Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not held discussions regarding the Fair Work Convention in relation to the crewing of vessels on the prospective Rosyth-Dunkirk ferry service. As employment law is reserved, any new ferry service will be required to comply with UK employment laws, including the Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023.

The Scottish Government has not had recent discussions with the UK Government regarding seafarers’ employment rights on the prospective Rosyth-Dunkirk ferry service.

The UK Government Employment Rights Bill received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and includes provisions to create a statutory framework for a mandatory seafarers charter and builds on the Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023 to extend protections beyond pay to include other employment rights. Transport Scotland officials liaised with their UK Government counterparts on this legislation.

The Scottish Government welcomed the additional proposals which aim to strengthen the Seafarers Wage Act by applying new duties in respect of remuneration and safe working.

The Scottish Government is aware of the issues with reliability of the fleet currently serving Fife routes and ScotRail is taking action within its available resources to make any necessary improvements to the existing fleet.

The ScotRail Fleet Improvement Plan continues to be in place, requiring ScotRail to make necessary improvements to the reliability of its existing diesel rolling stock within the available resources. ScotRail advises that it is investing nearly £900,000 in the rolling stock upgrades to remote monitoring, electrical systems, and heating systems, which investment includes trains serving Fife.

As set out in Rail Recharged: Scotland’s Fleet Transition Strategy, published in November 2025, ScotRail is currently progressing plans to replace its High-Speed Trains operating on Scotland’s intercity routes, alongside the procurement of a new Suburban fleet, which includes replacement fleet for Fife services. Work to deliver the electrification of the line is also underway.

Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs)manage their own budgets and make funding decisions based on regional and local needs.

The Scottish Government is clear that any care out with standard care areas should be avoided where possible and if required, all actions to mitigate the risks of this should be undertaken, and the length of time in which patients are in these areas should be as short as possible.

We accept that caring for patients in non-standard patient areas is sub-optimal and we are clear that no patient should be treated in a space not fit for clinical care.

Through our NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan we are investing £220 million to address high hospital occupancy, improve patient flow and improve the acute care experience for patients. Work has been underway over the last year to develop enhanced frailty services through the Healthcare Improvement Scotland - Frailty at the Front door standard. As a result, all NHS Health Boards have a frailty service which includes Multi-Disciplinary teams which support our front doors.

The large majority of roads in Scotland form part of the local road network, therefore, it is primarily Local Authorities who are responsible for ensuring inclusive access to their network. However, the Scottish Government remains committed to improving accessibility to enable everyone to be able to walk, wheel and cycle. This is both through the funding we provide and a suite of guidance and best practice documentation for those delivering infrastructure.

In April 2025, the Scottish Government published ‘Guidance on Inclusive Design for Town Centres and Busy Streets’, co-produced with disabled people, and other stakeholders, which highlights best practice for co-production and working with disabled people to design inclusive spaces. Most recently, Transport Scotland has also developed Equality Impact Assessment training for Local Authorities, which has been endorsed by the Mobility and Access Committee Scotland.

For the design and construction of new projects on the trunk roads, Transport Scotland produces ‘Cycling by Design’ and the ‘Roads for All’ guidance, which requires the use of inclusive design in the construction, operation and maintenance of road infrastructure and aims to create environments which can be used by everyone regardless of age or disability. Transport Scotland has also sought to highlight best practice and provide practical advice in addition to the requirement to undertake Equality Impact Assessments.

The Scottish Government continues to believe that delivery of local authority duties should be delegated at a local level where possible. The majority of funding provided to local government is made available through a block grant. £8.1 million is included in that block grant in relation to Land Access measures, allocated based on proportions of population and path lengths. However, the funding is not ring-fenced. It is the responsibility of individual councils to manage their budgets and allocate the total financial resources available on the basis of local priorities, once they have met their statutory obligations. The Scottish Government provided record block grant funding of over £15 billion to local authorities in 2025-26, an increase of £1 billion or 4.7 per cent in real terms compared to last year’s budget.

There are many other areas of government funding which deliver benefits for access including health, tourism, active travel and the natural environment.

A new ferry service from Scotland to Continental Europe would be a commercial operation led by a private ferry operator. As employment law is reserved, any new ferry service will be required to comply with UK employment laws, including the Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023.

Our application of Fair Work First criteria in procurement and grant offers is designed to raise employment standards in Scotland. More stringent grant conditionality was introduced from July 2023, requiring employers receiving public sector grants to pay at least the real living wage. Any company receiving Scottish Government grant support would also be required to demonstrate that all workers, including agency workers, have access to effective workers’ voice channels.

The Scottish Government continues to support the development of our ports, and the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe.

Ministers and officials have met with the sponsors on a number of occasions regarding their proposal to introduce a new ferry route between Rosyth and Dunkirk.

I have personally engaged with interested parties, meeting DFDS and Ptarmigan Shipping in November 2025. Scottish Government and Transport Scotland officials continue to communicate regularly with the project sponsors.

It is right that local transport authorities explore how best to use the measures in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, as our approach is to enable them to determine what is best to improve services in their areas. I am pleased that £4 million is included in the draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 to support these authorities to build business cases for local bus improvements.

Work on the design of the fund is at an early stage, but we will develop appropriate governance arrangements and work on the detail of administering the £4 million, which will be considered with various stakeholders, including CoSLA and regional transport partnerships.