Chamber and committees

This information will be collated at a local authority level as part of regular monitoring arrangements and will be available in due course.

The Scottish Government understands that Perth and Kinross Council has decided to make use of this power in respect of 2016-17.

As pledged in our Town Centre Action Plan, we created powers for local authorities to establish a Town Centre Investment Zone using discretionary rates relief to encourage local business. The discretionary rates relief power was established by the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, commenced in October 2015 and has already been used in 2016. It is up to local authorities whether and how to use this power, and we remain keen to discuss options for supporting a pilot Town Centre Investment Zone scheme with interested local authorities.

"Wholesale re-regulation” refers to nationwide re-regulation of bus services done either through a national franchise or by compelling all local authorities to franchise or directly operate bus services.

On 24 May 2016 officials made me aware that Network Rail had advised that they were unlikely to deliver the electrification of the Edinburgh-Falkirk High-Glasgow Queen Street line by December 2016, as confirmed in the Office of Road and Rail's Network Rail Monitor. I was not prepared to simply accept this and challenged Network Rail to revisit their analysis. In addition I ordered Transport Scotland to undertake an intensive review of major rail projects being delivered by Network Rail, which will report back shortly.

The first Bus Stakeholder Group meeting was held on 3 April, 2012. Eight further meetings were held on the following dates:- 26 June 2012; 26 October 2012; 26 February 2013; 30 October 2013; 26 March 2014; 11 November 2014; 26 January 2016 and 31 August 2016.

The following have been present at meetings: Transport Scotland, Confederation of Passenger Transport, Regional Transport Partnerships, CoSLA, Association of Transport Co-Ordinating Officers, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland, Bus Users Scotland, the Scottish Traffic Commissioner, Community Transport Association and the Scottish Road Works Commissioner.

I chaired the most recent meeting on 31 August 2016.

The aim of these meetings is to bring together representatives from across the bus industry to discuss bus policy issues. A range of issues have been discussed over the life of the Group with recent focus being on congestion, smart and integrated ticketing and engagement with bus users among other things.

Following the publication of the Bus Action Plan (BAP) in 2006 a steering group was set up to consider how the 17 action points from the BAP should be delivered and was composed of regulators, public sector representatives and bus operators.

In June 2010 it was accepted that the actions had been delivered and the steering group was wound up. To maintain progress since then a Bus Stakeholder Group was established to consider and take forward bus policy development and implementation.

A review of the Bus Investment Fund process is currently underway. The report will be published and made available on the Transport Scotland website on completion.

Disability legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament. The timetable by which buses must be fully accessible is set out in the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR) 2000. All new buses have had to be fully accessible since 31 December 2000. All other single decker buses had to be fully accessible by 1 January 2016 at the latest, all double decker buses by 1 January 2017 at the latest and all coaches by 1 January 2020. Until then, fleet renewal and deployment is a discretionary operational matter for individual bus operators. The Scottish Government is committed to encouraging bus operators to meet these regulations within the timetable.

The timetable has been agreed with the transport industry and the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (the Department for Transport's statutory advisers on the transport needs of disabled people).

That said, the Accessible Travel Framework published on 21 September 2016, includes accessibility issues for bus which will be an important focus of work through the 10 year lifetime of the Framework.

The report is attached to SPICe - BIB number 58193

The report highlights every service schedule which resulted in a penalty for being below the benchmark. It must be underlined there is a tolerance level between the ceiling level and benchmarks before recorded fails actually result in a financial penalty.

Interconnectivity of rail passenger services with other transport modes, including active travel, is key to encouraging people to travel by train. ScotRail are progressing with their ambitious programme to deliver an additional 3,500 cycle spaces across the network by spring 2018, and have installed Bike and Go facilities at ten locations across Scotland. Additionally ScotRail continue to engage with local authorities and expert sustainable travel organisations to improve walking and cycling routes to stations.

The next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services Contract, due to commence on 1 October 2016 for a period of eight years, was awarded to CalMac Ferries Limited and was formally signed on 22 August 2016. As part of their contractual obligations the operator will endeavour to provide improved customer service and transport integration. Calmac have also committed to a Transport Integration Manager who will specifically engage with all transport modes to ensure, where possible, better customer connections.

The regional transport partnerships and local authorities continue to work in partnership with wider delivery bodies and fund programmes of work to improve uptake and integration of public transport with other modes. For example, the roll out of real time passenger information, funding of active travel paths between trip attractors and public transport, bikes on buses projects, and installation of bike shelters and bike parking at train stations. Behaviour change projects including promotion of active and public transport are funded through the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme.