 Rwy'n credu nawr, i gymryd publish cyfu. A gynnar ni'n gyшariedi gennu Mara. Felly, e'n gŷl iawn i ymddian nhw i ddoddiolwyddi o'r cyntaf oherwydd y rhai sy'n ddoddiwyddiolwyddiolwyddiolwyddiolwyddiolwyddiolwyddiolwyddy i'w hyffordd spolwyr. Aion, ysgol maen nhw cwestiynau o'r cyfrifolig, sgwyl iawn. ac, wrth gwrs, any cancer diagnosis is devastating for a child and their family. The Cleaner Air for Scotland strategy sets out actions to further reduce air pollution across Scotland, and an independent review of the strategy is currently under way and will identify priorities for additional action. We provide £2.5 million in annual funding to local authorities to support air quality improvements. Of course, we are also working to deliver low-emission zones across Scotland's four biggest cities by 2020, with the first already introduced in Glasgow. Jenny Marra. The problem is that many of the bus companies are going to struggle for their fleets to meet the requirements of the low-emission zones. I have raised the issue of diesel-polluting buses in this chamber many times over the last few months. National Express, as an example, the main bus operator in Dundee, still has 90 buses, a large proportion of its fleet, which fail to meet the Euro emission standards. Those buses are belching out ffumes, and bus operators, in their wisdom, put the oldest most polluting buses on school routes all over Scotland. They are carrion children who are most vulnerable to air pollution to and from school. I know that SNP has been reluctant to regulate the bus industry in any way, but those reports today must make the minister very worried. Can the cabinet secretary please give me a commitment today, in light of those reports about an increase in childhood cancers, that she will write immediately to the bus companies and ask them to put clean Euro 6 buses on every school route in Scotland? I thank the member for her question. Although, in the main, she will be aware that that falls to my colleague, who happens to be sitting here this afternoon as well, we are disappointed with the low take-up by the bus companies of the grants that have been made available to them. I know that there have been bus companies that have taken up the grants, and it is disappointing that more have not, but we continue to engage directly with them to encourage them to take up available funding to make rapid progress on reducing emissions. I will certainly undertake—it feels a little odd to say undertake to write to my colleague, given that my colleague, the transport secretary, is sitting right next to me to raise with him directly the issue that is being raised by Jenny Marra. In terms of the question about mandating the bus companies to do one thing or another, at this stage, we are trying to get the bus companies right across the piece in respect of air pollution. I appreciate that this is a cross-cutting issue across many portfolios, but climate change is across all the portfolios of government, so I do not think that that should be a hindrance to any action. The First Minister has declared a climate emergency in Scotland, so that should become a priority. The scheme that the cabinet secretary refers to has very low take-up. That is because the Scottish Government was only funding up to 45 per cent of the retrofit cost, and so many of our bus companies across Scotland have buses that are so old, Euro 3, that they cannot be retrofitted. They are telling me that they cannot afford to do anything about them, but those buses are on the school routes. I repeat to whichever minister or cabinet secretary on the front bench today can take this action to please write to all our bus companies in Scotland and get those polluting buses out of the school routes and off of the streets outside our schools. If I can come on to my second question, private car ownership. Ms Marra, I am sorry, but that is too long. I will have to move on to the next question. You have had a good go and made good statements, so no further questions. If the member had not taken a whole of our second question to make a speech, I would have taken a second question. I am sorry, but I cannot allow members to go on too long. It is unfair. There are three members who wish to come in on the back of this. Miles Briggs to be followed by Gillian Martin. With regard to the school estate, what consideration has been given by the Scottish Government to air quality monitors across our school estate and what works on-going to look towards monitoring the problems that have been outlined by Jenny Marra today? Those matters are effectively for local government to take forward. SEPA already provides air quality monitoring units in order that they be put in place where local authorities consider them to be appropriate. That is a matter for local authority to consider. Not all schools may be areas where there are real problems, but I know that there are some, particularly in places such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, that are. I would have anticipated that local authorities would be trying to ensure that they understand the situation around those schools. I should say that the introduction of low-emission zones will begin to have an impact, as it would have an impact on the issues that were raised by Jenny Marra, because the introduction of low-emission zones begins to force the hand of a number of bus companies in respect of what they are doing. Gillian Martin to be followed by Alison Johnstone. Can the cabinet secretary outline what engagement the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government regarding the use of tax powers that rests with the UK Government that would support industries and businesses to invest in more sustainable transport options that would contribute in the reduction of emissions, particularly in built-up areas? That is perhaps another aspect of the issue that is being raised by Jenny Marra. I have written to the UK Government in response to the UK Committee on Climate