In all those projects, not least on trunk roads, it is clear that there are issues around making sure that planning purposes and processes are robust so that you do not get challenges and so on. I heard about the experience in Aberdeen, for example, when I visited to hear about the trunk roads there.

I declare an interest in relation to using the motorway network, convener, because I represent a central Scotland constituency and have been pursuing park and ride at constituency level for precisely those reasons. I declare that I am recused in my ministerial listings.

That funding has been paused. It is a process issue as well as a funding issue, and I know how important considering bus lane access to Glasgow and Edinburgh is for constituencies in the central belt. The committee will know that there are more advanced issues around bus lanes in Edinburgh, particularly in relation to coming over from Fife, but there are more opportunities there. I want to be careful in what I say, because I have a personal interest as a constituency MSP in those areas, so I defer to Alison Irvine, or whoever might be more appropriate, as she might be able to say things more safely.

No; it is the reverse.

That is a good question. Unless people are in the Lothian Buses area, they probably do not realise that that happens. Lothian is seen as the most successful municipal bus company, part of which comes from the simplicity of its fare structure. We are also learning from the experience in England.

We are working with partners in the Scottish landscape, including private bus operators in the deregulated market, to anticipate how that might encourage a modal shift. We see benefits in the Lothians because everyone uses the buses and that is not in any way differentiated, whereas, in other parts of the country, affluence can affect whether people use the bus or prefer to use a car. We also need availability. I am interested in whether having a flat-rate structure might help to support more bus use in rural or semi-rural areas. I am keen to see that, but we must work with operators to identify where that can be done.

There is a case for looking at regional discounting. There are already interesting developments in Glasgow. We do not want to displace activity that is already happening, but that might help to inform us about how to get a modal shift and whether cutting prices might help. We are looking at a £2 price but that already happens with most buses anyway: they do not necessarily cost £4.

The problem comes outside cities, where there are the complications of poorer bus availability and more expensive buses. I feel strongly that if we want to tackle child poverty we must encourage and support parents who want to get better-paid jobs elsewhere or who want to travel to employment or education. That is more problematic in rural and semi-rural areas than it might be in our cities. We are looking at all the different aspects to identify where it would be best to pilot flat-rate fares and whether they would make a difference.

We must bear in mind that 79 per cent of all public transport journeys are by bus, so I am very keen to focus on that this year

We anticipate that there will be £65 million to invest in this area in terms of that partnership with the private sector. Reflecting on those figures from the Scottish Futures Trust, private sector investment in this area has almost doubled from last year to this year. On what the trajectory will look like in terms of ramping up the numbers, it will be an acceleration. You can see that, and that is what we need to do. Having reflected on the discussion that I just had with Climate Change Committee members, I am as keen as they are to make sure that, geographically, Scotland’s needs are met through where the charging points are positioned; it is not just about volume.

On the technology changes that are happening, I was in Haddington just the other week, and BT has been working on the green furniture that it has, which was previously used for its transmission. The more that it is doing stuff in terms of the fibre-to-properties, the more the green boxes are becoming redundant in that respect. Haddington was the first place in the whole of the UK where BT piloted the use of that green box for power. Interestingly, it was on the edge of a council scheme with fields beside it, where people did not have their own driveway that they could charge their vehicle on. Obviously, we do not want people having to drive from the periphery of a town into the centre for charging if they do not have domestic charging.

Again, that is about innovation in technology. Also, BT chose Scotland because we are seen as good partners in that regard. If that approach can be expanded and rolled out elsewhere, that technological change will also provide more accessibility, because on-street charging can be a challenge in particular areas, so I thought that that was quite a good innovation.

You are right that the roll-out will be tough but the ramping up is happening and I know from looking at the plans from my local authority that it is keen to work with the private sector to roll out EV chargers so that the available choices for people can grow, as can their confidence in using the chargers.

I will need to be careful about what I say. Let us await the publication of the A96 review. However, on priorities within that, I think that any town that has a trunk road that is a major artery going through it has to be a priority. I will leave it as vague as that, but I absolutely agree that the Elgin bypass should be a priority. I will probably leave it at that, if that is okay.

I agree that the A83 is a key artery, particularly to Argyll and Bute, and it is important for the local community, businesses and tourism. You may be aware that there is an A83 Rest and Be Thankful task force, and I recently chaired its meeting in Arrochar on 22 May. I also visited the A83 and the old military road to see the progress of the different stages of the solution.

There is an informative communications vehicle—a website—from Transport Scotland, whose link we can forward to you. All the stakeholders, businesses and local councillors are involved in the task force. They are making sure that everybody is kept informed on progress. We have had very good presentations from the contractors that are going to be delivering the solutions.

There are short, medium and long-term solutions. The long-term preferred route option of the Glen Croe valley was announced in June last year. That is progressing well, and there have been exhibitions in local communities to show what will be involved in the proposed debris flow shelter.

At the same time, improvements are being made to the existing old military road. When diversions are required while the longer-term solution is being developed and built, that road will be in an improved state.

I was probably the only person who was wetter than the Prime Minister on 22 May, when I was looking at the developments and improvements, particularly on the south approach. There will also be a widening of that, which is required to help. It is also important to signal to broadcasters in particular that the A83 is not closed when the old military road is being used; it is a diversion using the old military road. That was a key message from the task force. It wanted to make sure that, when there has to be a diversion, people can still use the A83, but we are diverting them via the old military road for that difficult and problematic area, where we have had some pretty horrendous landslips and so on.

I will start by saying that ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper are among the top-performing train operators in the UK. They rank sixth and seventh, out of 23 operators, on public performance measures. However, as you rightly identified, ScotRail is not reaching our expected levels of performance. Although it is performing well, you are correct to identify that issues that people attribute to ScotRail because its trains have been cancelled or delayed can, in the vast majority of cases, be attributed to work that has been conducted by Network Rail.

The work that Network Rail does is important: we want to make sure that we have a safe railway. We also need to recognise that we have had 11 named storms since last autumn, which has had particular impacts on our railways. One of the major achievements that we have delivered over the past year is finalisation of the work on control period 7—on which a lot of people have done a lot of work, and which will include investment of £4.2 billion—and on the high-level output specification for Network Rail, which will include mitigation and adaptation for climate change. Obviously, sodden ground can have impacts, as we know.

You asked how we can drive up performance collectively. I will be meeting the new managing director of ScotRail and the chief executive of Network Rail. You will be aware that Alex Hynes has been seconded to the Department for Transport—ironically, to replicate what we have in Scotland, which is a far more integrated transport system of track and train together that has been established for some time. That means that we can try to plan works more collectively in order to minimise disruptions where we can.

As I said, performance is good. How do we specifically improve ScotRail performance? Replacement of the ageing fleet, for example, is a priority for us. We are looking at both the suburban and the intercity fleets in relation to procurement. Recruitment of engineers has really helped with improving some performance, particularly in areas that have seen challenges—for example, Fife.

Since ScotRail has moved into the public sector, we have added more than 200 additional services. Indeed, there are now 400 more people employed than there were prior to public sector ownership. The unions, in particular—I agree with them—are keen that we increase the number of apprentice engineers, which will help to improve the service. A more resilient fleet will also help.

There was quite a lot in there, but in respect of our oversight, when I have that meeting with ScotRail and Network Rail I will put pressure on them individually and collectively. The same level of performance is expected of both, so I expect them to continue to drive that forward in order improve.

Yes. What happens if you are—

I think that that would be a better way to pursue the matter.

I would like to be able to answer your question, but I think that it would be inappropriate for me to do so at this committee meeting.