Winter Preparation
To ask the Scottish Government how it is preparing for winter, in light of widespread weather-related disruption over the weekend due to storm Bert. (S6T-02209)
The Scottish Government has well-established and tested processes for preparing for winter weather. Our central resilience operation can be activated in advance of severe weather, and it ensures that ministers are kept fully updated on any developing issues.
Officials work year round with key partners, including the blue-light services, councils, health boards, transport operators, the voluntary sector and others, to support shared understanding of risks, plans and processes. We stand ready to support our partners through the coming winter, and we will, through our Ready Scotland channels, continue to provide public advice on preparing for and responding to a wide range of emergencies.
With regard to roads preparation, on 6 November, I launched the Transport Scotland trunk road winter service 2024-25 at the Traffic Scotland national control centre in South Queensferry. I was able to confirm that we have more grit in stock than was used in the entirety of last winter, and we have more than 240 gritters to undertake enhanced patrols of the trunk road network, spreading salt and ploughing snow from more than 40 depots across Scotland. The winter fleet has now been refreshed, with new vehicles replacing older ones to improve performance and reliability.
This weekend, storm Bert caused chaos across Scotland, with ScotRail and Caledonian MacBrayne both announcing cancellations, while motorists were stranded and the Queensferry crossing was closed. One of my constituents, who was stuck on the M8 for hours, said that it was only after two hours that he saw a police car, that people were cutting into the hard shoulder and that the situation was dangerous for emergency vehicles.
The impact of the storm was severe but not unexpected. As is now well established, people will still travel despite the issuing of weather warnings, and it seems that the authorities had no idea how they all got caught out. What actions is the cabinet secretary taking to future proof our transport network for extreme weather events?
With regard to the response, our railways responded with their emergency planning, which was set up in advance, and the multi-response unit brought everyone together in time.
On the weather forecast, I will make two points. First, there is a serious issue, as was clear with the 12 named storms last year, in how we help to convince people that when the police say, “Do not travel this weekend,” they should respond to that appropriately.
There also needs to be a better understanding of what a yellow weather warning means. At that level, the weather can still cause disruption, and a yellow warning warns people that there will be disruption. That was the case for the Lothians. I was very close to the M8 and junction 3, where the issues were, and I saw that the snow came down extremely quickly at that point. Although the southern uplands were the subject later of an amber warning, as was the north, the Lothians were not. There are certainly lessons to be learned about aspects of the Met Office warning in that respect, which will be communicated more widely.
I emphasise that we were prepared, but when there are multiple weather warnings—we did not have just one; we had warnings for rain, wind, ice and snow—the combination will obviously cause disruption, and that is what happened. It was mitigated and responded to appropriately, which included making sure that our roads could be travelled on and that services on both the railways and the ferries were resumed. However, safety must always be the priority.
I thank the cabinet secretary for that detailed answer. Fostering resilience is essential to ensuring that Scotland is protected for future extreme weather events.
When the snow hit on Saturday, Edinburgh city centre was gridlocked, with buses cancelled and drivers left stranded, and no gritters in sight. What makes it worse is that Transport Scotland has spent nothing on road grit for the past three financial years, despite the cabinet secretary saying that there is more grit in stock than was used in the entirety of last winter.
Roads must be properly protected against these icy conditions, which are all too familiar to those who travel on roads in Scotland. Transport Scotland says that there are adequate levels of grit, but there is no point in having stockpiles of grit if it is not going to be used. That is cold comfort for the people who were stranded as a result of the closures that affected our major trunk roads. Does the cabinet secretary accept that that looks like another example of where the Scottish National Party Government has failed to deliver value for taxpayers, which left motorists stranded as the weather hit?
We have interest in this item, and I would be grateful if we kept questions and responses as concise as possible.
