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The number of passenger complaints received by ScotRail, through their official complaints process, is set out in the following table for the period 1 and 31 May 2022. The complaints may involve incidents that occurred before 1 May 2022.

The average recorded number of complaints per period for previous years is as follows:-

2019-2020 - 1,664 complaints

2018-2019 - 2,064 complaints

The figure for 1 April to 30 April 2022 is 1,144. The figure of 2,006 complaints for May 2022 is higher than April 2022 as this May period was when several services were impacted due to driver shortages and the subsequent temporary timetable that was introduced on 23 May 2022. The temporary timetable that was in place until 20 July 2022 aimed to provide the best possible service to as many passengers as possible with the available resources.

ScotRail do not record staff complaints and therefore the information is not available.

Meetings of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands are open to the public and MSPs are welcome to attend and observe the proceedings.

CalMac has noted that it is not possible to measure unmet demand using booking systems, including the eBooking solution being delivered by the Ar Turas Programme. We understand the desire to measure bookings “not made” for a specific set of reasons, principally vessel capacity on peak-demand sailings.

CalMac has been running a working group with a number of CalMac Community Board members during the last 18 months to help clarify and support understanding of measures that can be tracked. The group has explored a range of ideas and CalMac has developed a number of reports designed to support enhanced understanding of how and when vehicle bookings are made, amended, cancelled and the resulting impact on capacity. These requirements have been taken-forward for delivery against the improved data that the new system will capture.

A number of these items have already been made available in monthly Ferry User Group performance reporting packs.

As the member will know, disruption to the network in early 2022 linked directly to weather conditions and Covid impacts. Whilst no specific analysis of the financial and economic impacts from this ferry disruption on the Uist community has been undertaken, the Scottish Government recognises the impact these disruptions have on island life.

CalMac forms part of the local resilience partnership and prioritises the shipment of essential supplies during disruption to minimise welfare issues on the islands. Transport Scotland works with CalMac to monitor the impact of cancellations, listening to feedback directly from island communities and local resilience partnerships as well as transport operators.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving safety on our trunk roads including the A77. While there are no road improvement schemes or upgrades planned for the A77 in 2022, £6.75m has been allocated for the A77 through our provisional road maintenance programme for financial year 2022-23.

The Scottish Government has invested over £105 million on the A77 since 2007 to March 2022 to ensure its safe and efficient operation. In addition, we have spent approximately £64 million on five separate road schemes on the A77 including the recent completion of the £29m Maybole bypass which opened in January 2022 .

Scottish Ministers and Transport Scotland officials communicate regularly with key stakeholders in the Scottish ports sector about a wide range of issues, including the implications of the UK Government's response to P&O Ferries recent actions. The Member may wish to note that the UK Government Transport Secretary has repeatedly refused to meet with me on this matter.

Transport Scotland has now awarded a Multiple Supplier Framework Agreement for Maritime Consultancy Services. More information can be found on Public Contracts Scotland at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JUN451348 .

On 19 July 2022, Circularity Scotland Ltd announced that it has signed a contract with Biffa to become Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme’s logistics service provider.

The award of this contract is a key milestone in the roll out of the scheme and the agreement is expected to create around 500 jobs in Scotland. It comes after several months of close collaboration between Circularity Scotland and Biffa as they progress towards DRS going live in August next year.

Work is also underway to deliver the IT infrastructure for the scheme, and I expect the contract for IT services to be finalised very shortly.

The next meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands is scheduled to take place on Monday 3 October 2022.

Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team requested advice from Marine Scotland Science ("MSS") and NatureScot on the reports provided by Seagreen Wind Energy Limited. MSS and NatureScot advised on the specifics of the noise monitoring carried out in respect of each clearance event with reference to National Physical Laboratory guidance; the mitigation implemented to reduce impacts to marine mammals and lessons learned that could be applied to future campaigns. Due to the small number of unexploded ordnance to be cleared, NatureScot advised that overall impacts from the clearance activity in terms of exposure to noise and behavioural disturbance were lower than predicted and well within the scope of the assessment submitted in support of the licence applications.