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The area under the Kingston Bridge West Street on and off ramps requires fencing off to address a growing problem of anti-social behaviour. Issues include the lighting of fires, illegal drug use, discarded hypodermic needles and graffiti.

It should be emphasised that skateboarders who use the unofficial skate park are not being blamed for this anti-social behaviour.

The unofficial skate park lies within the area to be fenced-off. However, contrary to suggestions in the media, Transport Scotland has no intention of closing the skate park and, indeed, is supportive of the initiative. Gated access will be required to the area for bridge maintenance purposes. Transport Scotland and Amey will be happy to discuss how shared access can be accommodated, to allow continued use of the skate park.

Transport Scotland’s Operating Company, Amey Highways, is progressing the fencing scheme. The work will commence in the autumn and will be completed by the end of the year.

The electrification of the of the branch line from Springburn to St Rollox works does not form part of current suite of rail enhancement projects funded by Transport Scotland. The member may wish to contact Network Rail directly to enquire if the current owner of the site has made any enquiries or proposals to fund such works.

Transport Scotland will review Amey’s treatment of graffiti on the South West Trunk Roads Network against their contractual requirements. We are supportive of using street art to deter undesirable graffiti on trunk road structures. Work has already been commissioned for various structures within the Glasgow area with final designs having already been submitted by street artists for approval.

Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic.

The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

In 2024-25, Glasgow City Council will receive over £1.6 billion to fund local services, which equates to an extra £74.9 million to support vital day to day services or an additional 4.9% compared to the 2023-24 budget.

Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities.

The development work delivered at Anniesland Station is led by Network Rail. Network Rail advises that painting of the adjacent bridge is not included in the scope for the current station accessibility improvements. Accessibility is a matter reserved to the UK Government.

Transport Scotland continues to engage with Glasgow City Council regarding their aspirations for Glasgow City Centre, noting it is they who are responsible for bringing forward land use changes and the associated planning duties. The interests of Transport Scotland lie in the safe and effective operation of the M8.

Transport Scotland has communicated to Glasgow City Council that to take forward potential proposals identified in its District Regeneration Framework for Cowcaddens, a robust assessment of the potential impacts on the M8, access roads and adjacent facilities should be carried out. Officials from Transport Scotland are currently scoping an assessment on the future of the M8.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27301 on the Broomielaw District Regeneration Framework on 17 May 2024.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27876 on 12 June 2024. 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

This information is not held centrally.

Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), a representative membership body for the UK offshore energy industry, estimated in their 2024 Economy and People report that the oil and gas sector supports around 206,000 jobs across the UK in total, including supply chain and wider induced activity.

The Scottish Government cannot extend the coverage of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 as it applies to England and Wales only.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 applies a sustainable procurement duty on Scottish public bodies which whilst similar to the general duty found in the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, is more far reaching The sustainable procurement duty requires a Scottish public body to consider and act on opportunities to: improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of its area; facilitate the involvement of SMEs, third sector bodies and supported businesses; and promote innovation.

The legislation in Scotland also includes provisions for oversight, requiring public bodies with an annual procurement spend of £5 million or more to set out in annually reviewed procurement strategies how they will comply with the Act and to publish annual procurement reports setting out how they have complied with their strategies. The content of these reports forms the basis of the Scottish Ministers Annual report on procurement activity in Scotland. For example - Procurement activity: annual report 2021 to 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The media reports suggesting that £450 million of European Structural and Investment Funds will be returned to the European Commission by the Scottish Government are wrong. As I stated in Parliament on Thursday 13 June, all projects supported by this funding must have concluded by December 2023 to be eligible. The criteria for projects supported by European Structural and Investments Funds is set by the European Commission - it cannot be used to replace core government funding. For further information, I include a link to the related Scottish Government webpages which provide more detail on how these funds have been administered in Scotland: https://www.gov.scot/policies/european-structural-funds/