Chamber and committees

Traffic Scotland is a service provided by Transport Scotland, the Scottish Government’s national transport agency. Traffic Scotland collects and distributes real-time traffic and travel information for the entire Scottish trunk road and motorway network. Traffic Scotland previously used ANPR camera technology to provide journey time information across the trunk road network until 2022. This service is now provided by a third party data source and there are no operational ANPR cameras used in the delivery of the Traffic Scotland service.

Police Scotland use ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) technology to help detect, deter and disrupt criminal activity at a local, force, regional and national level. This includes travelling criminals (those using the road network to avoid being caught), organised crime groups and terrorists.

ANPR provides lines of enquiry and evidence in the investigation of crime and is used by forces throughout Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A record for all vehicles passing by a camera is stored, including those for vehicles that are not known to be of interest at the time of the read. At present ANPR cameras nationally, submit on average around 60 million ANPR read records to national ANPR systems daily.

Following review of processes to maintain competitiveness within vessel projects CMAL, as Procuring Authority, have chosen not to disclose the list of yards or locations of those bidding for the MV Lord of The Isles replacement or for any future vessel tenders.

An update will be provided at the appropriate time, when the required procurement processes are complete.

The Partnership Group comprises of representatives from Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life, Historic Environment Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland, the Scottish Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Scottish Enterprise has also participated in the group’s work.

The Partnership Group was established with a specific remit to support the project through strategic coordination among organisations with direct responsibilities for funding, governance and delivery. Accordingly, membership has been limited to organisations with formal responsibilities in these areas.

Additionally a significant amount of community engagement and collaboration on the Peoples Palace Project has taken place, with over 7000 people involved to date. This includes the People’s Palace Community Partners Panel, which was established specifically for the project and includes key local community groups and representation. The aim of the group is to ensure that community voices and views inform all aspects of the project in a meaningful way. The panel has been heavily involved in the design process and has viewed and fed back on architectural designs. They are also informed of plans for future museum displays and interpretation of content and updates on the wider project plan.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (CSA ENRA) has not provided any specific advice on the use of LiDAR technology to assess wildfire risk. CSA ENRA led the development and implementation of the Scottish national land LiDAR programme and extensively engages with ministers on the development and use of LiDAR technology in Scotland more broadly.

In addition, science advisers working on behalf of CSA ENRA have engaged extensively with partners on the science of wildfire risk, including the early development work that has been done on LiDAR and Wildfire.

Transport Scotland officials have required ScotRail through Scottish Rail Holdings to work at pace to rectify any issues experienced by passengers upon release of the new ScotRail app in order to minimise disruption, and to reflect any lessons learned in any future initiatives.

Through Road Safety Scotland (RSS), the Scottish Government has engaged with the vehicle rental industry for many years. RSS, in partnership with Police Scotland, the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) and many of its constituent members, has spearheaded a campaign to enhance the safety of foreign drivers on our roads.

Campaign activity has recently been refreshed and consists of a significant website with a number of downloadable assets, which can be viewed here: https://roadsafety.scot/campaigns/drive-on-the-left-campaign-assets/. The content covers off: junctions; passing places; journey planning; safe overtaking, and includes videos, partner toolkits and suggestions for social media use.

In addition, a number of physical resources has been produced, all of which are available to individual car rental companies, the tourist industry, local road safety contacts, and Police Scotland. These resources include: Drive on the Left wristbands in eight languages; Ride on the Left reservoir gaiters for motorcyclists; and leaflets translated into a number of different languages.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

Any testing of the ScotRail app prior to its launch was done by ScotRail and the retail platform provider, SilverRail. The member may wish to contact ScotRail for this information.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

The Scottish Government remains committed to establishing a National Oversight Mechanism (NOM) for deaths in custody. Officials are working with HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) to establish an initial prison-focused model, following the former Cabinet Secretary for Justice’s commissioning of HMIPS earlier this year. Work is progressing on a phased test-of-change basis, with governance and staffing arrangements currently being finalised.

The NOM will draw on findings from Fatal Accident Inquiries, internal reviews and wider scrutiny activity to identify systemic issues, promote learning and improve accountability. By tracking recommendations, monitoring progress against agreed actions and reporting on recurring themes and areas of concern, the NOM will help ensure that lessons identified through FAIs are considered, implemented and embedded across the system.