply to the Fund when it opens for applications in late Summer.

In addition, SDS, working with Road Haulage Association (RHA) and key partners, commissioned a review of the labour market issues relating to the shortage of drivers within the Scottish Transport Network. The resulting report (Development of Action Plan to Address Shortage of Drivers in Scotland’s Transport Network) provided a number of recommendations, along with an action plan to tackle the identified skills supply and demand issues. SDS are currently scoping a pilot approach with training provider partners to encourage people from ethnic minority backgrounds and young women to consider applying for opportunities in the HGV sector.

The Development of Action Plan to Address Shortage of Drivers in Scotland’s Transport Network Report identified that industry must take an active role in addressing the identified issues. In response a stakeholder group has been established to consider the report’s recommendations and met for the first time on 22 June. Industry trade associations are already taking action to address the skills shortage in the sector through campaigns such as the ‘National Lorry Week’ and ‘She’s RHA’

The A952 is a local road and Aberdeenshire Council is responsible for the maintenance and safety of this route. As trunk road authority, we have undertaken a study of the A90 between the A90/A952 Cortes Junction and Fraserburgh and have a further investigation ongoing. We will be upgrading bend warning provision at identified bends along the route to assist drivers and reduce accidents. This is programmed to be installed in late summer/early autumn of 2017.

Our records show that on the A90 trunk road between Cortes junction and Fraserburgh there have been two fatal and three serious casualties resulting from trunk road accidents in the three year period from 2014 to 2016. The road and road layout were not identified as a contributory factor in either of the fatal accidents.

We will continue to monitor road safety on the A90 and regularly liaise with Police Scotland and other stakeholders to support the delivery of the Scottish Government’s 2020 casualty reduction targets.

Along with other north east road safety stakeholders, we regularly meet with Aberdeenshire Council and others to discuss and refresh the North East Road Casualty Reduction Strategy. At this forum, all stakeholders are focussed on casualty reduction and we come together to support and add value to the business plans, priorities and strategic outcomes of all the partner organisations in relation to road safety.

The route between Mintlaw and Fraserburgh comprises the A952 between Mintlaw and Cortes Junction and 8.2km of the A90 trunk road from Cortes junction to Fraserburgh. The A952 is a local road with Aberdeenshire Council being responsible for the maintenance and safety of this road.

It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments.

Our records show that for the A90 between Cortes junction and Fraserburgh there have been two fatal and three serious casualties resulting from trunk road accidents in the three year period from 2014 to 2016. The road and road layout were not identified as a contributory factor in either of these fatal accidents.

The overall increase in spending power to support local authority services now amounts to over £383 million. Aberdeenshire Council’s share of this overall increase in spending power amounts to over £21 million. Had the Council chosen to maximise its spending power by raising Council Tax by the full 3%, they would have had additional revenue amounting to £650,000, which they could have used to invest in local services.

The operational and maintenance costs for individual stations on the ScotRail network is commercially sensitive information.

The legislation and regulations regarding the use of fixed speed cameras is covered by the Road Traffic Offenders’ Act 1988 (amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991). This legislation allows for the evidence from equipment that is awarded Home Office Type Approval for devices to be used for the detection of the speed of motor vehicles to be admissible in court by way of certification of the record in accordance with Section 20 of the Road Traffic Offenders’ Act 1988, Speeding Offences etc: admissibility of certain evidence. The Scottish Safety Camera Programme uses a variety of fixed, mobile and average speed safety camera types to detect speeding vehicles. All cameras are Home Office Type Approved and calibrated on a regular basis.

The purpose and use of fixed speed cameras is provided in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook of Rules and Guidance (the “Handbook”) (https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/4798/scottish-safety-camera-programme-handbook2.pdf ). This sets out the rules and guidance to enable the Scottish Safety Camera Programme (the “Programme”) to contribute to Scotland’s road safety targets, and to which the Programme must operate. It is intended primarily for staff in the Area Safety Camera Offices and road safety practitioners in the Road Authorities to assist in the identification of safety camera sites and the provision of funding for their operations and activity as part of the Programme.

