���˿���

The Public Service Contracts for ferry services subsidised by the Scottish Government are published on the Transport Scotland website.

The operators of these ferry services are required to deliver the scheduled services (routes and timetables) as agreed by Scottish Ministers. The contracts specify arrangements for publication of timetables and booking information for all routes. Winter timetables for all the contracts are published timeously to maximise the opportunity for ferry users to plan and book their travel.

The operators are also required to work closely with local tourist boards and participate in local tourism initiatives and permit other organisations to advertise relevant ferry services information.

These ferry service contracts recognise that the weather is not a factor within the control of the operator - where sailings are cancelled or delayed due to weather, it is termed a “Relief Event” and no performance deductions apply. All of these operators provide summary sailing statistics on their websites.

Ferry Fleet

Since 2015, improvements to the existing CalMac ferry fleet have been undertaken consisting of upgrades and refurbishments of a value of around £8m. In addition, three new vessels, with a total value of around £55m, have entered service: the MV Loch Seaforth in 2015, the MV Catriona in 2016 and the MV Carvoria in 2017. Furthermore, there are two major dual-fuel vessels currently under construction at Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd (FMEL) in Port Glasgow with a total contract value of £97m.

Harbours

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) has responsibility on behalf of the Scottish Ministers for 26 of the ports that CalMac operate from. CMAL undertake on-going inspections and maintenance and repair works to the facilities at these locations which include linkspans, passenger access systems, piers, fenders, electric vehicle charging points and navigation aids. Expenditure by CMAL since 2015 has been around £13.9m.

CMAL have also completed several significant upgrade and redevelopment capital investment projects in this timeframe at ports including Brodick, Gourock, Kennacraig, Lochaline, Port Ellen and Wemyss Bay. CMAL has invested £37.7m on these and other projects, of which £23.7m was in 2016-17.

The Brodick redevelopment project has recently been completed with £30m of public investment from CMAL, Transport Scotland, North Ayrshire Council and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

In addition, CMAL have several capital projects on-going or in the pipeline including Colintraive and Rhubodach, Lochranza and Portavadie. They are also investing in network wide CCTV and Wind & Weather monitoring equipment.

Furthermore, there has been around £30m invested in the port infrastructure at the independent ports of Stornoway Port Authority and Ullapool Harbour Trust, the majority of which has been funded by grants from Transport Scotland. These projects were completed in 2015.

Vessels can operate in varying wind conditions. Wind speed is just one example of a range of safety considerations used in evaluating weather conditions before making a decision on whether it is safe to sail.

As outlined in our Programme for Government, we plan to double the Active Travel budget from £40 million to £80 million per annum from 2018-19. We will continue to build walking and cycling infrastructure in partnership with all local authorities and other partners through Sustrans. We will provide access to behaviour change programmes such as Smarter Choices, Smarter Places through Paths for All, Bikeability Scotland cycle training for school children and the suite of cycle friendly awards administered by Cycling Scotland.

In terms of tackling transport poverty, we will take steps to ensure walking and cycling are accessible regardless of income. Our focus will be to invest in areas of deprivation and encourage free bike hire, where available, to those most in need. We will create conditions whereby active travel is a desirable choice rather than the only available option.

In addition, we will work with local authorities and registered social landlords to create secure storage for bikes in areas with social housing and local authority housing. We will work with communities to make places more attractive and safe for walking and cycling.

We will continue to work across policy portfolios to ensure that people are never locked out of opportunities to access employment and services through transport poverty.

Transport Scotland has not undertaken any assessment of the cost of improving the junctions on the A90 between Dundee and Stonehaven, other than at Laurencekirk, where design work is being taken forward to deliver a grade separated junction on the A90. It is therefore not possible to provide a cost estimate at this time.

Average speed cameras on the A90 are expected to improve road safety.

The cameras are already encouraging improved driver behaviour and better speed limit compliance, which will lead to fewer camera detections, fewer penalty points, fewer drivers fined, and ultimately reduce the number of people being killed or injured on Scotland’s roads.

Information provided by the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA) suggests there are around 60 staff and around 230 officers based in Scotland who would transfer to Police Scotland, with the details currently being refined as part of the work of the Joint Programme Board. We have no information on staff leaving as a result of the merger.

(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.

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

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).

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.