Chamber and committees

Through the Scottish Attainment Challenge we have committed £750 million over the course of this parliament to close the poverty related attainment gap for our pupils from the most deprived areas. This funding includes £120m of Pupil Equity funding in 2017-18 which has extended the reach of the Scottish Attainment Challenge to every local authority in Scotland and provides additional resources to the majority of schools in rural communities. The funding has been allocated on the basis of pupils in P1-S3 known to be eligible for free school meals, a recognised proxy for families affected by poverty. There is a higher proportion of smaller schools in rural areas and this may impact on the amount of Pupil Equity Funding a schools receives. We would encourage local authorities and schools to ensure all those families eligible for free school meals are registered.

We are committed to developing national programmes to further extend the reach of the Scottish Attainment Challenge and are engaging with stakeholders to consider the impact of rural deprivation on attainment.

Our ferry Public Service Contracts recognise that there are certain events which are not within the control of the operator, where it would be unreasonable to apply performance deductions to the operator. This is termed a “Relief Event”, and includes sailings cancelled or delayed due to bad weather in line with safety procedures, delays due to unavailability or operational restrictions of harbour facilities. It is recorded where a sailing has been delayed due to inclement weather but the specific element(s), for example a) fog or b) wind, of inclement weather involved are not detailed.

Total weather related delays for winter 2016-17 (24 October 2016 to 30 March 2017 inclusive) are detailed below;

• CalMac Ferries Ltd – 450 or 0.94% of scheduled sailings.

• Serco NorthLink Ferries – 99 or 11.20% of scheduled sailings.

• Argyll Ferries Ltd – 7 or 0.08% of scheduled sailings.*

Total technical delays for winter 2016/17 (24 October 2016 to 30 March 2017 inclusive) are as follows;

• Calmac Ferries Ltd – 72 or 0.15% of scheduled sailings.

• Serco NorthLink Ferries – 2 or 0.23% of scheduled sailings.

• Argyll Ferries Ltd – 20 or 0.24% of scheduled sailings.*

*The low percentage of weather and technical delays can be attributed to the Scottish Ministers decision to deploy the MV Coruisk on the route over the winter period.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has allocated over £15 million for the provision of electric vehicle charge points. Part of this funding includes provision of warranties to cover the maintenance and repair of these charge points.

Future spend on charging points will be determined in the budget.

As outlined in our Programme for Government, we plan to double the Active Travel budget from £40 million to £80 million per annum from 2018-19. We will continue to build walking and cycling infrastructure in partnership with all local authorities and other partners through Sustrans. We will provide access to behaviour change programmes such as Smarter Choices, Smarter Places through Paths for All, Bikeability Scotland cycle training for school children and the suite of cycle friendly awards administered by Cycling Scotland.

In terms of tackling transport poverty, we will take steps to ensure walking and cycling are accessible regardless of income. Our focus will be to invest in areas of deprivation and encourage free bike hire, where available, to those most in need. We will create conditions whereby active travel is a desirable choice rather than the only available option.

In addition, we will work with local authorities and registered social landlords to create secure storage for bikes in areas with social housing and local authority housing. We will work with communities to make places more attractive and safe for walking and cycling.

We will continue to work across policy portfolios to ensure that people are never locked out of opportunities to access employment and services through transport poverty.

The Public Service Contracts for ferry services subsidised by the Scottish Government are published on the Transport Scotland website. https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/ferries/ferry-services/#

The operators of these ferry services are required to deliver the scheduled services (routes and timetables) as agreed by Scottish Ministers. The contracts specify arrangements for publication of timetables and booking information for all routes. Winter timetables for all the contracts are published timeously to maximise the opportunity for ferry users to plan and book their travel.

The operators are also required to work closely with local tourist boards and participate in local tourism initiatives and permit other organisations to advertise relevant ferry services information.

These ferry service contracts recognise that the weather is not a factor within the control of the operator - where sailings are cancelled or delayed due to weather, it is termed a “Relief Event” and no performance deductions apply. All of these operators provide summary sailing statistics on their websites.

Vessels can operate in varying wind conditions. Wind speed is just one example of a range of safety considerations used in evaluating weather conditions before making a decision on whether it is safe to sail.

I announced in September that £22.5 million will be invested in 5 projects from now until 2022, as part of the Community Links PLUS programme. There will be 2 projects delivered in Edinburgh and one each in Glasgow, Inverness and Stirling. In addition, the winner of the first round of Community Links PLUS, Glasgow City Council, will receive £3.25 million. This Scottish Government investment will attract 50% match funding from the local authorities involved. A third round of CL PLUS will be announced shortly, which will again allocate funding for segregation and public realm improvements to encourage walking and cycling.

As part of the dualling plans for trunk roads, non motorised user groups are looking at preferred routes and public consultation for these routes is currently underway.

Discussions are on-going with all stakeholders about how the £80 million record funding for active travel will be allocated and announcements will be made in due course as part of the Budget Bill process.

Ferry Fleet

Since 2015, improvements to the existing CalMac ferry fleet have been undertaken consisting of upgrades and refurbishments of a value of around £8m. In addition, three new vessels, with a total value of around £55m, have entered service: the MV Loch Seaforth in 2015, the MV Catriona in 2016 and the MV Carvoria in 2017. Furthermore, there are two major dual-fuel vessels currently under construction at Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd (FMEL) in Port Glasgow with a total contract value of £97m.

Harbours

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) has responsibility on behalf of the Scottish Ministers for 26 of the ports that CalMac operate from. CMAL undertake on-going inspections and maintenance and repair works to the facilities at these locations which include linkspans, passenger access systems, piers, fenders, electric vehicle charging points and navigation aids. Expenditure by CMAL since 2015 has been around £13.9m.

CMAL have also completed several significant upgrade and redevelopment capital investment projects in this timeframe at ports including Brodick, Gourock, Kennacraig, Lochaline, Port Ellen and Wemyss Bay. CMAL has invested £37.7m on these and other projects, of which £23.7m was in 2016-17.

The Brodick redevelopment project has recently been completed with £30m of public investment from CMAL, Transport Scotland, North Ayrshire Council and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

In addition, CMAL have several capital projects on-going or in the pipeline including Colintraive and Rhubodach, Lochranza and Portavadie. They are also investing in network wide CCTV and Wind & Weather monitoring equipment.

Furthermore, there has been around £30m invested in the port infrastructure at the independent ports of Stornoway Port Authority and Ullapool Harbour Trust, the majority of which has been funded by grants from Transport Scotland. These projects were completed in 2015.

We are currently working across portfolios and with other partners, including VisitScotland and Forrest Enterprise Scotland, to maximise marine, coastal, tourism and health opportunities for delivering a long distance walking and cycling path, building on the success of the North Coast 500.

This project will be developed over the next year, with delivery starting as soon as possible. As planning is at an early stage, and local consultation with communities and other interested parties will be vital, it would be wrong to make assumptions on location and spend at this time.