 Going forward the first item in our business is a statement by Derek Mackay on winter transport resilience. The minister will take questions at the end of the statement, there should there no interventions or interruptions. Minister Ten Minutes. Thank you Presiding Officer I am grateful to Parliament for the opportunity to make a statement on our winter transport resilience in Scotland. Although we know severe weather will cause disruption that the Government has taken a ymd rangef staffu i gynnwys glens wahanol i gynyddu'r cymhwr i syniadol ar gyfer gyfarchiadol i'r cynhyrchu'r sylwydd ASindustrie, ac i gael weithio gwiaith gyda'r norma sydd yn cael ei wneud. The management of the New Half of Scotland has done in partnership with a broad range of public private and third sector partners, including new investment, development and innovation, all learning the lessons from recent winters. Scotland will again, in the future, experience severe weather, whether that's snow, a deep freeze, heavy rain or disruptive storms such as those of last winter, and it's not just in winter. The summer flooding that has affected neighbourhoods across Scotland are fresh in everyone's memory, in fife and Persia, for example. We can't prevent the weather, but we can prepare for it. Our priority is to keep Scotland moving across all modes of transport. On roads, the winter service, provided across Scotland from the start of October through to mid-May, is a critical front-line service. Winter weather has and will cause disruption on our roads with the actions that we are taking and with the road users playing their part by planning ahead together we can get Scotland moving throughout this winter. 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 that we have strengthened the winter plan, treatments, decision making and communication with road users. The enhanced preparedness is also beneficial outside of winter as the procedures and practices in place such as the multi-agency response team marked improve our resilience for other severe weather episodes and major events such as the Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Ryder Cup. We will continue to invest in and trial more technology to improve decision making and responses by those managing the winter treatments such as new weather stations and mobile road condition sensors. Over the last five years, we have strengthened our well-developed winter service even further. High performance requirements ensure that our road maintenance contractors are patrolling the most strategically important routes from 1 November before and through the morning peak when temperatures are forecast to be low and there is a risk of ice forming. The strategic patrol gritters are also adding to our ploughing capability during snowstorms. We are continually investing in our winter service and we have more winter plant this year than ever before. This year's winter fleet will have 205 vehicles available for spreading salt and ploughing snow, averaging one gritter or plough per 17km of the trunk road network. That is a record high and a 3.5 per cent increase from the start of last season. All of the fleet will be available to provide support to the front line and patrol vehicles, as well as to cover breakdowns and essential maintenance. Since last year, 57 new state-of-the-art gritters have been brought in to replace some older vehicles. Now, of the total, 152 are for gritters that are less than three years old, operational across the country. That represents 74 per cent of the total winter fleet for trunk roads. As of 7 October, there is approximately 674,000 tonnes of salt in stock or in order, including strategic salt. That extends the total salt that was used across Scotland for last winter and during the severe winter of 2010-11. A range of new resources are in place to improve intelligence, monitor, patrol and act where necessary. Last year, our crews were out clearing the trunk roads of ice and snow approximately 14,000 times and winter service patrols were operational 6,700 times. We have increased stocks of alternative deisers to improve our resilience if very low temperatures are forecast. The purpose-built Traffic Scotland national control centre at South Queensbury has improved co-ordination and joint working. All motorways continue to be covered by winter patrols, giving a 30-minute response to incidents. Control rooms can monitor the temperature and key routes remotely through sensors and see the conditions live via network of cameras. Road users can keep up to date through a range of media, including internet, radio and smartphone updates on the move in addition to the more traditional methods. A record number of people are using our information services with now over 100,000 people now following Act Traffic Scotland, which followers will know has its own style of communication. There is a programme of communications using all channels in a proactive manner to raise awareness of the efforts that go into keeping the trunk roads moving during periods of bad weather such as rain, wind and snow. We are engaging directly with schools. This year, we have been engaging with schoolchildren to educate them on the winter service and our trunk roads and also having an interesting competition about naming our gritters. Partnership working is key to making sure that the communications process is as coordinated as possible and Transport Scotland communications will work alongside the trunk road operating companies, contract providers, Traffic Scotland and relevant partners in the Scottish Government to deliver a shared messaging across all channels. We