Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places the statutory responsibility for local roads improvement, maintenance and repair with local road authorities.

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.

The 2022-23 Local Government Settlement of almost £12.7 billion is both fair and affordable, under the most challenging of circumstances.

Following publication of the Audit Scotland report on Maintaining Scotland’s Roads in 2016, the National Roads Maintenance Review undertaken by Transport Scotland, SCOTS (the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland), CoSLA and SoLACE (the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) considered the recommendation for long term funding settlements for local road maintenance. However, the conclusion was that this would lead to further ring fencing of local authority funding settlements which would impact on local accountability and decision making, and was not taken forward.

Scottish Rail Holdings advised that the cost of the recent pay agreement with ScotRail train drivers is £4.5 million per annum. It will be funded from the 2022/23 budget allocated to ScotRail Trains Limited, with no other budgets having been affected.

The content of the resource was developed based on a survey of research conducted by Professor of Educational and Social Research at the University of Dundee, Professor Keith Topping.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to extend the statutory free bus schemes to include rail services.

We are, however, undertaking a Fair Fares Review that will look at look at the range of discounts and concessionary schemes which are available on all modes including bus, rail and ferry.

Transport Scotland officials have regular engagement with local transport authorities regarding bus services. These have included discussions with SWestrans officials in October 2021 and June 2022 regarding bus services and concessionary bus schemes as well as more recent correspondence with relevant local transport authorities (SPT, SWestrans and Scottish Borders Council) regarding the 101/102 bus service from Dumfries to Edinburgh.

Transport Scotland has corresponded with relevant local transport authorities in respect of the 101/102 bus service between Dumfries and Edinburgh. I am pleased that those authorities have now reached an agreement to continue a service until 31 March 2023 and I welcome the discussions now beginning with local communities to find long term solutions for this route.

Bus service provision in Scotland operates in an open de-regulated market and the provision of local bus services is a matter for bus operators and local transport authorities. The Scottish Government has, however, extended recovery funding for bus services via the Network Support Grant Plus, prioritising essential support for operators to support bus services like this with extra funding while travel patterns and demand adapt following the pandemic.

The R100 programme is a combination of the following three strands of activity – the £600 million R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and continued commercial coverage.

As of 21 July 2022, 1,472 properties in Stirling and 280 properties in Clackmannanshire are eligible for a main voucher worth up to £5,000 through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.

British Transport Police (BTP) is a reserved matter and as such the Scottish Government has no locus in their operations. I have recently had meetings with BTPs Chief Constable and the Chief Superintendent of D Division (Scotland) and discussed this very matter with them.

In addition officials are undertaking research on women and girls’ personal safety across and around public transport. This includes engagement with national and local organisations representing the interests of a cross-section of women, as well as Trade Union groups who represent female staff working on the public transport network.

This engagement work with women and girls, which is currently underway, is expected to capture views and experiences of accessing and using public transport. The outcomes of this engagement work, alongside our evidence review, will be used to inform our understanding and any future policy development.

The specifics of the Islands Bond are still being carefully considered in light of the strong feedback we have received from island residents, and within the new context of the current energy crisis and rising living costs which are being experienced by many islanders.

The Scottish Government has allocated funding to support the work of Scotland’s Makar in each year since the position was created in 2004, as follows: