Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the potential impact on road hauliers currently using the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry link. For that reason we are actively pursuing, with Forth Ports, an alternative operator for the commercially operated ferry service.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-13691 on 9 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Information on expenditure by local authorities on fuel is not held centrally. Under the arrangements set out in the concordat, the Scottish Government is in regular contact with COSLA on a range of issues affecting local authorities.

We are investing in public transport, travel information, cycling and walking infrastructure and Smart Measures:

improving rail services and service times between our major cities including faster and additional services from Edinburgh to Glasgow;

supporting improved accessibility and lower fares to encourage increased bus use and service provision through the Bus Service Operators Grant;

funding Transport Direct and Traveline Scotland to develop travel information systems;

funding Sustrans to provide cycling and walking infrastructure across Scotland and Cycling Scotland to take forward the Cycle Friendly Employer Scheme;

funding local authorities through the Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets grant fund;

funding for School Travel Co-ordinator posts has been rolled-up into the block grant for local authorities to use to meet their local priorities and needs, and

focusing significant effort on travel planning in the public and private sector.

Following agreement with Cycling Scotland, funding beyond 2008-09 will be on a project basis with a core element used for running costs.

Cycling Scotland (CS) will undertake a best value review over the summer to assess its impact to date on promoting cycling and active travel and to ascertain the level of demand for its services. The review will also include an assessment of the landscape that CS operates within in relation to other delivery bodies such as Scottish local authorities, regional transport partnerships, Sustrans, the Paths for All Partnership and Living Streets.

The Scottish Government welcomes this approach and will consider the findings in due course.

In 2008-09, an estimated 1% of the Scottish Executive''s transport budget as published in the Budget Bill 2008-09, will be spent on cycling projects. However, it is difficult to measure this figure exactly as cycling infrastructure forms an integral part of many road improvements which is not separately costed. Also, funding for the general refurbishment of 25x class 158 trains based at Inverness has been made available and will include cycle storage for on board carriage.

As published in the budget document, the Sustainable and Active Travel budget line of £11 million per year over the course of the spending review will be administered by the Sustainable Transport Team. Currently 60% of the total budget available will be spent on cycling projects in 2008-09, as follows:

Sustrans	£3.5 million for capital projects including NCN, national routes, short links and tackling the school run projects. £1.515 million for resource projects including training events and resources for School travel Coordinators and  professionals; roll out of the Travelsmart and get Active Getting There projects.
Cycling Scotland	£1.540 million resource and project funding to provide advice and guidance to local authorities in the design of cycling infrastructure; increase capacity to deliver cycle training in schools through training of trainers; to promote cycling through promotional activities such as Pedal for Scotland and Tackling the School Run.
The Bike Station	£86,000 over 3 years to run the Build Your Own Bike course for young people from deprived communities who are not in full time education and are at risk of offending.

 

Within the Active Travel budget, up to £15 million will be available to local authorities over the spending review period for the Smarter Choices Smarter Places project. Participating local authorities will use this funding to implement intense activity on sustainable travel and related physical activity interventions, including walking and cycling.

The Physical Activity strategy will invest a further £12 million over the next three years for physical activity initiatives in schools, workplaces, homes and across communities. This includes funding of £200,000 to Living Streets and £1 million per year to the Paths for All Partnership which will help to promote walking initiatives.

The Scottish Government provides financial support to many organisations and bodies and funding arrangements are discussed and agreed with each of them. This includes support for a number of third sector organisations, where some funding is competitive in nature and, therefore, the number and identity of the organisations cannot be identified at this stage. Information is not held centrally about the precise agreements made in each case.

A wide-ranging consultation seeking views from organisations representing disability and mobility interests about incorporating the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) into the Public Transport Users'' Committee for Scotland (PTUC) was carried out during the passage of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 between December 2005 and March 2006.

We recently consulted MACS and over 70 other key stakeholders and organisations seeking their views on the practical implications of the amalgamation.