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The implementation of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 has been affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. However, Part 1 of the Act requires the publishing of a National Transport Strategy, and this was brought into force on 15 January 2020. Provisions around Regional Transport Partnerships and Canals are also fully in place. As I indicated at my appearance before the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee on 2 September 2020, there is limited space in this current parliamentary session to implement the other aspects of the Act.

Caledonian Sleeper is bound by the Franchise Agreement to inform passengers in a timely manner of any potential changes to their timetabled travel.

Caledonian Sleeper advises it took the decision to announce on 29 September the cancellation of trains on 4 and 5 October to ensure that all passengers were fully informed ahead of the strike action, allowing them to make alternative plans for any travel or onward accommodation bookings.

Through the two budget revisions to date a total of £583m has been added to the Transport and Infrastructure and Connectivity Budget in respect of Covid-19 and other funding changes. This has been partly funded through £193m reprioritisation of existing portfolio expenditure. There have also been 33m of transfers to other portfolios.

The breakdown of all changes to the Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Budgets through the Summer and Autumn Budget Revisions is as follows:

The Scottish Government has regular meetings with the STUC and unions to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on the transport system including the aviation sector.

I continue to welcome any specific suggestions that trade union representatives may have on additional measures that can be taken by Scottish Ministers now to support the aviation industry in its sustainable recovery.

Caledonian Sleeper advise it has engaged with ACAS and is taking its advice regarding on-going discussions.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-32020 on 9 October 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government has already provided around £250 million of additional financial support which has allowed Abellio ScotRail and Serco Caledonian Sleeper to maintain full employment for their staff despite the significant drop in passenger revenue during the pandemic, and substantial additional sums will be required in future.

The UK Government has not yet provided clarity about the future additional funding for the Scottish Government arising from UK transport spending. Any pay discussions between ScotRail and its staff will need to reflect the extremely challenging budgetary position and the ongoing budgetary uncertainty.

The EMAs covering the period September 2020 to January 2021, will only pay management fees which will be based on levels of performance achieved by the operators and are capped at a maximum of 1.5%.

Under current UK rail legislation, other than in circumstances where their duty to act as “Operator of Last Resort” is engaged, Scottish Ministers have no power or authority to operate railway services themselves via a government owned company. The Operator of Last Resort duty arises only where a franchise agreement in respect of railway passenger services is terminated or otherwise comes to an end and no further franchise agreement has been entered into in respect of those services.

Under current legislation, an existing public sector body could bid to run rail services in Scotland in any future competition. However, this would be a matter for that body to decide and also to meet the costs of entering a bid which could be in the region of £10 million.

The EMAs which expired on 20 September included a small management fee to be paid at the end of the variation period and were capped at 2%.

Under the new EMAs the payment of any management fees to Abellio ScotRail or Serco Caledonian Sleeper will depend entirely upon achieving satisfactory performance metrics. These are the same metrics as those contained in the previous EMAs - customer experience, operational performance and efficiency of operations and will be capped at 1.5%.