Chamber and committees

As advised in the answer provided for S6W-12757 on 16 December 2022, phase 1 of the tactile paving at 18 stations was completed in March 2022.

Network Rail advise that, working closely with ScotRail, the aim is that all remaining stations owned and managed by Scotland’s Railway will have tactile paving installed by the end of 2023. These works are subject to sourcing materials.

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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19812 on‎ 1 August 2023. 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

The Scottish Government has no plans to provide funding for additional air services from the mainland to Scottish islands. The only mechanism for the provision of subsidised air services is through the imposition of a Public Service Obligation (PSO). In line with legislative requirements, when considering the imposition of a PSO, the adequacy of other modes of transport and the ability of such modes to meet the transport needs under consideration is assessed.

Through the Bus Partnership Fund, Transport Scotland has awarded an initial £26.47m of funding to Bus Partnerships to develop and deliver bus priority measures on both local and trunk roads. The Scottish Government remains committed to providing further funding for bus priority once Partnerships have identified further projects supported by completed business cases.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) will inform the Scottish Government’s transport investment programme over the next 20 years and help to deliver the National Transport Strategy. STPR2 recommends bus priority is implemented in Scotland’s cities and towns where congestion is highest, many of which are being progressed though BPF. In the case of the motorway network, Transport Scotland would progress plans for the M8, M77 and M80, which includes looking at actively managed hard shoulders for buses like those already operating on the M90/M9 Queensferry Corridor and on the M8 eastbound approach to Hermiston Gait.

All these measures are aimed at reducing the negative impacts of congestion on bus services for passengers and addressing the decline in bus patronage.

The Scottish Government is providing up to £246 million to SPT, towards the estimated total project cost of £287.5 million for the Subway modernisation programme, which includes: a smartcard ticketing system; new rolling stock and signalling; refurbished stations with improved accessibility.

To date, the Scottish Government has provided just over £142 million since 2011-12 to Subway Modernisation:

Rail accessibility remains a matter reserved to the UK Government. For the current Rail Regulatory Control Period 6 (2019-2024) the Scottish Government nominated the following stations for the Department for Transport’s Access for All Programme:-

Anderston, Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow, Uddingston, Springburn, Shettleston, Falkirk High, Falkirk Grahamston, and Inverurie.

Following the nominations, the UK Department for Transport Access for All Programme and mid-Tier Programmes for this Control Period provided funding for access improvements at Anderston, Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow and Uddingston. The UK Government has chosen not to provide funding for Springburn, Shettleston, Falkirk High, Falkirk Grahamston, and Inverurie stations.

Step free access has already been delivered at Anderston, Croy, and Johnstone with the remaining stations where the UK Government accepted the Scottish Government’s nominations due to be completed by the end of the rail funding period in 2024.

The Scottish Government is clear that one life lost on our roads is one too many and along with partners is committed to eradicating fatal and serious collisions on our roads.

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050. For the first time, a full range of mode and user specific targets for key priority groups such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and over-represented age groups have been created to focus our partners on key priority areas.

The framework is supported by annual delivery plans that includes a wide range of road safety initiatives from road safety partners. These initiatives are continuously monitored through our three tier governance structure, with progress and outcomes published within our annual reports on the Transport Scotland website.

In addition, our Road Safety Framework Fund gives road safety partners the opportunity to co-design and co-deliver road safety initiatives that support the delivery of the framework. A condition of the grant funding is that each project is independently evaluated to determine the impact it is having on road safety performance.

Since 2019-20, local authorities have been allocated an annual share of £8 million from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget to support the implementation of their rapid rehousing transition plans. This is in addition to £2 million allocated in 2018-19 from the same budget for each local authority to develop a rapid rehousing transition plan, and £5 million in 2020-21 from the Winter Plan for Social Protection to help mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic.

The additional £2 million allocated in 2023-24 for rapid rehousing transition plans is new money. No additional rapid rehousing transition plan funding was made available in 2022-23.

We remain committed to working with the sector to reduce the risk of escapes from fish farms, including through the revision and publication of the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture, and the introduction of penalties where escapes occur with the ultimate aim of redistributing this money to support wild salmonid conservation and research.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20615 on‎ 14 August 2023 which confirmed that the Scottish Government had launched a consultation seeking views on proposals to extend the tracking and monitoring requirement to under 12 metre commercial fishing vessels.

I urge all stakeholders to engage with this consultation, which closes on 7 November 2023. The consultation documents can be found here: https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/improving-inshore-fisheries-data/

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