Chamber and committees

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Centre for Civic Innovation’s seventh annual family poverty in Glasgow report, which was published last month. (S7O-00476)

Is Paul Sweeney online? I am happy to take the intervention.

When I read the report, one of the things that really moved me was that hundreds of families in Glasgow are falling back into poverty within six months of escaping it. The revolving door of poverty is trapping around 360 families in Glasgow every month. That is unfair, unjust and unacceptable. Tackling poverty requires more than short-term financial support. What targeted longer-term interventions will the Government take to help the people behind those numbers to achieve financial security—particularly single-parent families and those in low-paid or insecure work?

I thank Daniel Johnson for securing this important debate, and I congratulate everyone at Lothian Buses on 40 years of public service. It is great to see so many people in the public gallery, including everyone who Daniel mentioned. I also see the chair of Lothian Buses, Susan Deacon, in the gallery, as well as members of my trade union, Unite. It is really good to have you all here.

Forty years on, Lothian Buses is a remarkable success story. It is the story of the UK’s largest municipal bus company, which carried 119 million passengers in 2025. I just learned this week that more than a third of all bus journeys in Scotland were made on Lothian Buses. That is something to celebrate, and it is also something to learn from.

Lothian Buses shows us what happens when public transport is treated as an essential public service instead of simply a commercial opportunity. For example, on a Sunday night, services might not pass a purely commercial test, but they pass the test that really matters: they connect people to work, to family and friends, and to our communities. When Lothian Buses makes a surplus, the money is reinvested in better services, affordable fares and cleaner buses. That is the difference that public ownership makes. It puts passengers and communities first.

As a Glasgow MSP, I look at the record of Lothian Buses with envy. In my own part of the country, I see stark transport inequalities. It is always the communities with the fewest cars and the least resources that are most dependent on buses, yet too many people in my area face cancelled services, unreliable timetables and routes that simply do not meet their needs. A cheap or free bus fare on a bus that never arrives is no answer to the cost of living crisis that many of our people face. We need public control of both the fare and the service.

For me, it is about much more than transport. It is also about tackling poverty, connecting people to good jobs, supporting local businesses and growing our economy. It is of course essential to meeting our climate commitments, too. Transport accounts for around a third of Scotland’s emissions, but we will not persuade people to leave their cars at home if the bus service that they need has been withdrawn.

There are lessons from Greater Manchester, as Daniel Johnson has said. We should reflect on the fact that Andy Burnham was told that public control could not be done. Operators took him to court, but he won and delivered franchising on time and on budget.

Manchester has shown what franchising can achieve, Lothian shows what sustained municipal ownership can deliver and Glasgow should be ambitious enough to pursue both. That is why I am proud to support the Get Glasgow Moving and better buses for Strathclyde campaigns, whose supporters have spent 10 years making the case for better public transport.

It is always good to hear from my colleague Paul Sweeney. There were some smiles in the public gallery, which I will allow to speak for themselves.

I do not want to run over my time, Presiding Officer. The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport is in his place, and I am looking forward to his remarks. However, I think that he has heard loud and clear from campaigners that we want the Government to urgently simplify franchising legislation and to devolve powers and resources so that we can take services back into public and community hands.

Lothian has had 40 years of publicly owned buses. Glasgow has waited for long enough. Tonight, let us celebrate Lothian Buses not just with warm words but by learning from its example and delivering the public transport network that the people of Strathclyde and other parts of Scotland deserve.

17:56

Can the cabinet secretary provide reassurance to my constituents and those who are campaigning with the better buses national coalition that the development of the better buses legislation that he is driving forward will not slow down the work that SPT is doing to bring the bus network in Strathclyde region under public control? As he knows, there have been many delays already.

