 If the next item of business is a statement by Jenny Gilruth on ScotRail, a new beginning, the minister will take questions at the end of her statement so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on the minister for around 15 minutes please Ms Gilruth. Almost a year ago on 17 March 2021, the cabinet secretary for transport, Michael Matheson, advised Parliament that at the conclusion of the current franchise, ScotRail services would be provided within the public sector by the Operator of Last Resort, an arms-length company owned and controlled by the Scottish Government. The current franchising system was clearly no longer fit for purpose. At that time, there was considerable uncertainty arising from the on-going Covid pandemic and continuing delays to the publication of the UK Government's white paper on rail reform. A detailed assessment of the options available for ScotRail was undertaken and it was decided that it would not be appropriate to award another franchise agreement to any party at this time. Today I can confirm that the transition of ScotRail into Scottish Government control will take place on 1 April 2022. Although that is good news, it is clear that much work still needs to be done and in a collaborative way to ensure the long-term sustainability of rail operations in Scotland to best meet the needs of the people that we all represent. The pandemic has changed the way that people travel. Its impact on travel patterns has been substantial. At one point, revenue in passenger services dropped to less than 10 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. That means that the rail industry must adapt to reflect customer need, particularly important as we strive to achieve our ambitious decarbonisation and net zero targets. It is worth lifting our heads at this point. For countries in the EU, the largest decrease in the number of rail passengers was in Ireland, where it dropped by 74 per cent during the pandemic, compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, or a fall of 9.5 million passengers. In Greece, the reduction of 68 per cent, a fall of 3.8 million passengers followed by Italy, the reduction of 61 per cent, or 144 million passengers. In Great Britain, passenger use remains far lower than before the pandemic, with the 248 million journeys this quarter equating to just over half of the 448 million journeys that were made at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020. Although it is good that nearly half of rail passengers have returned to ScotRail services, travel patterns, purchasing habits and passenger demands are clearly very different from those that existed pre-pandemic. People are now much more likely to travel for leisure. The shift to hybrid working will continue to change that to some degree. However, it is likely that more people will continue working from home, at least for part of the week, now and in the future. Weekends have now become the busiest times for rail travel rather than the weekday commuter periods. The travelling public are voting with their feet. We need to ensure that railways reflect that direction of travel. We also need to deliver rail services at times and in ways that people want to use them. Our publicly-owned ScotRail will put passengers' needs and interests at the heart of all that it does. Bringing train operators into public control is not new, and indeed the UK and Welsh Governments have already found themselves in similar positions with three train operating companies in England and one in Wales now under public sector control. Change is also not new in relation to rail operations in Scotland. We have seen the benefits that change can bring in the freight sector, where new ways have been found to ensure the viability of operations as freight customer demands have changed. Environmentally sustainable movements of groceries for major retailers have replaced cold travelling to power stations. In Scotland, rail freight volumes are already returning to pre-pandemic levels. However, despite those examples of positive change, it is understandable that any change can cause uncertainty and concern. That is why today I want to kickstart a national conversation about our new beginning for ScotRail and what it should look like—an affordable, sustainable, customer-focused rail passenger service in Scotland in a post-pandemic world. Just last week, I heard colleagues from Opposition Benches raise concerns about passenger services post 1 April, concerns about timetables, ticket offices, rail fares and terms and conditions for staff. However, I also heard many positive comments from members about the opportunities that the transition into Scottish Government ownership presents. I told Parliament last week that I would listen. To that end, and at the core of the statement to Parliament today, is an invitation to all members who have a genuine interest in the future of ScotRail to get involved and to work with me to shape the change that needs to happen. I am happy to meet representatives of all parties and my private office has already extended an invitation to Opposition and spokespeople on that. Change will happen on 1 April, so my invitation to all members today is let's have that conversation about the change, let's work together to influence how it happens. After all, we all want a railway that delivers for our constituents. As