Chamber and committees

We are committed to the largest road investment programme that Scotland has ever seen. By the end of this financial year (2016-17), we will have spent over £8 billion on our Motorways and Trunk Road Network since 2007, to ensure the strategic road network is safe, available for use, efficient, well maintained and allows effective movement of people, goods and services around and to and from Scotland.

Many of our projects include necessary improvements to roads that become the responsibility of the Local Authority on completion of the scheme. The spend on these roads is not captured separately and is included in the overall investment for the project.

On-Going Schemes

Since 2007, the Scottish Government has invested in a number of major roads projects, including:

In addition, the Scottish Government continues to progress the design and development of a number of schemes including the A90/A937 Laurencekirk Junction Improvement (Aberdeenshire) and the A90/A96 Haudagain Junction Improvement (Aberdeen City).

A breakdown by road and local authority area is not possible for incomplete schemes as some of the investments are of a national nature (e.g. Forth Replacement Crossing) and others span a number of local authority areas. However, analysis of spend by year, since 2007-08 can be seen in the following table. 

Figures from 2011-12 onwards exclude Cost of Capital which was abolished. Cost of Capital Figures from 2007-08 to 2010-11 are £517.8m, £546.5m, £595.5m and £649.1m respectively.

[1] Figures taken from respective January Scottish Budget Bills.

Completed Schemes

The average response time for call-outs in both Fife and Tayside in 2015-16 was around 7 minutes, against a national average of around 7.5 minutes.

Response times are monitored on an on-going basis and are affected throughout the year by a number of factors, including peaks in demand, extreme weather, and road closures as well as turnaround times at hospitals. In a potentially life threatening emergency, the ambulance service will dispatch the nearest available resource as soon as possible.

It should be noted that, while time targets are important, they are not a sign of the quality of patient outcomes.

That is why the Scottish Ambulance Service are piloting a new response model, announced in November last year. The model has been developed following the most extensive clinical review of its type ever undertaken in the UK - with nearly half a million call-outs examined. This will benefit patients in urban, rural and remote communities in Scotland.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Ambulance Service are both committed to ensuring patients across Scotland received the best care possible. That is why we have invested an extra £11.4 million in the Scottish Ambulance Service for 2016-17 which will include the recruitment of 200 extra paramedics as part of our commitment to training 1000 more paramedics over the next five years. The funding will help to improve care across Scotland.

Scottish Ministers through successful use of the Access for All fund have invested over £67 million across the Scottish network improving the accessibility to 25 stations by 2019.

This dedicated programme is complemented by wider Scottish government investment to modernise stations on the network, such as the £25m invested to transform Haymarket. All new stations, such as those on the Borders Railway or the recently opened Edinburgh Gateway are fully accessible for disabled and other passengers.

Scottish Ministers also secured over £3 million of investment to be made by Abellio ScotRail specifically to improve access to rail services for passengers. This is in addition to the £475m being used to introduce new, fully compliant accessible rolling stock as well as supporting an extensive refurbishment of trains to ensure the ScotRail fleet is fully modernised and up to the accessibility standards required.

These are all tangible improvements that make a significant contribution to the delivery of the Scottish Government's first Accessible Travel Framework which I launched last year.

The comments I made in response to S5T-00336 are consistent with the draft budget.

Following negotiations with the bus industry, we have reached an agreement on reimbursement terms for 2017-18 which is underpinned by the economic model agreed with the industry in 2013. The Statutory Instrument implementing those terms constrains the total cost through a budgetary cap, based on the value of expected claims.

We also need to ensure that the Concessionary Travel Scheme remains sustainable in the longer term, which is why we will be engaging with stakeholders to identify options and undertaking a public consultation later in the year. In doing so, we will be mindful of the need to safeguard the position of existing card holders, ensuring that any changes will not affect those already in possession of bus passes and that we protect those with disabilities.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) a public body are established by the Scottish Ministers to provide safe, reliable, efficient and cost effective vessels for operators, communities and users in and around Scotland. CMAL employ qualified technical staff and it is therefore appropriate for them to undertake assessments and ascertain the condition of the fleet of vessels.

In terms of fleet renewal, the Vessel Replacement and Deployment Plan (VR&DP) – Annual Report 2015, published in December 2016, summarises the outputs of work by Transport Scotland, CMAL and CalMac Ferries Ltd to develop a programme of vessel retentions, cascades, acquisitions and disposals in order to deliver the Ministerial commitments set out in the Scottish Ferry Services: Ferries Plan (2013-2022).

The VR&DP is available on the Transport Scotland website.

The output of the first VR&DP annual report (2014) resulted in the procurement of two new major vessels by CMAL which are currently under construction by Clyde shipbuilder Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd. It also modelled an indicative program for a further 4 new major vessels to replace vessels approaching the end of their working life. Since 2011, 5 new vessels have been introduced to the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Service network.

The guidance issued in the CMO letter 2009/03 to all Health boards on 25 March 2009 remains extant. All guidance remains under general review to ensure it remains applicable.

Published guidance is contained within CMO letter 2009/03. The key purpose of the guidance is to provide a framework to support local decisions concerning the possible combination of elements of NHS and private care for individual patients. Decisions regarding the provision of NHS services remain matters for NHS boards; and clinicians remain responsible for clinical decisions regarding the care of individual patients.

NHS boards are expected to have a clear policy in place to deal with situations which may result in a patient requesting combined NHS and private healthcare including a medicine which is not available in the NHS as set out in the guidance published in CMO letter 2009/03.

Over £475 million is being invested over the next few years in ScotRail's rolling stock which will lower the average age of the fleet. This funding, provided through the ScotRail franchise budget, will deliver 234 new carriages when the Hitachi electric class 385 fleet will be gradually introduced over the next 24 months.

It is always important to note that the quality of the train fleet is important, not its age. Good, high quality refurbishment can deliver a passenger experience comparable with new rolling stock.

The Scottish Government is very disappointed by Flybe’s decision to withdraw the Dundee-Amsterdam air service. Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd has worked closely with Flybe to seek to resolve the Airline’s operational issues and will continue to work with Flybe and other interested parties in the interests of returning this successful service to Dundee. The Scottish Government was made aware of Flybe’s intention to withdraw the service on 22 December 2016.