Chamber and committees

ScotRail will continue to serve the diverse range of communities across Scotland, reflecting their changing travel needs. ScotRail’s proposed timetable for May 2022 would provide more seats than the current timetable and the vast majority of customers will find either no change to their current service or that their service improves with a more regular interval between services and/or some more trains provided each day.

I am grateful that these resources have been made available by the group. I would like to engage more with the group to discuss what actions we can take in Scotland to harness the benefits from this sector to the people of Scotland and the environment. My officials will be in touch to begin discussions.

ScotRail’s proposed timetable for May 2022 would provide more seats than the current timetable, responding to changing travel patterns. By also offering more service options this will help encourage passengers to choose train over car.

In the Programme for Government 2021 - 2022 we have updated the target from a minimum of 3,000 hectares per year of new native woodland creation, to a minimum of 4,000 hectares. That is an increase.

The Scottish Government is now determining how this work will proceed and the resourcing it requires, as we do for delivering our commitments across the whole range of our responsibilities in the interests of the people of Scotland.

The Programme for Government , published and debated in the Scottish Parliament on 7 September, set out that “The Scottish Government will work to ensure that a legitimate and constitutional referendum can be held within this Parliament, and if the Covid crisis is over, within the first half of this Parliament.”

The Scottish Government is committed to completing the A90/A937 Laurencekirk Junction Improvement as soon as possible.

Transport Scotland continues to negotiate with objectors to resolve their concerns as soon as possible and also continues to work with Aberdeenshire Council to find a solution to their decision to close the existing Oatyhill Bridge to traffic. Should Transport Scotland be unsuccessful in removing all objections a public local inquiry may be required. As with all trunk road projects this is the appropriate forum for considering objections received and not withdrawn.

Delivery of the scheme itself can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory procedures, at which point a timetable for its progress can be set.

The First Minister announced as part of the Programme for Government on 7 September that the Scottish Government would restart work on the prospectus for independence. The Scottish Government is now determining how this work will proceed, as we do for delivering our commitments across the whole range of our responsibilities in the interests of the people of Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02844 on 23 September 2021. 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 .

ScotRail has commenced the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) and the timetable consultation process will contribute to this assessment. The purpose of the consultation is to enable passengers and stakeholders to provide specific feedback on how the proposals impact their journey compared to ScotRail’s current timetable and will allow completion of the EIA prior to finalising the timetable from May 2022 onwards.

Following the completion of the timetable consultation, a copy of the EIA document would be available directly from ScotRail.