will also liaise with Police Scotland and other transport providers where appropriate. That will enhance public confidence and make it clear to them that Transport Scotland is well prepared to deal with the conditions that winter may throw at us. This work also sets the scene for the wider Scottish Government ready for winter campaign, which will be launched in early November. On rail, we are working closely with the ScotRail Alliance to prepare for potential severe winter weather. We expect to see further improvements in operational response, customer services and travel advice offered when compared to the severe winters two or three years ago. The plans therefore for this year's feature continued improvements across all ScotRail fleets to improve their robustness to the issues caused by winter weather in previous years. ScotRail depots and maintenance facilities have additional winter maintenance equipment installed and have undertaken a winter resilience check at all depots and train fleets. Winter working preparation is on track for all stations, de-icing equipment and materials will be in place. Network Rail has provided additional hand-held snow clearance equipment to local teams and has undertaken a winter resilience audit. Network Rail has made available new mobile snow and ice clearance machines that can also thaw junctions quickly. Key routes for busiest passenger flows and business critical trains have been identified for enhanced resilience measures. A key route strategy has also been agreed with all train operators. A new weather forecasting and alert service has been procured, which will allow a more localised detail of effects. On aviation, substantial investment has been made by airports, new measures since 2010 and 2011 respectively, and collectively, the figure of spending is in excess of £4 million. Examples of investment are Glasgow airport has invested approximately £3 million in new snow clearing equipment, including two new runway sweepers, procuring additional resources and improving our general resilience. A birdine airport has invested further over £1 million in new snow clearing and de-icing equipment. Working towards winter 2015-16, our own airport group, Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, HIAL, will benefit from advanced weather forecasting at all HIAL airports and new de-icing sprayers introduced at our smaller airports for resilience purposes. On ferries, the Scottish Government is committed to maintaining and improving lifeline ferry services that play a key role in supporting the economic, social and cultural development of island and remote communities. However, due to high winds and seasonal weather, disruptions and cancellations to ferry services across the Scottish ferry network are not uncommon during winter. Operators will continue to inform their customers of disruptions and cancellations as a matter of course via notifications on their websites, emails, text messages and direct contact. The decision to delay or cancel a sailing is never taken lightly. Ferry operators fully recognise the importance of the ferry service to island and rural communities that they serve. Ferry travel has its own distinct challenges, particularly high winds, and the ship's master has a duty to ensure the safety of passengers above other considerations. The merchant shipping, master's discretion regulations 1997, gives the ship's master so responsibility for deciding whether it is safe to travel. In conclusion, we will learn something new each time Scotland is beset by severe weather. This Government and the responder community are doing all that we can to build Scotland's resilience to severe weather for winter and indeed all year round. At a time of severe economic challenges and environmental change, we need to show that Scotland's infrastructure and services are ready to support our businesses and our people to be the Scotland that we all want to see. That concludes my statement on winter resilience. Thank you minister. The minister will now take questions on issues raised in the statements. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to next business. It would be helpful if members wished to ask a question of the minister where to press request speak button now, and I call Dave Stewart. I thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. I read a press headline yesterday, which said, coldest winter for 50 years to bring months of heavy snow to the United Kingdom, and the article went on to reference the 1962-63 winter that saw rivers freeze across Scotland. That might be overstating the prediction from the Met Office for the winter, but I think that there are very rare fears that Scotland faces a fuel and fuel shortages as road and transport networks grind to a halt. What emergency contingency plans are in place if the dire warnings that are predicted by the press come to fruition? What direct access does the minister have to emergency contingency funding to keep our trunk roads open, our railways functioning and our planes flying? The minister made reference to Highlands Islands airports owned by the Scottish Government. The minister will know that, through a previous winter, the Highlands Islands airport ran out of deisr because the supplier refused to issue more deisr because there was such huge demand across the whole of the United Kingdom. What contingency will be in place to stop that happening again? What particular and specific plans are in place to protect the young, the elderly and the vulnerable? Finally, the minister is not responsible for the weather, but Parliament will be looking to him to avoid Scotland