Chamber and committees

Safety concerns are recorded as defects and addressed in accordance with contractual requirements and timescales.

Safety defects and remedial actions on the A90 over the last five years are detailed below:

• A90 840 Portlethan Overbridge – Damaged parapet mesh. Parapet mesh was replaced.
• A90 630 Stracathro Overbridge - Damage to Vehicle Restraint System (VRS) post. VRS post replaced.
• A90 310 Kings Cross West Overbridge – Plugged drain. Drain cleared.

Transport Scotland has developed an Approach to Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience (ACCAR), which provides a strategic overview of our approach primarily on infrastructure and services directly under Transport Scotland control. A key deliverable of this work is the development of a Trunk Road Adaptation Plan, based on a climate vulnerability and risk assessment using the latest UK climate projections. The Trunk Road Adaptation Plan will be published in 2025. It includes key interventions and recommendations for further adapting the Trunk Road Network. There will be a focus on risks associated with increased surface water flooding, river flooding, river scour and landslides.

The Trunk Road Adaptation Plan will complement the work of our roads Vulnerable Locations Operational Group (VLOG), which was established in 2021 in line with the commitments set out in the National Transport Strategy Delivery Plan 2020 – 2022 with an initial focus on delivering short-term cost-effective actions, whilst developing a move to a long-term proactive approach, including a dedicated budget for climate change adaptation.

The VLOG has targeted resource on early flood level warning systems around A90 river crossings and undertaken specific bridge scour assessments and inspections to national standards to enable resources to be focused on potential future risk areas

Since 2016, all media training for Ministers or civil servants has been provided by Scottish Government Communications Division staff at no additional cost. Executive Agencies are responsible for their own training provision and information is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34287 on 27 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

There are a total of 24,910 cat's eyes (road studs) on the A90. Of these 24, 273 are located north of Dundee and 637 south of Dundee.

Since 2016, all media training for Ministers or civil servants has been provided by Scottish Government Communications Division staff at no additional cost. Executive Agencies are responsible for their own training provision and information is not held centrally.

Since April 2023, the Scottish Government has published the median journey time from offence date to verdict date, and the median times for each of the stages the criminal justice system, including the median police known to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) report. The most recent data covering 2023-24 is reported in the Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System: 2023-24 bulletin. The bulletin provides the median police known to COPFS report by crime type for the main 5 crime groups.

The median police known to COPFS report for speeding offences can be extracted from the data used to compile the Journey times in the Scottish Criminal Justice System interactive dashboard, an interactive tool which complements the information available in the published bulletin. The median police known to COPFS report times for speeding offences have been extracted and are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Median police known to COPFS report time for speeding offences.

Enforcement of road traffic offences is the independent responsibility of Police Scotland. Alongside general enforcement activity by Police Scotland, there is also the operation of safety cameras in some stretches of trunk roads.

The Scottish Safety Camera Programme supports enforcement through national operational prioritisation and deployment of safety camera resources in accordance with the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook. Safety Camera enforcement locations can be found at Safety Camera Locations — Police Scotland Safety Cameras.

Average speed cameras on the A90 became operational over a 51 mile stretch between Dundee-Stonehaven in Oct 2017, including 15 cameras in each direction. Prior to their installation 3 in 5 drivers were exceeding the speed limit on the A90, that is now 1 in 100.

Media training offers Ministers and civil servants skills to represent the Scottish Government professionally and effectively in media appearances. Since 2016, all media training for Ministers or civil servants has been provided by Scottish Government Communications Division staff at no additional cost. Executive Agencies are responsible for their own training provision and information is not held centrally.

On appointment, all Ministers are offered media training options as part of their induction. Civil servants who may carry out media interviews in the course of their duties can request media training through the Scottish Government’s Communications Division. Courses are provided by Communications Division staff at no additional cost. Executive Agencies are responsible for their own training provision and information is not held centrally.