- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of (a) how and (b) where the budget allocated for active travel was spent, in each financial year from 2020-21 to 2023-24.
Answer
The Active Travel Budget is an annually set allocation from the overall Scottish Transport Budget. The Active Travel Programme contains a blend of Grants awarded in accordance with the Scottish public Finance Manual, contracts drawn down from Scottish Government procurement frameworks, and budget transfers to support investments managed in other areas of the portfolio. A breakdown of years 2020-21 to 2023-24 is set out in the following table;
Financial Year 2020-21- £100,500,000.00 |
Investment | Amount | Mechanism | Delivery Partners |
Infrastructure and place making projects | £84,506,198.00 | Paid through Grant Awards | All Local Authorities, Sustrans |
Regional Transport Partnership Grants | £1,315,600.00 | Paid through Grant Awards | Regional Transport Partnerships |
Independent Review of Grants | £5,014.66 | Framework Call of Contract | MacRoberts LLP |
Research Programme on Presumed Liability | £7,470.00 | Through budget transfer as part of the Spring and Autumn budget reviews | UK Government DfT, Transport Scotland |
Behaviour Change Interventions | £14,665,717.00 | Paid through Grant Awards | Cycling Scotland, CyclingUK, Forth Environment Link, Cycling Without Age, Scottish National Heritage, The Bike Station, Sustrans |
Active Nation Commissioner | £50,648.00 | Public Appointment | Active Nation Commissioner |
Financial Year 2021-22 - £116,171,826.69 |
Investment | Amount | Mechanism | Delivery Partners |
Free Bikes for school age children Commitment | £ 2,133,459.29 | Paid through Grant Awards | Scottish Cycling, FreeWheel North, Sustrans, Cycling Scotland, Shetland Council, Forth Environment Link, St Paul’s Youth Forum, Angus Bike Hub, Bike for Good, Research Scotland |
The development of a replacement strategy for the Cycling Action Plan - the Cycle Framework | £50,000.40 | Framework Call of Contract | AECOM |
Active Travel Infrastructure Investments | £90,638,802.70 (£51,256,912 of which was managed to projects through Sustrans) | Paid through Grant Awards | All Scottish Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships, Sustrans |
Interventions to support people and communities to make Active Travel Choices | £20,984,564.00 | Paid through Grant Awards | Paths for All, Cycling Scotland, CyclingUK, Living Streets, Sestrans, Sustrans |
Active Travel Contributions to wider Transport and Government Investments includes capital and resource reviews | £2,290,000.00 | Through budget transfer as part of the Spring and Autumn budget reviews | Transport Scotland |
Active Nation Commissioner | £75,000.00 | Public Appointment | Active Nation Commissioner |
Financial Year 2022-23 - £149,683,003.69 |
Investment | Amount | Mechanism | Delivery Partners |
Active Travel Infrastructure Investments | £108,472,925.00 (£65,901,425 of which was managed to project through Sustrans) | Paid through Grant Awards | All Scottish Local Authorities, All Scottish Regional Transport Partnerships, Sustrans, Paths for All, |
Active Travel Contributions to wider Transport and Government Investments includes capital and resource reviews | £13,374,000.00 (£3,300,000 of which supported road safety projects) | Through budget transfer as part of the Spring and Autumn budget reviews | Transport Scotland |
Free Bikes for school age children Commitment | £2,328,868.90 | Paid through Grant Awards | Sustrans, Shetland Council, Scottish Cycling, St Paul’s Youth Forum, Forth Environment Link, Cycling Scotland, Bike for Good, Angus Cycle Hub. YoungScot |
Access to Bikes and cycling priority interventions | £13,150,907.75 | Paid through Grant Awards | Cycling Scotland, CyclingUK, Energy Savings Trust, Bike for Good, UCI Major Events Team |
Behaviour Change Interventions | £11,782,502.54 | Paid through Grant Awards | Paths for All, COMOUK, Sustrans, Living Streets |
Active Nation Commissions | £75,000.00 | Public Appointment | Active Nation Commissioner |
The Active Travel Transformation Programme | £496,898.75 | Framework Call off Contact and administration/facilitation costs | SWECO, Systra, |
The development of a replacement strategy for the Cycling Action Plan - the Cycle Framework | £1,900.75 | Framework Contract | APS |
Financial Year 2023-24 – £183,640,579 allocated for Spend |
Investment | Amount | Mechanism | Delivery Partners |
Active Travel Infrastructure Investments | £76,899,949.00 | Paid through Grant Awards | All Scottish Local Authorities, All Scottish Regional Transport Partnerships, Sustrans, Paths for All, |
Active Travel Contributions to wider Transport and Government Investments includes capital and resource reviews | £53,700,000.00 | Through budget transfer as part of the Spring and Autumn budget reviews | Transport Scotland |
Access to Bikes and cycling priority interventions | £17,403,189.00 | Paid through Grant Awards | Cycling Scotland, Energy Savings Trust, Bike for Good, Bike Station, CyclingUK, Scotrail |
Contribution to the UCI Cycling World Championships | £1,010,000.00 | Through budget transfer as part of the Spring and Autumn budget reviews | UCI Major Events Team |
Behaviour Change Interventions | £14,681,896.00 | Paid through Grant Awards | Paths for All, Sustrans, Living Streets, Active Travel Ambassador |
The Active Travel Transformation Programme, including the Active Travel Transformation Fund | £19,949,045.00 | Paid through Grant Awards and a framework call of contract | Scottish Local Authorities, Systra, MacRoberts LLP, |
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Fairlie on 8 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any progress regarding the Winchburgh railway station development.