Consultation with community groups, local governance and scrutiny of Programme activity and operations is realised through existing Community Planning structures, associated Community Safety Partnerships, or other relevant bodies (e.g. Local Authority-led Road Safety Forums) as agreed at a local level with partners in the Local Authority area.

The projected use for the station in the first year of its operation was in the range of 500,000 to 600,000 passengers; a projected monthly or four-weekly patronage was not advised.

Railway station demand is reported in four-week periods. Since the station opened, reported passenger demand has been as follows:

In the longer-term, the use of the station is expected to grow substantially. This is because of significant planned development in the area around the station. This includes some 1,500 new homes immediately north of the station, for which there is passive provision for a footbridge.

The projected construction costs for the Edinburgh Gateway Rail/Tram Interchange station were £41million.

The project has yet to conclude final accounting, however, I can confirm that it will be delivered under budget.

Mobile camera vans are deployed to contribute to Scotland’s road safety vision and road safety targets as set out in the Scottish Governments Road Safety Framework to 2020 through targeted camera enforcement and improving driver behaviour. The minimum requirements for new mobile camera sites are set out in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook of Rules and Guidance (the “Handbook”) (https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/4798/scottish-safety-camera-programme-handbook2.pdf ), with evidence of collisions and speeding required. The days and hours of mobile enforcement deployment should reflect local collision and speeding profiles and include consideration of weekend and 24-hour deployment.

The number of officers and civilian staff required to operate them, and what the average hourly cost is of operating a unit, is a matter for Police Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

The legislation and regulations regarding the use of mobile speed cameras is covered by the Road Traffic Offenders’ Act 1988 (amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991). This legislation allows for the evidence from equipment that is awarded Home Office Type Approval for devices to be used for the detection of the speed of motor vehicles to be admissible in court by way of certification of the record in accordance with Section 20 of the Road Traffic Offenders’ Act 1988, Speeding Offences etc: admissibility of certain evidence. The Scottish Safety Camera Programme uses a variety of fixed, mobile and average speed safety camera types to detect speeding vehicles. All cameras are Home Office Type Approved and calibrated on a regular basis.

The purpose and use of mobile speed cameras is provided in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook of Rules and Guidance (the “Handbook”) (https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/4798/scottish-safety-camera-programme-handbook2.pdf ). This sets out the rules and guidance to enable the Scottish Safety Camera Programme (the “Programme”) to contribute to Scotland’s road safety targets, and to which the Programme must operate. It is intended primarily for staff in the Area Safety Camera Offices and road safety practitioners in the Road Authorities to assist in the identification of safety camera sites and the provision of funding for their operations and activity as part of the Programme.

Consultation with community groups, local governance and scrutiny of Programme activity and operations is realised through existing Community Planning structures, associated Community Safety Partnerships, or other relevant bodies (e.g. Local Authority-led Road Safety Forums) as agreed at a local level with partners in the Local Authority area.

There has been no delay.

I refer the member to the answer that I gave to Ross Thomson, MSP's question in the chamber when we discussed my statement on trauma on 18 January. In reply to his question I said:

“I laid out in my statement the initial priorities for the £5 million spend [in 2017-2018], which include the development and enhancement of services in the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS). I am sure that Ross Thomson will appreciate that, if the SAS could not do triage through its 24/7 trauma desk, there would not be the glue for the rest of the network.

We have asked the [Scottish Trauma Network] steering group to develop some of the more detailed costings, which will include the development of Aberdeen and Dundee [major trauma centres] over the 12 to 18-month period. That goes beyond the £5 million and that work will be on-going. The 12 to 18-month period straddles two financial years and, in planning for 2018-19, I will want to make sure that any additional costs of developing Aberdeen and Dundee are included."

I expect the steering group to develop a phased national implementation plan for the Scottish trauma network by the end of the year. Colleagues from NHS Grampian are fully involved in this work.