I mentioned last week, our rail staff have a vital role to play in shaping and delivering a successful future railway for Scotland. Like so many of our essential workers, ScotRail staff and indeed all of our rail workers went above and beyond throughout the pandemic. We will always be grateful to them for all that they did to help keep our rail services running during those challenging last two years. I want to make clear today that we want to take ScotRail staff with us on this journey into Scottish Government ownership, that is why the invitation is also extended to the rail unions. As members may recall from last week, I will be meeting with the trade unions tomorrow afternoon. We know that the unions are passionate about the industry, as is evident from their report on a vision for Scotland's railway. Through open and frank discussion, we can work together to harness their aspirations for the future, and I look forward to those conversations tomorrow afternoon. There was much discussion about the vision for Scotland's railways last week in the chamber. Let me be absolutely clear that our vision for rail is a thriving industry, one that meets the needs of passengers and is sustainable in the long-term future. To meet our climate change targets and our aim of reducing car kilometres by 20 per cent by 2030, we need Scotland's railways. An efficient, effective, productive and profitable railway is critical to our mission zero ambition for transport. We want ScotRail to deliver the rail services, the people of Scotland and the generations yet to come, need and deserve. There is no doubt that the immediate future for rail services is challenging. That means that we need to do all that we can in the short and medium term to encourage more people to travel by rail, while also delivering rail services more efficiently. Throughout the pandemic, to ensure the sustainability of Scotland's rail services, to give security of employment for rail staff and to cover necessary operating costs, we provided in the region of £1 billion of support, including more than £550 million of additional funding for the ScotRail and Caledonian sleeper franchises via the emergency measures agreements. However, we also have to be pragmatic. That level of funding is not sustainable in the longer term and nor is it desirable. Success for Scotland's rail services in the future includes ensuring that they deliver public value and generate increased revenue. The Government is also investing significantly in decarbonising our rail services. In the last 10 years, we have invested around £1 billion in some 441km of track electrification and associated infrastructure, directly benefiting more than 35 million passenger journeys across Scotland each year. Prior to the outset of the pandemic, more than 75 per cent of passenger journeys on ScotRail were being made in net zero emission trains. Through our investment in decarbonisation, we want to exceed that. A successful demand-focused railway has a huge part to play in delivering a truly integrated decarbonised transport system for Scotland. However, to be truly integrated, rail needs to play a much bigger part in the overall transport system than it does at present. That is the future that we want the new ScotRail to help to deliver. We also want to be an exemplar public sector company. Its culture will be founded on fair work and it will be expected to embed not just the fair work framework into its policies, processes and practices but also fair work first. The new company will, like most other public sector arms length operations, benefit from the public sector pay policy. There has been much discussion around no compulsory redundancies as part of the engagement with trade unions in advance of staff transferring on April 1. I do recognise, as I said last week, that a new body, such as ScotRail trains Ltd, will not have an existing agreement on no compulsory redundancies in place. However, I will expect there to be negotiations on that as part of the public sector pay policy discussions, discussions that are absolutely crucial to the change that is needed. The new beginning for ScotRail will be built on strong foundations. The Government has invested record levels to improve connectivity and increase the number of trains across Scotland's network. Since 2009, we have reconnected 14 communities to the rail network through reversal of the beach and cuts and, in the next three years, Reston, East Linton, Dullcross, Cameron Bridge and Leven will follow. As part of SEPR2, further strategic projects are also planned in the next 20 years, including the electrification of the Glasgow Central to Barhads and East Kilbride routes being the most advanced and with the borders and Fife being developed as priority. Electrification will also encourage more freight off the roads and on to rail. All of our investment in passenger services seeks to encourage more people to choose to travel by train and to enjoy doing so. To do so, people need to feel safe to return to public transport. Let us be very clear that some of those issues do not relate to the Covid pandemic. It is important that everyone, both passengers and workers, feel safe when in our stations and travelling on our railways. That is why I fully understand the concerns that have been raised around the ticket office consultation, for example. Safety is