Chamber and committees

The Gourock to Dunoon ferry service provides a vital transport link for foot passengers between Dunoon town centre harbour and the rail head at Gourock harbour. The public service obligation is set by the Scottish Ministers and the need for the service is defined by the impact it has on the wider economic and social sustainability of the community served. In its 2009 Decision on Scottish Ferry Services, the European Commission concluded that there is a sound economic and social justification for public support of a passenger service on this route.

Due to significant weather disruption during winter 2011-12 and particularly, winter 2012-13, the Scottish Ministers took the decision to deploy the MV Coruisk on the Gourock to Dunoon route in passenger mode only to improve the resilience of the service.

Argyll Ferries Ltd charter the MV Coruisk from the CalMac fleet at a time when she would otherwise be surplus to requirements. This reduces the net cost to Transport Scotland and provides more effective value for money.

Scotland have reported on the MV Coruisk’s deployment every winter period. Statistical information on her service and resilience operations on the route can be found on Transport Scotland’s website at the following link.

The following table details both the original contracted non-fuel subsidy payment and the actual non-fuel subsidy payments from Contract Year 1 to Contract Year 6 of the Public Service Contract between the Scottish Ministers and Argyll Ferries Ltd.

There are a variety of reasons that contribute to differences between the initial contracted subsidy amount and the actual subsidy amount. One reason arising is that during the lifetime of the contract, maintenance and fuel costs have increased. Another reason being contract variations implemented, such as the charter of the MV Coruisk to improve winter reliability and the related replacement bus service. The details of these costs and their variances from original contracted subsidy are commercially sensitive to the operator.

No significant issues have arisen. As a matter of course, Transport Scotland keep under review the requirement for training in respect of procurement issues, including the use of the new pre-qualifying European Single Procurement Document for future procurements.

Salt supplies came under extreme pressure during the severe winters of 2008-09 and 2010-11. Despite this, no roads authority ran out of salt.

Scotland's 32 local authorities are responsible for the maintenance and safe operation of the local road network, including Winter Service Operations and its own salt management. This includes all footways, footpaths and cycle tracks not in private ownership.

Salt stocks are fundamental to a successful winter on our roads and we currently have more salt in stock than was used for the whole of last winter. National salt figures are published on Transport Scotland’s website: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/salt-group-situation-report/.

The Scottish Salt Group was established during the severe winter conditions early in 2010. The group includes representatives of Transport Scotland (TS), the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS), the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE). The Scottish Salt Group monitored the restocking process throughout the summer and met with suppliers to confirm there is adequate salt production to meet the demand. Road authorities recognise the need to have good salt stocks in advance of the start of winter to increase resilience and reduce reliance on in-season restocking.

BEAR Scotland manages and maintains the North-East trunk roads on behalf of Transport Scotland and this includes the A90 and A92 within the Dundee City Council boundary.

As outlined in the Oil and Gas Production Statistics 2016-17 publication, 82 per cent of all oil and gas production in the UK across this period was produced in Scotland (including Scottish adjacent waters). Looking at gas production only, Scottish production represented 63 per cent of total gas production in the UK continental shelf. Hence, while it is the case that the UK as a whole has a significant dependency on imported gas, Scotland clearly has an abundance of natural gas resources. In fact in 2015, Scottish gas production represented roughly six times that of final consumption from within Scotland. To access this figure as well as view the level of gas imports over the last 10 years, please refer to the SNAP Commodity Balances and Trade 2015 statistical publication (see link).

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/oilgas

The draft Energy Strategy identifies that 75 per cent of total energy consumption in Scotland is currently supplied by oil and gas. Going forward, the Scottish Government recognises the important role that hydrocarbons will continue to play in our energy mix, especially as we transition to a low-carbon economy.

The percentage of services delayed and cancelled in each of the last two quarters is set out in the following table.

This would only be considered if the current commercial service ceased to operate and no alternative operator chose to operate the route on a commercial basis. The cost of a PSO on the Benbecula to Glasgow air route would be dependent on the specification of the service in terms of elements such as frequency, capacity and fare level and would be subject to an open tender exercise so as to ensure that best value was achieved.

(a) The last quarter for which we hold the latest complete personal injury accident figures is 1 January 2017 to 31 March 2017.

In this period, there were 8 Fatal, 36 Serious and 178 Slight Injury accidents giving a total of 222 injury accidents across the trunk road network.

(b) Winter 2016-17 is being defined as 1 December 2016 to 31 March 2017.

In this period, there were 15 Fatal, 45 Serious and 260 Slight Injury accidents, giving a total of 320 injury accidents across the trunk road network.

Source: Transport Scotland Accident Manager System

The figures quoted may differ slightly from those published elsewhere because they were exported on a different date and the database may have changed between the dates extracted, e.g. due to late returns or corrections to earlier returns.

We know heavy snowfall causes disruption and Transport Scotland continue to recognise the importance of a reliable and resilient transport network to people and the economy.

Transport Scotland is responsible for preventing snow and ice endangering the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles on trunk roads in Scotland. Significant planning is undertaken in advance of winter to ensure that the trunk road operating companies are prepared and to share lessons learned from previous years. The operating companies each have a Winter Service Plan, which is available online at:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/keep-scotland-moving/winter-service/#42965.

New contract specifications, specialist plant trials and innovations, greater use of technology and getting information to people ‘on the move’ are just a few of the ways we have strengthened the winter treatments, decision making and communication with road users on our trunk roads.

With a fully mobilised winter fleet of 208 spreaders with snow ploughing capability, our winter service capability has never been higher; and our pre-winter preparations, audits, scenario workshops and weekly winter calls will ensure that there is no room for complacency in our winter service despite the recent mild winters. Total salt in stock in Scotland on 7 November 2017 was 580,245 tonnes (including 83,750 tonnes of strategic salt). This represents 173% of total used in winter 2016-17.

Transport Scotland continues to recognise the importance of a reliable and resilient transport network to people and the economy. To sustain this improvement, an ambitious programme of actions is being taken forward for the coming winter. These actions include hiring an all-terrain 4x4 (Unimog) to trial as a patrol vehicle on the M80 to mitigate accessibility issues should another snow event occur on a strategic corridor.

Working closely with its Operating Companies’ supply chain partners, Transport Scotland has identified the opportunity to review operating practices and use of specialist ploughs during snow events; particularly at vulnerable locations such as gradients.

We work with our partners, including Police Scotland and the Met Office, in our state of the art control centre to keep Scotland moving across the winter months and we continue to use the best available technology to give road users the most up to date information about the roads when they require it.