I bring to the minister’s attention my Glasgow constituent Alison, who is a teacher. Sadly, Alison experienced a miscarriage in April, had surgery and has ongoing issues. She is in a lot of pain, is unable to go to work and has had to pay £10,000 for private treatment. She is waiting to see a specialist gynaecologist, but has been told that the first appointment will not be before August 2027. She wants to work, but she cannot afford to pay for any more private treatment. What can the Government do now to help women such as Alison?

To ask the Scottish Government how phase 2 of its women’s health plan will address the impact of prolonged gynaecology waiting times on women’s ability to work and their financial security, particularly for those whose symptoms leave them unable to work. (S7O-00457)

It is nice to be at the committee. Thanks for having us along today. I will echo what Iris Duane has said in terms of paying tribute to the campaigners, including those who have travelled to the Parliament today. Thank you for being here. I think the work that Ellie Harrison, Get Glasgow Moving and now the better buses national coalition have been doing is really important. It has kept this issue in the mind of Parliament and I think that that shows the power of grass-roots campaigning.

As a Glasgow MSP, I put on the record that I understand how important bus services are to connecting communities across the city and, of course, the wider Strathclyde region. Having served on the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee in the previous parliamentary session, I also understand the importance of properly integrated transport planning and I have seen the challenges around turning legislative powers into practical improvements for passengers, so what I want to emphasise is the urgency of the legislative timetable. The First Minister has committed to bringing Scotland’s bus network back into public control by 2031, which is great and really welcome. However, there is a question whether the Scottish Government can deliver that commitment unless it acts quickly. In particular, we know that SPT is already progressing its franchising framework and assessment and if we are to accelerate franchising in Strathclyde, the requirement for the independent panel needs to be removed before SPT reaches that stage of the process.

My reflection, having been here in the previous session, is that we cannot afford another lengthy delay. It took more than six years for the statutory guidance under the 2019 act to be published. I think that we need to learn from that experience and the committee could play an important role in that. I also think that it is through this committee that we can try and get that clear commitment from the transport secretary on the timetable for these necessary amendments—on when the amending legislation will be introduced and on whether removing the independent panel can be prioritised as an early measure rather than waiting for a wider legislative package.

The bigger opportunity here is this: we need properly joined-up public transport networks, which are planned regionally, integrating buses with rail and other modes of transport, rather than having fragmented services that are operating in isolation, which is what we have just now.

I believe that the petitioner’s proposal to empower and properly resource all seven regional transport partnerships is therefore important, and SPT’s work could provide a blueprint for the other partnerships. However, they will need similar powers, expertise and financial support. As for the role of the committee, I think that it would be important to keep the petition open and to ask the Scottish Government for a clear timetable, particularly for the removal of the independent panel.

Secondly, the petition and the evidence on it should be brought to the attention of the Transport Committee. I think that is already the case, but the issue could be built into that committee’s work programme more. That will be important, as the Transport Committee will be leading on the scrutiny of the forthcoming better buses legislation.

Sometimes the Parliament gets criticised for not doing legislation well or not scrutinising proposed legislation enough. At this stage in the session, the Public Petitions Committee can play a good role in keeping the issue in the right place, across the Parliament.

To make a linked point, when we know that there are issues and challenges, it is better to consider them early on, rather than waiting until we have a bill before us and the opportunity to influence the bill is diluted. The committee will be receiving a lot of petitions, and I do not think that we should assume that because the Government has given certain commitments, we do not need to do anything. The ambition is there and has always been there. That is really good, but we need to ensure that the work is done, and that there is a tangible process.

Iris Duane did not mention this, but the “Routemap to Better Buses in Scotland by 2031”, which members have in front of them—I do not know if I am allowed to wave it at you, but I will give it a plug—is excellent. It is helpful to everyone around the table.

The question for all of us is whether the Government is prepared to act with urgency. I believe that the committee could do a really good job for the people of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Scotland by keeping the petition open and by helping with what will be important scrutiny.

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with City of Glasgow College regarding reported concerns about exposure to carcinogenic welding fumes and the measures in place to ensure a safe environment for lecturers and students. (S7O-00378)