not just about what happens on our station platforms. Passengers should be able to make end-to-end journeys without being fearful, without the threat of intimidation, verbal and physical abuse or violence. Anti-social behaviour on any part of our rail infrastructure, but particularly on trains and in stations, is unacceptable. For some years now, the Government has worked with our policing and industry partners to reduce such behaviour and crime on Scotland's railways. That is included addressing alcohol-related incidents, not only with a greater officer presence in hot spots and at key times, but also with direct measures to reduce alcohol consumption on trains. We have supplemented the previous ban on alcohol consumption on trains at night with a blanket ban during the pandemic. That ban is one that is currently under review. ScotRail and British Transport Police meet regularly to discuss the impacts of anti-social behaviour and abuse against passengers and staff. Although British Transport Police officers cannot travel on all services, they target potentially problematic services as part of their regular measures to drive down crime on our railways. I met the ScotRail only yesterday afternoon, and I heard more about the travel safety team, which launched in October of last year. The team members were recruited from across ScotRail and bring with them a wealth of experience working from front-line customer-facing roles in our stations and on our trains. That is the sort of public-facing initiative that we should be encouraging, because we know that when staff are deployed in teams, even just their presence can act as a deterrent helping to keep the public safe. Much was said last week, as I mentioned in relation to potential ticket office closures, but particularly on women's safety in train stations. I want to be very clear with the chamber today that I take the issue of women's safety on public transport extremely seriously. However, it is not just about our station platforms or ticket offices. It is the walk to the station, the journey on the train home and making sure that you do not catch the last train to fight because it is full of drunk men who will squeeze in beside you despite the fact that you are surrounded by empty seats. You sit quietly with your headphones in until you get up the gumption to move. When you do move, like the women across the aisle from you, you are shouted at for daring to escape. I am only having a laugh as he shunts his leg against yours and you hope that he does not follow with his friend when you move away. Let me say to the Opposition benches, but particularly to the male Opposition members who last week wanted to tell me about women's safety on our trains. I know all about it. I have been there. It is a systemic problem and it is not just about our ticket offices. It is about all the places on our public transport networks where women are scared to go because of men's behaviour. As we look to the vision for Scotland's new railway, we have got many choices to make, but I want our railways to be safe places for women to travel. We need to identify, as a Government, where it is that women feel unsafe on our public transport systems and then identify how we are going to fix it. To that end, I am announcing today that we will be commissioning and consulting with women and women's organisations across the country to better understand their experiences of how we can improve our public transport system to make it safer and more enjoyable for them to use. There will, of course, be wider partners involved in that. I will seek to engage, of course, with the British Transport Police, for example, who have recently launched their campaign against sexual harassment. That follows data that was commissioned by UKof during the pandemic, which showed that over half of women in London had been subjected to unwanted sexual behaviour or travelling on public transport. Crucially, it will also include the rail unions and employees, because I know that that matters to staff too. Scotland's new railway might look exactly the same in a few weeks' time. The change will still be branded with ScotRail's logo, but we need a sea change in the vision to propel us forward. It will be sustainable, efficient and responsive to the needs of the public. It will be a system that looks after our rail workers and invests in their skills and talents. Today, I set out the inclusive approach that I intend to take as transport minister to this end. I will work with parties across the chamber in this endeavour, because getting public ownership of our trains right is so important to the people of this country. Encouraging the people of Scotland to choose to travel locally and further afield by train for work, training, education, leisure and social activities is absolutely vital to Scotland's future. It will help to transform our economy, deliver on our net-zero ambitions and create a fairer, greener Scotland for all. That is our vision for rail, a vision that I hope members across the chamber will want to play their part in shaping through our national conversation. The minister will now take questions on the issues that are raised in her statement. I intend to allow 30 minutes or so after which we will need to move to the next item of business. I will be grateful to members who wish to ask a question. We have not already done so to press the request-to-speak buttons. Now, as soon as possible, we will operate an R in the chat function. