- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2024
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 10 May 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is regarding mandatory rotation of Ukrainian refugees around hotels in Fife.
Answer
Answer expected on 10 May 2024
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what impact the 2024-25 Scottish Budget will have on its targets for reducing child poverty.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2024
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
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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
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the budget investment allocated for active travel was spent, in each financial year from 2020-21 to 2023-24.
Answer
The Active Travel Budget is an allocation set within the overall Transport Budget for Scotland. There has been an annual increase to the Active Travel budget each year from 2020 to 2023. This reflects our commitment to increase walking, cycling, or wheeling for everyday journeys.
Active Travel investments encounter challenges such as planning, geographical issues, and supply chain availability that can result in an underspend or a programme being adjusted midterm. Planning, forecasting, and grant management processes are utilised to mitigate the risk of underspend whenever possible. The Active Travel programme, as with many Government investments, was significantly impacted with restrictions under the COVID19 response, adaptations to projects has to be made to allow for continued delivery, and in some cases work was paused. The breakdown of allocations and spend for the years 2020-21 to 2022-23 is as follows;
Year | Allocated Budget | Allocated from Budget | Spend Achieved |
2020-21 | £100,500,000.00 | £100,500,000.00 | £75,145,156.46 |
2021-22 | £116,761,432.82 | £116,171,826.69 | £88,744,213.02 |
2022-23 | £149,977,000.00 | £149,683,003.69 | £139,918,607.50 |
2023-24 as a financial year is not complete. The following is therefore indicative and may adjust once the year end process completes.
Year | Allocated Budget | Allocated from Budget | Spend Forecast |
2023-24 | £189,210,000 | £183,644,079.00 | £173,782,079 |
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 4 April 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation process is in place to assess the spending that was allocated to active travel in each financial year between 2020-21 and 2023-24.
Answer
The Active Travel Programme is a collection of interventions aimed at people and place, and Infrastructure investments to develop safe and accessible active travel routes. Each project is subject to a disciplined Governance approach that includes quarterly and annual reporting. It is a condition of each grant that an evaluation for each project is conducted on completion.
All interventions and investments reflect the Active Travel Framework and where related to cycling, the cycling framework for Active Travel. Both are accessible on the Transport Scotland website.
Progress against Active Travel Outcomes are measured and published through a number of sources, these include;
- The Walking and Cycling Index (WACI), published at a City level with Local Authorities.
- The Cycling Scotland monitoring report, which is published on an annual basis.
- The Scottish Household Survey, an annual cross-sectional survey.
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
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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
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 February 2024
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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
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
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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
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2024
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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
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2024
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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.