A total of 412 tonnes of grit was available. Transport Scotland procures trunk road maintenance—I remind the member that investment in that is up by 31 per cent this year—and it does that by working with operating companies. I politely point out to Ms Webber that Amey has a stall outside the chamber today. It is one of the operators whose staff worked diligently to help ensure that our roads remained open. Those companies are the ones that have and procure the majority of the salt that is required. I am sure that Amey will explain that to Ms Webber if she wants to spend time with its representatives this afternoon.
I am sure that Sue Webber, as a former councillor, knows that Transport Scotland is not responsible for local roads in the City of Edinburgh Council area and that the council is responsible for those roads.
It is good to hear from the cabinet secretary that our grit stocks are high. The Tories seem to think that the Scottish Government should spend more money on grit, even when we do not need it, which is par for the course, given the Tories’ track record on budgeting. Will the cabinet secretary assure us that we would be able to purchase more grit if it was needed and that mechanisms are in place to do so?
Serious misrepresentation of grit stocks is something that anyone with responsibility would question. A commonsense approach would be to look beyond the headlines to identify what stocks of grit are strategic and what stocks are used by the maintenance companies that look after our trunk roads.
National strategic salt stocks of 71,000 tonnes are stocked in various depots throughout Scotland, and procurement mechanisms are available to increase that provision if necessary. We keep stock levels under review and budget every year to ensure that there is funding to support winter resilience on our roads, should it be needed.
The Queensferry crossing was closed for more than 15 hours because of the risk of falling ice. That risk was very real for one driver, whose windscreen was cracked. That was the fourth closure since 2017. It is welcome that the Forth road bridge was open to all travellers within 25 minutes, but does the cabinet secretary expect any solution to the ice issue, given that previous attempts to resolve it have failed?
Since the Queensferry crossing opened, in August 2017, there have been ice accretion incidents on three occasions. When there is a risk of falling ice, which is serious, a six-point plan is implemented by our operating company, BEAR Scotland. The plan includes enhanced patrols, heightened focus on prevailing weather conditions, increased data and intelligence gathering, pre-laying of traffic management, and enhanced stakeholder communications.
When ice accretion conditions are forecast to be high or severe, patrols are implemented to check the ice formation and inform decisions. The diversion over the Forth road bridge, which was subject to a trial earlier this month, was enacted in about 26 minutes to ensure that traffic could keep flowing.
The issue is serious for bridges across the world, not just for us. Indeed, the Øresund bridge and the Storebælt bridge are also subject to ice accretion, and they close when that happens.
The member raises an important point. We remain vigilant. Safety is always first.
We had a lot of snow and then a storm affecting the islands and the north of Scotland, with everyone in Scotland getting a share of the snow and wind over the weekend. It is important not to forget that every extreme weather event means that the people in public and voluntary services on whom we rely are putting themselves out there in hazardous and challenging conditions to keep us safe. Will the cabinet secretary join me in thanking everyone involved in national and local resilience efforts over the past 10 days?
Yes, I will. Resilience is about planning in advance and then delivering on those plans when incidents happen. This month, when we launched our winter service, I had the opportunity to thank those who were in attendance. That includes our trunk road operating companies, our Transport Scotland officials, our contract providers, Police Scotland, Traffic Scotland, the Met Office and media partners.
It is important that we all work together on that resilience. I thank all those who were involved over the weekend. Obviously, with the winter to come, we have yet more to do. I encourage people to talk to our Amey colleagues outside the chamber, who will probably be able to give a more in-depth analysis of the hazardous and challenging conditions that it, its operators and others deal with to keep our transport system and our transport network open and safe.
Energy Price Cap (Impact on Fuel Poverty)
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any impact on fuel poverty in Scotland, what its response is to the reported announcement that the energy price cap will increase by 1.2 per cent for the period covering January to March 2025. (S6T-02208)
Our analysis suggests that, under the latest energy price cap, around 830,000 households, which is 33 per cent of all households, will be in fuel poverty. That represents a slight increase—it is fewer than 10,000 households—since the previous price cap period.