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement. I note the generous tone that she delivered it in. The statement described as a new beginning for ScotRail. The only thing that is new is that it comes under new ownership. There has never been a vision in the year since Michael Matheson announced it. That is not Jenny Gurruth's fault—she is new to the job—but it sounds like she wants us to help her to create that vision. In the spirit in which she delivered her statement, I am more than happy to help her with that and join her in genuine cross-party talks, but if I could gently suggest that that needs to be more than the occasional half an hour, those need to be regular discussions if we are going to get this right. I agree with her. We all want the same thing, so we do need to join up across this chamber. Now, she made the mistake, Deputy Presiding Officer, of mentioning East Kilbride. If I could say to her that if she wants to have a look at the plans for the East Kilbride line, she will discover that, yes, it is going to be electrified, but the plans to dual that line for its entire length were scrapped. Her predecessor offered cross-party talks to discuss this further, so she may want to take that forward. In the time that I have left, can I just ask the minister what her view is on fares? Any vision, to me, if we want to get people back on trains, needs to include lower fares. What is her view on that? What is her view on having no compulsory redundancies? Does she think that that is a good thing or not? Does she want to get train services back to pre-pandemic levels or does she not? Mrs Simpson covers a number of points in his questions, so I will try to turn to him in turn. First of all, I very much welcome his reception to my offer to the parties, particularly his own, on the specifics that he raises about the regularity of meetings. I am more than happy to commit to that. I very much see the vision for us moving forward into public ownership as part of the whole Parliament's responsibility. My responsibility is to transport minister, but I want other parties to play a part in the process and to feel that they have had an opportunity to contribute, and to critique, of course, at time, because that is your role. On the specific question about the East Kilbride line, I appreciate that my predecessor gave him an assurance about this point. I will be more than happy to meet Mr Simpson and others on the specifics regarding the dueling. I am not cited, I have to say, on the detail of that decision. He will appreciate and I am more than happy to sit down with him on it. With regard to the fairs and recent fair increases, I think that he raises a challenging point to government around the sustainability of public transport and our fairs increase. As he knows, I think that fairs in Scotland are still 20 per cent lower than they are across the rest of the UK. I do not think that that is an answer for us going forward, but it is a statement of fact. We need to facilitate people back on our trains. Part of that conversation is, for example, through our fair fairs review, which the previous transport minister committed to. That also gives us an opportunity to start to look at how we join up journeys across the public transport network, which does not currently happen. He asked a question about no compulsory redundancies. He will appreciate that I am meeting with the unions tomorrow on this very, very matter. I do not want to prejudge the outcome of that meeting, but I cannot imagine that this Government would ever seek to take forward bringing a company into public ownership. I gave a steer on that in last week's debate. I hope that that gives him some reassurance, but I want to speak to the unions about that. There are a number of other issues that we will need to unpack in the course of that meeting. I am happy to discuss that in further detail with Mr Simpson when we meet on the specifics that he raised about East Kilbride. He asked about a return to pre-pandemic levels. I would love to wave a wand and get rid of the pandemic, of course, but I got the train from Mark Henge to Edinburgh this morning at 8 o'clock, and it was not even half full. When I caught that train two years ago, it was standing remotely. So something has changed in the way in which people use public transport. They are scared to return to using public transport because of the pandemic. I hope that we are now getting to a better place, and certainly the First Minister updated Parliament yesterday on that, and that gives people more confidence as we move forward. That is something that we need to work on as a Government in terms of our messaging, to encourage people back to public transport, to using it safely and to supporting the public ownership of Scotland's trains back in Scotland's hands. We have a bit of time in hand, but we will probably need slightly more succinct questions than answers going forward. Neil Bibby. I thank the minister for the advance site of our statement. If this is to be a new beginning for ScotRail, there must be a new direction from the Government, a new ambition for the future. However, the starting point for the new ScotRail is cuts of 250 daily services, 50,000 fewer seats on trains, the