sliding to halt on road and rail in 2010. What reassurances can the minister give that the Scottish Government has learned the lessons of 2010-11? On Mr Stewart's last point, it is fair to say that all of us have learned from the severe weather impacts that we particularly saw during 2010-11. A lot of lessons were learned and action plan was produced and we have seen through a range of measures, improved technology, gritters and response, and fundamentally better integration from the responder community. That is why the National Traffic Control Centre co-ordination efforts at South Queensbury have made a difference. A lot of lessons have been learned. There has been financial investment but better partnership working across the agencies. Having said all of that, we can prepare as best we can for the winter episodes, but we cannot accurately predict what will happen. It could be a range of weather incidents such as snow, wind, rain, flood or whatever it happens to be. The answer to the questions is that we prepare for the worst and hope for the best. That is why each organisation has its own resilience and contingency plans around what they will be required to do, which we oversee. In terms of our own levels of preparedness, the operating companies publish those. We put them on the Transport Scotland website. Salt supplies have made sure that they are at levels that I am satisfied with. We have now got alternatives such as the treatments around brine as well, because they will work at temperatures that may be traditional, grit and salt do not work. There is a range of measures to allow for our preparedness. In terms of wider Government resilience beyond just transport, through Mr Brown, Cabinet Secretary and Mr Swinney, Deputy First Minister, with overall responsibility for resilience, there are further contingency plans in place that go beyond just transport. When required, Scottish Government ministers are agencies and civil servants meet. That includes with UK Government if required. There are a range of plans in place for a range of eventualities, but focusing on transport today, I believe that we are very well prepared for the events that we face. There have been various reports on what weather to expect. We prepare for the worst, but it is very hard to predict the nature of weather that we will have other than we know that there will be rain, there will be snow, there will be winds, the extent of which they disrupt the travel system has yet to be fully understood, but we prepare for the worst and hope for the best. We put in enough mitigation to try to ensure that any disruption to our transport network is kept to a minimum. Finally, on the question of welfare issues, there are plans in place from health, social care, local authorities and others to support the most vulnerable in the event of any severe winter episode. I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement and I begin with a position that I have some sympathy for the minister, because the challenge of Scotland's transport minister versus Scotland's winter weather is one that assumes the proportions of commute, actually trying to order the tide back. Let's start from a position of understanding. The statement that has been issued is comprehensive and it indicates that the Government is aware of the problems with equipment and materials and that they have taken steps to ensure that we are not found to be short. However, there are two or three key points that I would like to ask the minister about. Firstly, some five years ago, when we had the last really serious winter, we had a number of serious disruptions, in fact total shutdowns, in our railway system. Those were blamed on frozen points and it was undertaken at the time that a programme was in place to ensure that points and the main lines were heated so that frozen points would not be an experience we had in the future. Can the minister tell me if that programme has been completed and if we are protected from the frozen point problem if we get another severe winter? However, looking at some of the experiences that we have had more recently, I am interested to see that the minister has talked about alternative deisers. The experience of five years ago when the M8 was closed completely with a large amount of traffic stuck on it was put down to the fact that salt was unable to melt the ice in the temperatures available. Those alternative deisers would be able to achieve the objectives that were not achieved that night, but do we have those alternatives and such quantities as we could tackle a job like deicing the whole of the M8? Two other points. Firstly, the issue of landslides has been a major problem, particularly in the Highlands, where the A83 is regularly closed as a result of winter landslides. Can the minister assure me that the Government is looking closely at ways in which that problem can be averted in future and whether any additional remedial action is planned? Finally, we end up every winter at the end of the winter with the problem of potholes. It is a side effect of cold winters, it is a side effect of wet winters, but invariably potholes become a problem. Is the Government looking at the issue of potholes, both on our trunk roads and on our local roads, to see if anything could be done to ensure that the pothole problem begins to become a thing of the past? Thanks for those comprehensive questions, Mr Johnson. First of all, on rail, yes, I believe that we have made progress on the actions around frozen points and junctions. I referenced it in my statement that there is new equipment for thawing frozen junctions. There is now an