Answer
Whilst the Scottish Government is supportive of a new station in Winchburgh, it is our understanding of the station proposal that it is and has always been a developer led station, as outlined in Winchburgh Developments Ltd.’s original Masterplan for further development.
I can confirm, the Scottish Government welcomes the collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach and I and my officials in Transport Scotland will continue to support the process of exploring options for the delivery of a new station at Winchburgh.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 7 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the proposed new gas-fired power station to be built at Peterhead poses any significant risk to Scotland's climate and emissions reduction targets.
Answer
In February 2022, an application under section 36 of the Electricity Act seeking consent for construction and operation of Peterhead CCS was formally lodged with the Energy Consents Unit. This is currently before Ministers for determination and as such, it would be inappropriate for Ministers to make any comment on it.
The Scottish Government is committed to Scotland becoming a net zero nation by 2045. Our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan sets out firmly our opposition to the continued use of unabated fossil fuels to generate electricity, while our updated Climate Change Plan contains more than 200 policies to reduce emissions across all sectors, including energy, in line with this bold ambition.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-24336 by Fiona Hyslop on 30 January 2024, whether it will provide an update on what progress is being made to replace the existing High Speed Train (HST) rolling stock, in light of the reported safety concerns of their ongoing operation.
Answer
High Speed Trains (HSTs) meet the stringent safety requirements necessary to operate on the GB rail network.
The independent railway safety regulator confirms these trains remain safe to run, which was also confirmed by the Scottish Carmont Steering Group
Replacing the HSTs is recognised as a priority and work is underway now to identify the optimum replacement option.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to decarbonise the Fife Circle rail route.
Answer
Plans for decarbonisation of the Fife Circle are in development. It is expected this will be one of the next parts of the Scottish network to be decarbonised, after the current work to electrify the East Kilbride line. The scope of the work in Fife will be developed and appraised alongside consideration of new battery-electric trains.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on the (a) status of and (b) progress in implementing the Rail Fares and Ticketing Strategy, as outlined in section 11 of the 2022 Framework Agreement between Transport Scotland and Scottish Rail Holdings Limited.
Answer
Since 2022, ScotRail has been committed to developing a robust evidence base on which to inform future plans and investment on fares and ticketing. This has included obtaining customer insight to identify opportunities, testing and learning to encourage more customers to rail through short-term promotions, and a ticketing/retail review assessing a range of retail channels and ticketing options.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether there has been an increase in funding for ScotRail since it was brought into public ownership.
Answer
ScotRail Trains has seen significant recovery in demand and positive growth in revenue during the transition from the pandemic during which it took over the operation of services.
The level of funding paid to ScotRail has therefore seen some reduction as a result of the on-going positive growth and recovery from the pandemic, although additional funding has been specifically provided to support the pilot removal of peak fares.
More widely, the Scottish Government’s total funding for Scotland’s railway system continues to increase and will be around £1.6bn in 2024/25.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to bring forward a tendering process for the provision of digital rail ticket issuing services in Scotland.
Answer
Provision of digital rail ticket issuing services is an operational matter for ScotRail. ScotRail advises that mobile tickets are available for advance, single and return tickets, and progress is being made to make more tickets available digitally.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the digital rail ticket issuing services that are provided to ScotRail by Trainline Plc.
Answer
This is an operational matter for ScotRail.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all rail users have access to ticket purchasing services prior to travel.
Answer
This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The member may wish to contact ScotRail for this information.