Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is strongly committed to encouraging increased use of public transport. That is why we invest over £1billion a year in public transport. It is a matter for individual employers whether they levy a charge on employees to park at work. In our draft Climate Change Plan we propose that, where there are charges to park at workplaces, that these should be used to incentivise ULEVs.

The information requested is not held centrally. The data the Scottish Government receives from Police Scotland is a general count of the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police, split by local authority, and the number cleared up by the police. We don’t receive further details on the specific dates of these crimes and offences. This means we are unable to identify how many drink driving offences were recorded over the festive period in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a review of the water and sewerage charges exemption scheme. The results, including any proposed changes, will be published in early 2018.

The Scottish Government recognises the concerns of the local community following the tragic death of Logan Carrie in 2015 on the A92 north of Glenrothes and is committed to improving crossing provision on the route. We have invested over £35.1 million on the A92 since 2007 to ensure it continues to operate safely and efficiently. We have also been evaluating potential measures, which have highlighted a number of issues and we are considering alternatives which may be more appropriate for this location.

We have recently constructed a new footpath alongside part of the A92 and reduced the speed limit in this area.

As previously discussed with community representatives, we will meet them again early in the new year to discuss our progress on the A92 around Glenrothes and Freuchie.

ScotRail is required through the Franchise Agreement to manage the delivery of rail services, to accommodate the anticipated increase in rail traffic around the festive holiday period.

While the responsibility for day to day operation rests with ScotRail, Transport Scotland has contractual processes in place to regularly monitor ScotRail’s performance in delivering the obligations of the Franchise Agreement. This includes ensuring that services are punctual and reliable by achieving contractual targets for arriving on schedule and minimising cancellations. It also includes ensuring that ScotRail provides the capacity that they have committed.

In the event of any unplanned disruption, ScotRail are obliged to ensure customers are kept well informed in a timely manner through announcements at stations and on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter; and their customer service app provides live updates, and a live map of where the disruption is happening.

There are no planned engineering works that would affect ScotRail’s services over this period (the planned work at Edinburgh Waverley and at Stirling station, will be on days when trains will not be running). The work at Glasgow Queen St is external to the railway proper.

The Scottish Government's approach to supporting rail freight is outlined in the rail freight strategy, Delivering the Goods, which was published in March 2016. This is backed by significant investment in our railways including a
£30 million ring-fenced Scottish Strategic Rail Freight Investment Fund which is helping to unlock opportunities for rail freight across the country. Looking ahead, we have set regulatory targets for Network Rail through our High Level Output Specification (published in July 2017) to work with industry partners to attract new freight and grow existing markets. Whilst decisions on moving goods and the development of freight handling facilities are a matter for the commercial sector, the Scottish Government continues to operate EC state aid approved modal shift grant schemes which aim to remove freight from road to the more sustainable modes of rail and water, these grant schemes have enabled rail freight services to remove millions of lorry miles from our roads.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the stops that have skipped each year broken down by how many times, on the Borders Railway.

ScotRail provides Transport Scotland with performance information by Sector Group and these are monitored against the specified benchmarks contained in the Franchise Agreement.

The Scottish Government has given clear assurances in Parliament that the terms and conditions, pay and pensions of British Transport Police officers and staff will be the same as they are currently, or that an equivalent level of benefit will be provided to ensure transfer takes place on a no-detriment basis.

The benefits of integration were identified in the Policy Memorandum to the Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill:

 - ensuring that railway policing in Scotland is accountable, through the Chief Constable and the SPA, to the people of Scotland;

- enhancing railway policing in Scotland through direct access to the specialist resources of Police Scotland;

- future-proofing the infrastructure policing model in Scotland against changes that may arise from the review of infrastructure policing in England and Wales.

Alongside the Policy Memorandum, the Scottish Government published a report compiled by an independent research company that summarised the views of respondents to the Scottish Government consultation, including benefits and disbenefits. The Financial Memorandum set out projected costs associated with the Bill.

The Joint Programme Board which is overseeing the programme has continued to develop its understanding of benefits, risks and costs as more detailed work on integration has progressed.

Over £2m has been invested in average speed cameras (ASC) on the A90 to make the road safer for everyone travelling along the route.

As part of this spend, £43,853 was invested to develop and deliver a robust communication strategy which aimed to raise awareness around the introduction of ASC on the route.

These cameras are already encouraging improved driver behaviour and better speed limit compliance, which will lead to fewer camera detections, fewer penalty points, fewer drivers fined, and ultimately reduce the number of people being killed or injured on this route.