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The Scottish Government has ambitious plans to make it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle for everyday journeys, with record levels of investment over this Parliament and significantly ahead of anywhere else in the UK. Our biggest focus is on delivering physical infrastructure on the ground. But we also have important programmes to support people to change behaviours and choose active travel, and to access a range of bikes, including adapted bikes. At present, and over the course of next year, to make sure that people in Scotland get maximum benefit from that investment, Transport Scotland is transforming the delivery models for active travel interventions across the infrastructure, behaviour change and access to bikes programmes. This will see the end of some long-standing programmes, funded on a year by year basis, and a shift towards funding and control moving to local authorities, as the strategic transport authorities for their area, and regional transport partnerships.

Part of the Active Travel transformation process has involved the Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme closing, but behaviour change projects remain a high priority in our Active Travel programme. We are developing a new system of funding for 2024-25, and Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships, and the third sector Active Travel Delivery Partners are all involved in the design of that solution and we continue to see a vital role for our delivery partners in turning our record investment into the transformative change we all want to see.

The Scottish Government has ambitious plans to make it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle for everyday journeys, with record levels of investment over this Parliament. Our biggest focus is on delivering physical infrastructure on the ground. But we also have important programmes to support people to change behaviours and choose active travel, and to access a range of bikes, including adapted bikes. To make sure that people in Scotland get maximum benefit from that investment, Transport Scotland is transforming the delivery model for active travel interventions across infrastructure, behaviour change and access to bikes. This will see the end of some long-standing programmes and a shift toward funding and control moving to local authorities, as the strategic transport authorities for their area, and regional transport partnerships.

Part of the Active Travel transformation process has involved the Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme closing from April 2024, including the Local Authority Fund which received funding through both the Sustainable Transport Budget and the Active Transport Budget.

We are developing a new approach to delivery and are actively engaging with Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships, and Active Travel Delivery Partners. . Our greater emphasis on local authorities working alongside national delivery partners means a continuing focus on local transport solutions.

Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was the first of its kind in Scotland and a landmark in tackling harmful air pollution, and protecting public health in this country. Glasgow’s pioneering LEZ is also informing the delivery of similar schemes in Aberdeen, Dundee, and Edinburgh.

The Minister for Transport and I co-chair the Low Emission Zone Leadership Group, a key ministerial forum, with representation from all four LEZ cities. In addition Transport Scotland officials meet regularly with the local authorities starting LEZ enforcement in 2024, and with Glasgow and the DVLA to share knowledge and experience gained from operating the Glasgow scheme. Experiences shared so far have related to technical and operational matters and the importance of effective communications.

Glasgow City Council is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the city's LEZ.

Transport Scotland collects and uses a range of data on transport from a variety of sources. These incorporate collection methods that remained relatively unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as automated traffic counters, recorded ticket purchases, and other operational data.

Throughout the pandemic period, Transport Scotland published a range of data regarding travel, providing an ongoing insight into the impact of the pandemic ( https://www.transport.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/analysis/ ).

The key survey source for transport data is the Scottish Household Survey (SHS). The SHS collects a range of data on people’s transport and travel habits in Scotland, including a record of all the journeys they made the day before the survey interview.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the survey was adapted in 2020 and 2021, including a change from face-to-face interviewing to telephone. However, since 2022, the SHS has returned to being a face-to-face interview, primarily administered in people’s homes. The survey is operated using an established methodology and collects data from a representative sample of around 10,000 Scottish Households.

As outlined in the answer to S6W-23449, fuel duty and vehicle excise duty are wholly reserved to the UK Government. The UK government have acknowledged in their Net Zero Review that revenues from existing motoring taxes will decline sharply this decade as we transition away from fossil fuels and the taxes based on them. As fuel duty becomes obsolete, the UK Government needs to urgently look at a successor taxation regime for transport to reflect the changes in the sector. The Scottish Government wants a fair and progressive future transport tax system that better incentivises the transition to zero-emission vehicles, reduces emissions and raises revenues to fund policies to support a shift to more sustainable travel.

Depending on the nature, scale and location of a proposed development, planning authorities are required to consult specified statutory consultees before determining planning applications. For example, the relevant local roads authority, or Transport Scotland for trunk roads, must be consulted on proposed developments affecting existing roads or comprising the creation of a new road. It is for the relevant planning authority to take into consideration any responses from such consultees which raise material planning considerations in determining the application.

The use of planning conditions is subject to a series of tests, set out in Scottish Government Circular 4/1998. Case law has established that only matters which are relevant to planning can be the subject of a condition; furthermore planning conditions should only be used where they are necessary to make development acceptable (i.e. planning permission would be refused if not for the condition). In addition, planning conditions should not duplicate the effect of other legislative controls such as the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 or relevant Health and Safety legislation.

The Department for Transport publishes data and statistics about the local bus sector in Great Britain, which includes passenger journey numbers. This is used in the Scottish Transport Statistics publication, and the Scottish Government currently has no plans for further monitoring of passenger numbers.

The Scottish Government does not assess the commercial viability of individual bus service routes, Local authorities have a duty to identify where there is a social need for particular bus services and can seek additional information from bus operators to support that identification in cases where services have been varied or withdrawn.

We do not hold information on which local authorities operate Demand Responsive Travel Schemes or how they monitor the success of such schemes. The provision of local authority Demand Responsive Transport schemes is a matter for individual local authorities taking into account their local transport needs.

The Department for Transport publish a bus fares index for each region within the UK, which tracks changes in ticket prices. This is used in the Scottish Transport Statistics publication, and the Scottish Government currently has no plans for further monitoring of bus fares.