Seòmar agus comataidhean

The last meeting between the Cabinet Secretary and the Managing Director of Hitachi Rail Europe, Karen Boswell, was on 12 March 2019. Transport Scotland officials are in regular contact with Hitachi regarding the Class 385 rollout programme.

In 2018-19 the Scottish Government doubled its active travel budget to £80 million annually for the term of this Parliament to deliver an active nation and the vision that Scotland’s communities are shaped around people, with walking or cycling the most popular choice for shorter everyday journeys.

The Scottish Government distributes this funding to active travel delivery partners to fund a variety of projects which support and encourage people to walk and cycle. The largest grant, £51 million in 2019-20, is given to Sustrans for its Places for Everyone Programme. This programme provides grants to public and third sector organisations of up to 50% of the total cost for the creation of high quality infrastructure that enables an increased number of trips made by bicycle for everyday journeys.

Places for Everyone brings together three formerly separate funds including Community Links PLUS, which was specifically to fund large projects with segregated cycle paths. The first of these projects to be completed will be the South City Way in Glasgow at the end of this year with five more projects underway. Ten more ambitious projects will be considered for approval over the summer.

In addition, the Scottish Government is also providing £3.5 million for maintaining and extending the National Cycle Network to create more traffic-free and quiet road routes.

Suitable provision for all users, including cyclists, is an important part of the trunk road projects being taken forward by the Scottish Government, including the A9 and A96 dualling programmes. As part of the A9 Dualling programme, 35 kilometres of new cycle lanes will be delivered. In addition, the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) proposals also include 30 kilometres of off-carriageway shared-use facilities which will improve safety for cyclists and walkers while also helping connect local communities along the route.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21475 on 13 March 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s web site, the search facility can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

There are 257 stations which are wheelchair accessible in Scotland from one or more platforms. Further detail regarding the extent of accessibility at each of Scotland’s railway stations is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 60684).

Boards first provided this information to the Scottish Government in September 2018.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran advised us that at that time there were 7 cases going through a formal process in relation to bullying and harassment. These cases were initiated in 2017-2018.

Following John Sturrock`s report into allegations of a bullying culture in NHS Highland we are asking all health boards in Scotland to consider the findings and look again at the effectiveness of their own internal processes for handling concerns, leadership and governance.

Rail Accessibility is a UK Government reserved matter and therefore responsibility for making stations accessible rests with them.

We plan to make nine stations step-free in Control Period 6 (CP6), 2019 to 2024, as follows:

• Six stations will be funded by the Department for Transport’s Access for All Programme:- Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow and Uddingston.
• Three stations will be funded by the Scottish Government:- Aviemore, Nairn and Pitlochry.

This Scottish Government is also considering proposals for funding further stations.

Trunk Roads in Scotland are managed and maintained by Transport Scotland’s Operating Companies and Design Build Finance and Operate (DBFO) Contractors, on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. The majority of Private roads are the responsibility of their owners. All other roads are maintained and repaired by local authorities.

The ongoing investment and maintenance in the Trunk Road network is key to supporting the continued economic growth of Scotland. However, some degree of disruption is inevitable for these vital works. In planning and delivering these schemes, we aim to minimise impacts on businesses and communities while seeking to maintain access to local businesses and assisting motorists to make alternative travel arrangements.

Our contracts include timing restrictions for certain routes, which limit works from taking place during the busiest periods. The aim is, where possible and safe to do so, to avoid road closures and long diversions but also to avoid the busier tourist seasons and daily peak traffic hours.

For larger schemes or those particularly disruptive to an area, consultation is undertaken with local residents, businesses, elected members, community councils, transport operators, local authorities, emergency services and other local stakeholders on the timing of roadworks. Following this, works are programmed taking into consideration consultation feedback, avoiding local events and the main tourist season where possible.

To ensure schemes are suitably co-ordinated and planned in advance, we also work closely with the Scottish Road Works Commissioner, established to oversee this co-ordination of roadworks on Scotland’s roads by all roads authorities and statutory undertakers (such as utilities and telecoms companies).

To allow road users to plan their journeys and avoid potential disruption, information about roadworks is provided by Traffic Scotland, on their websites, the Traveline Scotland App, Twitter, Traffic Scotland Radio and other platforms. For larger or disruptive schemes, advance notice of the works is displayed at the roadside before the works start, whether on temporary signs or on Traffic Scotland’s ‘Variable Message Signs’.

In February 2019, the Scottish Government published a report entitled “Developing information on hate crime recorded by the police in Scotland”. This report includes the number the hate crimes that were aggravated by the five hate strands (race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity).

Table 1 includes additional analysis of the dataset used to produce the report ‘Developing Information on Hate Crime Recorded by the Police in Scotland’ and shows the number of assaults, including Attempted murder, Serious assault and Common assaults, recorded by the police with a race aggravator for the past four years for North Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Scotland. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/developing-information-hate-crime-recorded-police-scotland/ .

The Scottish Government previously published information on Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police, derived from a different source. Table 2 includes further analysis of this dataset and shows the number of assaults, including Attempted murder, Serious assault and Common assaults, recorded by Police Scotland as part of racist incidents for the years 2008-10 to 2013-14 for North Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Scotland. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/racist-incidents-recorded-police-scotland-2013-14/ .

The tables relate to crimes which have been perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a social group based on race. A person does not need to be a member of a social group to be the victim of a hate crime. The law states that the identity of the victim is irrelevant as to whether something is a hate crime or not; the motivation of the perpetrator is the key factor in defining a hate crime. Furthermore, this will not include any incidents which did not include the committing of a crime or racially aggravated assaults that were not reported to the police.

It is important to note that the tables presented here are not directly comparable as they are derived from different sources. Table 1 is based on information taken from Police Scotland’s Interim Vulnerable Persons Database (IVPD), an incident-based database which was introduced in 2013, and became a national system in 2014, whereas Table 2 is based on information previously extracted annually from individual Police Scotland crime management systems.

The total expenditure for Scotland’s Baby Box up until 17 March 2019 is £14,207,369.47

The Scottish Government does not hold the specific information requested. However, in February 2019, the Scottish Government published a report entitled “Developing information on hate crime recorded by the police in Scotland”. This report covers the years 2014-15 to 2017-18 and includes the number of hate crimes that were aggravated by the five hate strands (race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity). The following table shows the number of hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland with a sexual orientation aggravator for the past four years for North Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Scotland. Information for all local authorities is available in the web tables at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/developing-information-hate-crime-recorded-police-scotland/

The figures presented in Table 1 relate to crimes which have been perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a social group based on sexual orientation. This is not necessarily limited to homophobia and could include other sexual orientations. A person does not need to be a member of a social group to be the victim of a hate crime. The law states that the identity of the victim is irrelevant as to whether something is a hate crime or not; the motivation of the perpetrator is the key factor in defining a hate crime. Furthermore, this will not include any incidents which did not include the committing of a crime or instances of homophobia that were not reported to the police.