Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government discussed with National Museums of Scotland the effect of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action on 1 February 2023. NMS opened the 1st floor of the National Museum of Scotland – which includes Animal World, Kingdom of Scots, Discoveries and Imagine galleries. The National War Museum was closed. The National Museum of Rural Life was open as usual. The National Museum of Flight is currently closed during the week during winter and so was unaffected by the industrial action.

The primary purpose of Cross Party Groups is to provide Members with a forum to consider matters of public interest, normally involving people from outwith the parliament to provide expert or stakeholder input to discussions. Cross Party Groups are welcome to request factual briefings on Scottish Government policy positions. It is expected that officials will meet with the Cross-Party Group on Chronic Pain in the coming weeks to provide an update on work to progress the actions set out in the Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery – Implementation Plan.

I refer the member to answers to questions S6W-14299 on‎ 6 February 2023 and S6W-14300 on 31 January 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

As the member is aware, ScotRail’s performance is measured using the industry standard Public Performance Measure (PPM) which combines reliability and punctuality into a single performance metric. To achieve PPM, a service must arrive/terminate at a station within 5 minutes of its booked arrival time.

PPM is a practical measurement of performance, which allows time for rail staff to assist passengers or hold trains for connections to be made when appropriate.

PPM figures at Ayr and Girvan in the latest reporting period (11 Dec 2022 – 7 Jan 2023) are 91.4% and 91.3% respectively, showing more than 9 out of 10 trains arriving at these stations met their performance target. Services at these stations showed better performance than the network as a whole.

The Scottish Government discussed with the National Galleries of Scotland the effect of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action on 1 February 2023. The National Galleries made the decision to close each of their galleries, shops and restaurants. All support colleagues were asked to work from home.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information that is recorded and available in relation to delays and cause attribution across train operators is published routinely by the rail industry economic and safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), on its data portal.

This can be accessed at: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/ .

The Outline Business Case will, when fully endorsed, be published on the Transport Scotland website as is normal practice.

Transport Scotland would not routinely publish the other completed areas of work including the development of a concept timetable. However, progress on this project has been and will continue to be shared at regular intervals with key stakeholders.

The Scottish Government has had no recent discussions with the UK Government on these issues; I have, however, recently met with the Maritime Coastguard Agency regarding all aspects of their operations in Scotland.

Coastguard operations are matters reserved to the UK Government and the responsibility of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, reporting to the Secretary of State for Transport, are responsible for providing effective operations and the welfare of its workforce.

The Scottish Government expects the highest shipping safety and other regulatory standards around Scotland’s coasts and that coastguard staff welfare issues are afforded paramount importance in what is a sometimes hazardous line of employment.

The cost of closing facilities managed by National Museums of Scotland as a result of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action on 1 February 2023 is not currently estimated. This estimation would be carried out by National Museums of Scotland themselves rather than by Scottish Government.