understanding of where there are repeat patterns of frozen junctions and points. Network rail and ScotRail have indeed worked on that and I believe that progress has been made. Mr Johnson asked me to make the statement, do I believe that everything is totally resolved and prepared for it? We can do our best, but I cannot guarantee that there will not be incidents, but yes, I believe that the actions have been undertaken. On the use of alternative chemicals, we are using liquid sodium chloride brine. It has been used in other parts of Europe and from the USA as well, and I think that that will give us alternatives to grit that only works at certain temperatures. That has been piloted successfully in Scotland, and we want to quite literally roll it out as and when required. Other measures include pre-treatment of the roads if it is anticipated. There will be particularly cold weather and there will be points on the topography of Scotland that will understand and require special treatment, as well as the other additional red responder commitments should address the pinch points. On the landslides, there are specific actions that have been undertaken, including geotechnical surveys, netting and ffensing, where that is required, on an assist to minimise the impact of landslides on the road network. There is a multimillion pound investment around the rest and be thankful for example, which has had critical issues in the past. That ffensing has captured much of the debris that has minimised disruption to the road network. I have also made a commitment around continuity of access to parts of the western Argyll, where there has been disruption because of landslides and better communication and use of available messaging signals. A range of actions on landslides is having an understanding. Finally, on potholes, I would not use the term that some people see potholes as inverted traffic calming measures. Obviously, it is not a view that I would share. There is an issue about the legacy of our road networks. The road network does the carriageways, and the footways suffer from difficult winters. I have to work and should work in partnership with local authorities who control and are responsible for 94 per cent of the road network, as well as the 6 per cent strategic roads that I am responsible for, to try and address the backlog of maintenance of the carriageways in Scotland. However, my priority is to see through this winter—as I recently had a meeting with the strategic action group, the co-ordination with local authorities around road investments and how we can collaborate and integrate to deliver even more for the road infrastructure of Scotland. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome the minister's statement, but, as we would all agree, the most basic and frequent mode of transport is our feet. The gritting of pavements, although it is with local authorities, is often an afterthought. Can I ask the minister with his extensive powers if he can use those in some way to emphasise the importance of gritting pavements, which would undoubtedly reduce considerably the substantial increase in visits to A&E with wholly avoidable fractures, saving pain and, in fact, pounds to the health service purse? I am not sure that I understand the extensive powers that it has suggested that I have from Christine Grahame. Of course, I am not a centralising minister, and it is for local authorities to prioritise their local networks. However, I think that they have done so partly as the Scottish Government has done in response to incidents recognising that that preventative approach of treating the footways and the carriageways and the paths and the cycle paths will indeed reduce the number of incidents that then impacts on them, the health service and future claims as well. I do believe that local authorities are working hard to address those local concerns. We can do more to support communities through self-help kits, providing advice, community resilience and local contingency campaigns as well. There is a range of actions that can ensure that our footways are treated in a way that shows the priority that they deserve, as well as keeping the country's strategic roads and other transport networks moving during winter. Tavis Scott, followed by Stuart McMillan. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I thank the minister for an advanced Scotland view statement and assure him that if it does snow as much as David Stewart fears, I suddenly won't hold him personally responsible. He mentioned aviation and Highlands Islands airports in particular in his statement, and he will be aware that the Pilots Union have expressed real concern about the Loganair aircraft safety record as winter approaches. Is he aware that the CAA said today that Loganair must do meet European safety regulations, and would he therefore ensure that he meets Loganair and the CAA to ensure that the right safety standards and engineering support is in place as winter indeed approaches? Tavis Scott makes a very fair point and fair question. I have already met Loganair prior to the pilot's letter, and I had already sought assurances around engineering progress partly because of the complaints that had been made around the reliability of those operators' flights and performance to the islands of Scotland. I was reassured at that point that there would be engineering interventions that will improve reliability. I expect the highest standards in aviation in Scotland. Of course, that is a matter that the civil aviation authority and others have some responsibility over, but in terms of the Scottish Government, we expect the