Chamber and committees

Transport Scotland invests in a variety of transportation projects and initiatives aimed at improving Scotland's transport infrastructure and promoting sustainable travel. This will include supporting bus services, including investing in zero-emission buses, developing and improving ferry services and investing in active travel infrastructure like cycle paths and footpaths.

Further details on these investment plans are contained in the Strategic Transport Projects Review page on Transport Scotland’s website.

The National Transport Strategy, published in February 2020, sets out our long-term vision for a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system in Scotland. The vision is underpinned by four interconnected priorities: Reduces Inequalities, Takes Climate Action, Helps Deliver Inclusive Economic Growth and Improves our Health and Wellbeing. In December 2024, we published our fourth Delivery Plan which outlines the actions being taken by the Scottish Government to deliver these priorities, alongside a Monitoring and Evaluation report.

These initiatives will help to improve access to hospitals, health centres, pharmacies and other key health facilities across Scotland, however we do not directly invest in transport infrastructure for patients travelling to medical appointments.

The Scottish Government recognises that more could be done to bring health planning and transport planning together, in order to support this closer working, we published the Transport to Health Delivery Plan on 30 October 2024. This plan includes Commitment 12: ‘Transport Scotland will encourage Regional Transport Partnerships to have appropriate stakeholder groups with a remit on Transport to Health, which includes appropriate representation from local NHS Boards. In reviewing Partnerships’ Regional Transport Strategies, Transport Scotland will seek appropriate consideration of Transport to Health issues in their strategies’.

The Scottish Government do not hold central records for how many mobile phones it has purchased in the last 5 years as they are purchased by individual business areas to meet their requirements through delegated purchasing. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

All Scottish Government mobile phones are securely wiped and disposed of in line with National Cyber Security Centre guidance when they reach end of life.

The use of corporate mobile phones is covered by our IT Code of Conduct and Mobile Services Employee Agreement.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken analysis of time savings for staff in relation to improvements of medical records systems. We encourage NHS Boards to ensure they maximise the transformative opportunities offered by digital and understand the impact and the effect on staff and their roles.

The Scottish Government expects and relies on our Integrated Joint Boards and Health Boards to plan and deliver services to meet the needs of local populations. Local planning is expected to take account of the particular needs of these populations, and decisions on the provision of services will be based on ensuring fair and equitable access to services wherever this is possible.

The Scottish Government works with territorial Health Boards to ensure services meet the needs of local populations. NHS Boards set out service delivery in annually produced Delivery Plans, reviewed and discussed with the Scottish Government. These plans describe how Boards will deliver services to meet the needs of their own communities, including the particular needs of rural areas, with a focus on fair and equitable access to services.

At the national level, a Board-led working group has been convened to develop a framework for safe, quality and sustainable healthcare services across our rural and island communities.

The Scottish Government has robust processes and procedures in place to ensure all corporately managed mobile phones are monitored and continually assessed using industry standard security tooling to ensure compliance with our policies.

All corporately managed Scottish Government mobile phones align with National Cyber Security Centre standards.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. This is a matter for individual NHS Boards.

Scottish Government has entered into a contract with Vodafone Ltd for the supply of Mobile Voice and Data Services. This contract was arranged under Scottish Government’s national framework for Mobile Voice and Data services which was awarded to Vodafone Ltd following a robust competitive tendering process. The framework was tendered in accordance with the full requirements of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 and evaluated based on the published award criteria of 60% price and 40% quality. Vodafone Ltd was assessed as having submitted the most economically advantageous tender and their tariffs continue to be amongst the lowest available to the public sector. An annual benchmark exercise is undertaken to ensure that Scottish Government tariffs remain cost-effective and provide value for money.