Change's advice asking it to act immediately in a number of reserved areas, given that the CCC were clear that this is critical to Scotland achieving its net zero. In respect of transport and issues to do with that, those issues include redesigning vehicle and tax incentives to support industry and business investment in zero emission and sustainable transport choices, and committing to adhering to future EU emission standards, regardless of our position in relation to the EU. So far, the response from the UK Government has not addressed the points raised in my letter, but it gives a flavour of the reality of how we are having to handle things both from a devolved and from a reserved perspective. Does the cabinet secretary agree that this Government's long-term failure to properly invest in safe walking and cycling is contributing to this public health crisis? This Government has put record levels of money into active travel, doubled the budget on that. There will always be destinations for money, but we keep that under review, and I do not in any way accept the categorisation of that as some kind of long-term failure. To ask the Scottish Government whether the new ScotRail timetable will alleviate delays and cancellations in light of the 73 per cent increase in compensation payments being made by the operator in 2018-19. ScotRail's new timetable delivers important benefits from the Scottish Government's continued significant investment in rail network improvements. The introduction of more brand-new electric trains alongside more high-speed trains means a new total of 625,000 seats each weekday for passengers. Alongside the benefits of faster journey times on some routes and higher-quality new trains, there is an increase of 115,000 seats per day, a 23 per cent increase since the start of the franchise. Unlike the UK Government in England, we have set network rail, the same tough performance requirement of 92.5 per cent PPM. ScotRail and Network Rail must work together to deliver improvements for passengers. Performance is now improving. Yesterday, the first working day of the new timetable saw ScotRail deliver 92.4 per cent PPM, ahead of the GB average of 90.9 per cent. However, I wish to see continued improvement from ScotRail and Network Rail and will continue to press them to ensure improvements are delivered going forward. Mike Rumbles Cabinet Secretary, that should improve, with less compensation being paid, so that must be a good thing. However, the consumer watchdog which has described the ScotRail compensation system as fragmented and confusing, pointing out that passengers must produce up to 24 pieces of information to claim, how does the Cabinet Secretary square those facts with a statement in a written parliamentary answer to me on 14 May that compensation from ScotRail is straightforward to claim? It is straightforward in using the app that is provided by ScotRail that customers can use because it holds certain information for repeat claims. However, where there are lessons where it can be improved, I would expect ScotRail to give consideration to that, in particular the issues that have been highlighted by which. Mike Rumbles We have had three improvement or immediate plans for ScotRail in three years under two transport secretaries, with 249 action points, 20 improvement measures and now we've got a remedial plan with nine initiatives. If ScotRail's performance last year was the worst in 10 years, with passenger compensation rising to over £1 million, does the transport secretary expect compensation levels to fall dramatically this year because of those plans? If it doesn't fall, will he see that as a further evidence of unacceptable performance? John Swinney I would prefer passengers not to have to claim compensation, but while they have to do so, it is important that there is a robust and fair process for them to make such claims. Clearly, if performance improves, that should reduce the need for compensation claims to be made. However, as I have made the point repeatedly in the chamber and also at committees last week when we discussed the very issue, we need to make sure that all parts of the rail network are playing their part to tackle the issues that cause delays and cancellation of services. For example, the most up-to-date figures that I have now for the course of the last year, which was taken up to 31 March this year, is that 62 per cent of all delays were as a result of network rail infrastructure challenges. That is not to say that ScotRail has not got its part to play, but it also highlights that network rail has got a significant part to play in addressing the issue. That is why we need both parts to play their part in making sure that we run the services efficiently to reduce the need for passengers to claim compensation in the first place. There are four members who wish to ask a supplementary on the issue. Richard Lyle, to be followed by Jamie Greene. The cabinet secretary agrees that if Mr Rumbles is so concerned about solving the delays, it is high time that he joined us in calling for the devolution of network rail so that a Scottish Government has the levers to start addressing all the issues that impact performance that he is concerned about. It is not for me to speak on behalf of Mike Rumbles, but what I can say is that it is important that we recognise that both parts of our rail network have an important part to play in delivering passenger services. It is only right that ScotRail is held fully accountable for where they fail on their delivery of the right type of services for passengers. Equally, network rail needs to be held to account for their failure to deliver the levels of services that are expected that then have an adverse impact on passenger services. That is why we need to make sure that we have full accountability of both parts of our rail week here in Scotland. As it stands at the present moment, we have accountability around ScotRail because of the franchising scheme that we