All that said, I know that many households will be feeling the financial strain as energy prices remain high. The Scottish Government is working with industry and others to design a social tariff mechanism, to ensure protection for energy consumers.
However, it is the United Kingdom Government that has the fundamental levers over energy pricing and obligations to fully address the cost pressures on households and, ultimately, the power to enact a social tariff.
Does the minister share my concern that, despite Scotland being an energy-rich country, households here face higher energy costs than many European counterparts, a situation that is worsened by Labour’s failure to deliver on its manifesto pledge to cut energy bills by £300 a year and, of course, its decision to cut the winter fuel payment?
As the member rightly suggests, the decision to cut the winter fuel payment has meant a reduction of £147 million in 2024-25 in the block grant adjustment to deliver our intended universal pension age winter heating payment, which is more than 80 per cent of the forecasted cost. That now means that around 900,000 pensioners will not receive support this winter, including many who are eligible for pension credit but who have not yet applied.
We cannot continue to be expected to mitigate the results of UK Government cuts from our devolved budget. What is really needed is reform of the UK energy markets, to rectify the root causes of fuel poverty in Scotland, such as unfair standing charges and high fuel prices.
Yesterday, we heard the Labour Party call for a vote on reinstating the winter fuel payment after previously voting against a Scottish National Party motion to do just that. It claimed, of course, to stand up for pensioners when it has already betrayed them and has proved that it cannot be trusted. Does the minister agree that that is nauseating hypocrisy from the Labour Party, particularly when it promised to lower energy bills but instead has overseen a £150 increase so far, with further rises expected in January, leaving millions of households worse off, with Scotland once again being hardest hit? Has the minister had any more success than I had when I asked Anas Sarwar how many people in Scotland, according to Labour’s own research, will die as a result of Labour’s energy price hike?
Minister, you may answer on matters for which the Government has responsibility.
On those matters, it is welcome that it seems that Scottish Labour is joining the rest of the Parliament in our condemnation of the actions of the UK Labour Government in cutting the winter fuel payment. However, as the member alluded, it leaves us in the amazing position of seeing Labour in Scotland seeking protection from the actions of its own party. The question is what has changed for Labour in the weeks since it whipped its MSPs to vote to support the UK Government’s actions in cutting the winter fuel payment.
As temperatures fell in Scotland this week, it became clear that Scottish Labour finally realised the damage that its policy of cutting winter fuel payments would do, but, even in its repentance, it seems to have fallen short of advocating for the return of a universal winter payment. We, in the Scottish Government, will continue to do what we can within the limited powers of the Parliament to argue for reform of the energy market and will continue to press the UK Government for the introduction of a social tariff mechanism.
The minister said that the Government will continue to do what it can, but the fact is that it is not doing what it can. We have £41 million of consequentials from the UK household support fund but there is not a word from the Government about what it will do with that money. I have asked the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice on several occasions to outline what the Scottish Government will do. We have offered a basket of measures that can be used to support people this winter. That money has also been extended for a further year, so we will also have that £41 million next year.
Other devolved Administrations have said what they are going to do with that money, so is it not about time that the cabinet secretary explained what that money will be used for—or has it fallen into the Government’s black hole?
I am not sure whether the member was listening, but the UK Government’s approach reduces the block grant adjustment of the UK’s winter fuel payment by £147 million in 2024-25, which is more than 80 per cent of the cost of the intended universal benefit.
We will work with the UK Government on a range of fronts around fuel poverty and energy, and we have committed to keeping eligibility under review. Ministers and officials are working at pace on options for investing any consequentials as a result of the household support fund. However, that does not take away from the fact that energy bills have gone up by £150 as a consequence of the actions of a UK Government that promised to bring them down by £300.
That concludes topical questions. Before we move on to the next item of business, which is a committee of the whole Parliament, I suspend the meeting.
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Committee of the Whole Parliament