highest standards. I will revisit the issue, of course, in light of the concerns of pilots to ensure that what was committed to me by way of engineering and resilience improvement is delivered. Safety is paramount and will not be compromised, and all necessary regulations should be kept with. In previous years, people with community service orders have been called upon to assist with the efforts to keep our communities moving. Can the minister confirm that that will happen again if required to assist over the course of this winter period? It is for local authorities to decide the nature of unpaid work that can be carried out in communities by people, for example, using community payback orders. That can include snow clearing during the winter months. It is a matter for local authorities, but yes, of course, the Scottish Government is sympathetic to councils deploying people in this way. I would like to ask a question about another infrastructure issue, because, during the severe winter 2010-11, the most significant problem in Dumfries and Galloway was not snow, but, without the insulating level of a layer of snow, the water infrastructure froze—not just pipes and homes, but Tobi's underground supplies as well. Many of my constituents were without a water supply for several days over the new year, and subsequent water bursts and freezing can also significantly disrupt transport. Can the minister advise, either now or possibly in writing, that it is not his responsibility what contingency plans Scottish Water has in place should similar weather conditions prevail this year? Can he assure the chamber that Scottish Water is also involved in winter resilience planning, along with local authorities in Transport Scotland? Scottish Water, of course, is engaged with the wider resilience measures and contingency plans, and will have their own levels of preparedness. I could only do that question justice by writing to Elaine Murray with the full details of what Scottish Water has in place. My statement today is primarily about transport, but I am sure that you will be reassured with what Scottish Water has in place. I will now write to the member with that detail. Rob Gibson, followed by Mike McKenzie. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I was tempted to find out what network rail meant by additional hand-held snow clearance equipment. However, a bellio, is it ready to ensure that any disruption to rail services, especially long-distance routes, is minimised and that rapid replacement transport is on hand to get travellers to their ticketed destinations without undue delay? Is network rail actually well-staffed to tackle problems on isolated rail routes? Of such definitions, I do not have the civil service Q&A here that covers that. I suspect that it is a shovel or something that comes in handy to politicians from time to time. On the more serious point, of course, the ScotRail Alliance is looking at getting people to their destination and where rail is disrupted. We are considering how customers are treated as part of that. That includes information being reasonable about alternatives. It is not just critical mass of number of people. Of course, those in the more peripheral or remote areas have that support provided. That is part of the strategic planning that has been undertaken by Network Rail and ScotRail. The minister has already touched on the subject, but he will know that landslides have been a particular problem in the past few years. I think that the rest will be thankful. I know that the Government has made significant investment in the past few years. I wonder if the minister could just touch on that and give a bit more detail about what investment has been taking place recently to stop landslides happening in the future, as far as possible, and also to give some reassurance, if we can, that resources are on hand to deal with the spoil from landslides and get it cleared on the road, opening properly and functioning properly again as quickly as possible. My first priority is to ensure that the area remains open for business. That is why I have put effort into ensuring that the diversion routes are maintained such as the old military road. That will help us and with ferry use as well to have continuity of access, albeit through a diversion and a detour if the main roads are impacted through landslides. In terms of trying to mitigate and minimise the risk from landslides, the netting has been put in place, which is capturing the debris in a very effective way. The incidents this year have been not as drastic as in previous years. There is, of course, forestry planting as well. There are geotechnical studies, which allow us to predict where incidents may occur, and there are specific physical measures going into place where there have been incidents in the past. That is a preventative approach to the commitment around continuity of access and multimillion-pound investment to try and support that area as well as sharing information to ensure that people know what is happening on the road network if there are any further incidents. There are expectations on the operating company to get things moving as quickly as possible and if diversion is required, it is operational within an hour. That is why I have had the pleasure of chairing the task force to ensure that we are taking all possible actions that we can to ensure that there is continuity of access even in the event of further landslides. I would also like to thank the minister of advanced sight of his statement as well. Yesterday, I launched the Equal Opportunities Committee report on age and social isolation, in