have in place, but we do not have accountability of network rail, and that is why it is important that this Parliament has the powers to be able to exercise that type of decision making to make sure that Scotland's railways run for the interests of the people of Scotland in an effective way. Jamie Greene will be followed by Colin Smyth. Unfortunately for the cabinet secretary, the delays at the weekend were caused by driver shortages—nothing to do with network rail. ScotRail came to the Parliament recently and reassured us that, I quote, we started to plan for every timetable change at the start of the franchise. We have drivers to cover train services, and we have spares—famous last words, cabinet secretary. Do you not think that it is actually poor workforce planning that is much to blame for the delays that we saw over the weekend, and how confident is he that driver shortages are not going to affect more services and more passengers in the future? Cabinet secretary, the member might want to reflect on the scale of the call-offs that took place over the course of the weekend and the reasons for those as well, which I am sure ScotRail will be happy to give him the details of, but there will always be a case where there will be crew shortages where crew call-offs at the last minute, which can then make it difficult for them to be covered. For example, if we look over the course of the last two days, yes, it can make it difficult for them to be covered in particular routes if there is not the right staff available to take on that particular service, because they are committed to another service. However, if we look over the course of the last two days, there will have been no crew, there will not be no trains cancelled as a result of crew on training at the exact same today. As was said in the remedial plan, which I am sure that the member is familiar with, it sets out in detail the actions that ScotRail will take in order to address those very issues. When I was asked about the very issue in committee, I made to the committee, when we looked at the remedial plan, which Mr Greene can reflect back on in the official report on, when I raised the issue about why were those issues not taken into account by ScotRail at the time of planning those matters, I was surprised that they did not. Yes, do I see it as a failure in the part of ScotRail? Yes, do they need to put it right? That is exactly what the remedial plan is there to do and we expect them to do. What have we saw as a result of the actions that have been taken through the remedial plan improvements in service? I am sure that even Mr Greene would welcome that and recognise that they are taking the actions that will set out in the plan to address those matters. Colin Smyth will be followed by Stewart Stevenson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. By September this year, the cabinet secretary will have to make a decision on whether he extends the ScotRail franchise beyond 2022. His remedial plan that he talks about does not need to be implemented until spring next year after he has made that decision. Is not the truth that, no matter how bad Scotland's real services are, no matter how appallingly passengers are treated? The cabinet secretary is so obsessed by propping up the failing franchise that he has absolutely no intention whatsoever of ending it. Is not that the truth, cabinet secretary? In short, no. However, as ever when it comes to Colin Smyth, facts often get lost in the course of any discussion in those matters. Let me just be clear here that we have taken out the remedial plan against ScotRail on the basis of its failure to actually meet certain parts of the contract, which is very robust action. We are now starting to see the benefits that are coming from that. What we won't do is won't take the approach that the Labour Party wants to take and that is that they want to create a single UK rail network. Taking away the existing powers that we have in this Parliament over rail and not to centralise it to a UK level so that it fits with network rail over the whole course of the UK, what we want to do is we want to see rail services here in Scotland performing as best as they can. That is why we are making record levels investment into rail, providing new rolling stock as well. That is what we will continue to do to make sure. At the same time, we are calling for this Parliament to be responsible for all parts of a rail infrastructure, making sure that it is designed and delivered in a way that reflects the needs and aspirations of the people of Scotland in investing in our public services, rather than taking powers away from this Parliament on a rail network here in Scotland. How many of the new 385 and refurbished HSTs that were due to be delivered in December last year are not yet delivered to ScotRail? At the present moment, ScotRail has accepted 61 of the 70-ordered class 385 sets. The number is sufficient to allow ScotRail to deliver significant capacity improvements across the electrified routes in the central belt, and it will allow them to also redeploy the diesel trains to increase train lengths in other parts of the network. For HSTs, only four of 26 refurbished units have been accepted from Angel trains and Wabtec, alongside 14 unrefurbished classic trains that are now operating on the seven cities routes. I will continue to press Angel trains and also Wabtec on this particular issue. I met them last week to press the need for continued progress on this matter, as I have highlighted to this Parliament, on many occasions in recent weeks on this issue. However, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the delay from Hittachy to deliver the 385s and to make sure that the refurbished HSTs are delivered on time has had a significant impact on ScotRail's ability to deliver on the timetable change in December last year. However, we will continue to press both Wabtec, Hittachy and Angel trains to address the matters as quickly as possible.