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Now more than ever it is essential that we are well connected to the rest of Europe and the rest of the World and our ambition is to help airports restore 2019 levels of connectivity as quickly as possible. We are working with airports, including Glasgow Airport, on route recovery, to help rebuild connectivity for business and tourism once we are able to safely lift travel restrictions. This will help win back routes and employment opportunities. Transport Scotland, working in partnership with VisitScotland and SDI, has a well-established process in place to help Scotland’s airports recover routes lost as well as help secure new ones. We provide support to airlines in the form of attractive co-operative marketing packages, and also provide market intelligence and data to airlines on the potential of the Scottish market.

We have extended the 100% non-domestic rates relief for the aviation sector for another year with Glasgow Airport being one of the largest beneficiaries.

In 2020-21, the Scottish Government worked with Unite to support training for staff in the aviation sector which included support for Glasgow Airport ground staff through the National Transition Training Fund. Over 250 Glasgow staff benefitted from a range of training.

Scottish Ministers have now approved a continuation of support for this sector in 2021-22 and we are working with Unite again to agree what training will add most value to recovery of the sector and support the protection of jobs. Glasgow Airport staff will again benefit from this training offer.

The additional £5 million funding allocated in the 2020-21 budget has been used by Transport Scotland to support the rail decarbonisation programme which includes the work currently being undertaken to electrify the routes between Glasgow and Barrhead, and Glasgow and East Kilbride.

These enhancement projects will see the respective railway lines transformed to accommodate quieter, more environmentally friendly electric trains, whilst increasing capacity of services and improving network resilience. They will have a transformative effect on the railway and will deliver wide-ranging passenger benefits.

In addition, the funding supported the platform extensions at Milngavie, which enabled the introduction of a performance-enhancing timetable in 2020, as recommended in the Donovan Review, with the consequence that there is no longer a requirement for any additional infrastructure within the Milngavie area, though, of course, this will kept under review.

There is no order generally referred to as an emergency traffic regulation order in Scotland.

Traffic authorities may make temporary traffic regulation orders (which are known as TTROs), under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. These can prohibit or restrict the use of a road for a number of reasons, such as road works, damage to the road or danger to the public and generally can last for up to a maximum of 18 months. The Scottish Government issued guidance to local authorities on the use of TTROs and Notices in relation to the Covid-19 response in April 2020 which can be found at coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-temporary-traffic-regulation-orders-and-notices.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

There is no procedure for a TTRO to become a permanent order. A traffic authority can only make a permanent traffic regulation order in compliance with the relevant provisions of the Road Traffic regulation Act 1984 and the relevant procedures as contained in the Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 (for local roads) or the Secretary of State’s Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1987 (for trunk roads).

The details of the levels of active travel capital funding for the next five years will be discussed and agreed as part of the annual budget process.

Proposals to the Bus Partnership Fund were scored against the following criteria, which were published when the Fund opened on 9 November 2020:

• Evidence of congestion and ideas to reduce congestion, through improved emissions (25%)
• Partnership strength and demonstrated commitment, which will include match in kind (20%)
• Deliverability: the ability of the lead local authority and its partners to deliver the proposed developments, including local political buy-in (15%)
• bus services (40%)
• How the proposal fits with the partnership area’s overall strategy for integrated transport, to encourage a modal shift from cars to more sustainable transport and reduce

The 2017 Programme for Government initially committed to introducing Low Emission Zones (LEZs) into Scotland’s four biggest cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen) between 2018 and 2020. Scotland’s first LEZ (with an initial focus on buses) was launched in Glasgow at the end of 2018.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an evaluation of this timeline and the new indicative timeline is for LEZs to be introduced into Scotland’s four biggest cities between February and May 2022. Once introduced, this is when a LEZ grace period of no less than one year and no more than four years will start.

Local authorities have the final decision on the duration of the grace period which is the most appropriate for their LEZ Proposal. Once the grace period has lapsed, penalty charge notice enforcement will commence.

The Scottish Government has published a new Road Safety Framework to 2030 (RSF2030). The Framework sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050. We will build on what we have already achieved and our new framework will do so through a sharper road safety focus, improved education and evaluation, mode specific targets and stronger connections between national and local levels.

It is the responsibility of The Scottish Government to plan campaign activity based on statistical data and the identification of the most serious risks to people in Scotland. When attending accidents, Police Scotland record contributory factors, being able to select from a list of 78 possible ones and, in 2019 (the last year for which data are available) almost 7,000 instances of these contributory factors were recorded. “Tyres illegal, defective or under-inflated” was recorded on only 14 occasions, and ranked 57 th out of 78.

Therefore, it is unlikely we would consider a dedicated campaign such as you suggest but, we will continue to support Tyresafe’s annual campaign through Road Safety Scotland’s social media channels as well as having occasional background public messages on Traffic Scotland’s Variable Message Signs advising on checking tyre pressure. A 2019 report, “Non-Exhaust Emissions from Road Traffic” concluded the most effective mitigation strategies for reducing wear-generated fine particulate matter are: to reduce overall volumes of traffic; reduce speed limits; and promote good driving behaviour, all of which are part of The Scottish Government’s plans to reduce casualties and improve air quality.

The Scottish Government has provided a total of £2,563,599.48 to community transport groups in Scotland during Covid-19 to date. This includes National Concessionary Travel Scheme operator reimbursement , Covid Support Grant, Covid 19 Public Transport Retrofit grant, Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme funding and a grant to the Community Transport Association Scotland.

We are working with the Community Transport Association Scotland (CTA), community groups and other stakeholders to develop the sector and improve connectivity for community transport and other public transport users. Transport Scotland already has regular discussions with CTA about their ongoing work to promote and develop the sector in Scotland and issues affecting community transport groups.

Transport Scotland also provides annual grant funding to CTA to support this work. We have increased the grant for 2021-22 to enable CTA to undertake a mapping exercise looking at the extent and geographic spread of community transport groups and forums in Scotland. This work is part of CTA's proposals, submitted recently to Transport Scotland, for a Community Transport Investment Fund to make community transport more sustainable and better able to withstand the effects of the pandemic.

These proposals and mapping work will provide valuable information as we continue to work closely with CTA, the bus sector, local authorities and other transport stakeholders to understand the longer term impacts of the pandemic on demand for bus and community transport and how to support local bus service provision.

The Interim Report on the future approach to the procurement of lifeline ferry services was published on 20 December 2017. The report confirmed that a decision on the future approach to procuring these services would be taken ahead of the current contract for the Clyde and Hebrides ending in 2024.

Transport Scotland is undertaking work to review the current position regarding various aspects of procurement legislation and subsidy control in the context of EU exit and other changes since the publication of the interim report in 2017.