which we documented the harmful effects of loneliness. What is the Government going to ensure that its advice gets to all corners of Scotland and, particularly to those who live alone, those who do not have access to internet, Twitter, etc, and do not have a network of family and friends to rely on at this time of year? Of course, we work with our partners to ensure that communication is shared across the traditional methods—that is through community councils, seniors forums and the range of advice that is there through voluntary organisations and third sector organisations. In addition to what was referenced around social media, TV, Twitter and the new media as well, and traditional websites, there is also the telephone advisory service. I think that there is a range of media that can be used to share the Government's message. When it comes to the most vulnerable in our society, the front line is to understand who those people are, be it energy customers, social work clients or the more vulnerable are identified so that, in the event of any sort of incident that we are targeting, those are most in need. I think that there is a range of measures in place that should give the member that reassurance, but we are not just relying on new media, but the beauty of new media is that we can get information out in real time now, which can advise people what to do as it is happening. That is a major transformation for the better over the last year or two. The Twitter feed reaching 100,000 people is sharing the live updates as they relate to the transport network. If there are any further suggestions as to how we can prove communication, I am all ears. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The Minister can pin back his ears, because I want to suggest that perhaps a 25-year-old technology message texting is one of the most effective ways of communicating with people. Of course, almost all fixed landlines can receive message texts, which are read to them. Will the minister follow the lead that the flood line system has that is very good at alerting people at flood risks in looking at the most effective use of texts and, indeed, using the data service that is part of FM radio? Traditional methods work, too. I suspect that Stuart Stevenson probably invented it, which is why he is promoting it to me. I am more than happy to look into that. Actually, the ferry service, Stuart, actually uses it already to communicate directly with customers so that they can update them, recognising that not everyone has the internet reception. Text messaging and traditional phones of course can be a useful form of communication. I am happy to explore for further updates. In light of past half-winter, particularly in 2010, when the M8, M9 and A80 came to a standstill, what assurances can the minister provide to my constituents across central Scotland that the road networks will remain open should there be a repeat of the unprecedented bad weather that we have seen in the past? Can the minister outline what contingency plans are in place for any disruptive ScotRail services during the winter period and whether passengers will be compensated for any cancel services? I would rather focus on trying to minimise disruption rather than compensation, but I understand the reason for that. Also, if there is major disruption to transport networks, get the country moving as quickly as possible. Last year's rail disruption was not down to the snow. It was a high winds because that caused trees and other debris and garages and so on. If you live close to a railway, be careful about the garden equipment, trampolines and everything else. We had to ensure that the railways were safe so that the trains could operate safely. That was the reason for last year's suspension. I tried to undertake oversight to ensure that the rail system was reopened as quickly as possible. Yes, there is a reassurance around that, but safety must always come first. How have we improved things since the incidents of 2010 into 11? There is better communication and better understanding of welfare needs by all our partnership organisations, more on-road response to incidents of provision and availability in our trunk roads response teams around welfare issues, such as food or blankets or connections, to ensure that the hard shoulders are maintained for emergency vehicles and other resilience vehicles. With all that, pre-treatment of the motorways in the trunk roads and treatment, whilst events are occurring, and identification, what were the hotspots or indeed the cold spots from last time and ensuring that they are addressed. There is a range of actions to try to minimise disruption. If there is disruption, address those welfare issues. Of course, the multi-million pound investment into the roads network is improving the quality of our infrastructure, but in terms of ensuring that communication is out there, we can also give good real-time information as to what is happening on the transport network. If people want to plan ahead and check congestion on the roads and see what incidents have happened, then I am sure that they can avoid disruption into the future. I hope that the members reassured with those range of actions on how we have learned the lessons from that incident in 2010-11. Thank you Minister. That concludes the statement and questions on winter transport resilience, and we now turn to the next item of business this afternoon, which is a debate on motion number 14614, in the name of Angela Constance, on the Education Scotland Bill. I would be grateful if those members who wish to participate in this debate could press the