biggest fair hike in a decade, as we face a climate emergency. I welcome the minister saying that she is in listening mode, but I say to the minister that the test will be what the minister does not, just what the minister says. Scottish Labour is prepared to work with the minister now, before 1 April, but we are not prepared to work with the minister to cut people's services and cut people's jobs. Will the minister confirm that she supports plans to cut overall services by 10 per cent on pre-pandemic levels? The minister will be aware of the Unite's home safe campaign and the concerns by passengers and rail unions about safety and accessibility on the railway. Has there been an equality impact assessment on ticket office closures? The Scottish Government expects ScotRail under public control to adopt a general public sector pay policy. Why is the Government insisting that it will apply to this part of the public sector, but not others? The minister has said that the new operator will be founded on fair work, so why won't the Scottish Government categorically rule out compulsory redundancies? The purpose of bringing ScotRail back into public hands was to serve the travelling public better. That is why the Scottish Government's actions must match the Scottish Government's rhetoric, and, regrettably, at the moment it is not. I thank Mr Bibby for his question. He, like Mr Simpson, touches on a number of points and appreciates time. We've got a bit of time in hand. Let me try to address some of his points in time. He talks about cuts to services, but I think that it's pragmatic to reflect on where we are with passenger user of the railways at this moment in time—how many folk are actually using the trains. I take the train very regularly, as I said in my answer to Graham Simpson. People are not using the trains in the way that they were two years ago. The first thing that we need to take cognisance of is where we are in terms of usership locally of our trains. Do I want us to restore passenger services back to where they were? We'd have to have a sea change in how many folk were actually using the trains for us to go back to that. I guess that the proposition then is that we run empty trains. I'm not sure if that's Labour's position on that. I'm keen to speak to the unions about it. We did have an announcement that Mr Bibby will appreciate last week from Scotland that there has been a restoration of a number of services back to December levels. He will also appreciate that there were a number of challenges that led to the introduction of a temporary timetable from the end of last year due to Omicron and Driver Absences. That will end from 14 February from next week. I recognise that there are challenges here, but I suppose that it links very neatly to my response to Mr Simpson, which is actually about customer behaviour. Folk are scared to go back to public transport because of the pandemic. Government can help with that with some of the messaging, but if people aren't using the trains, there has to be a question around about the sustainability of running empty trains. He speaks about cuts to jobs. I just want to put on the record that there is absolutely no proposal here from the Scottish Government to cut jobs. We talked about that in response to the ticket office consultation last week. That is not part of the proposal. I just want to make that very clear. On safety and accessibility, he asked a specific question about an equality impact assessment. The ticket office consultation was carried out by Transport Focus, our independent watchdog, and it carried out a diversity impact assessment. That is a live document, which is pending final report, but it looked at reducing the number of ticket office closures from 13 to 3. It also looked at passenger assist 2, which is the system that can be pre-booked to help folk to travel on to the trains. He asked about fair work practices. Again, I covered some of that in my response to Mr Simpson. I am keen to work with the unions on that. We would absolutely expect there to be fair work principles and fair work first instilled in the organisation. I want to speak to the railway unions to get a steer from them about where they are on that. I do not want to prejudge the outcome of those conversations in a statement to Parliament today. We have around 15 members who wish to ask questions in about 20 minutes, in which to accommodate them. I hope that you bear that in mind everybody participating. I welcome the update and the decision to take ScotRail into public ownership and control. What difference will passengers and staff notice at the point of transfer? How does the Scottish Government intend to ensure that the new rail company delivers on strategic priorities like fair work, as we have heard, and net zero? ScotRail will come into Scottish Government control on 1 April 51 days away. At that point of transfer, we will expect services to continue as normal, and it will be for business as usual for passengers and staff. However, it is really important that we give that reassurance and familiarity to passengers in the short term as we build back from the pandemic. Thereafter, ScotRail will bring forward initiatives in a measured manner to address issues identified through the national conversation that I alluded to in my opening statement. Arrangements for the formal transfer of staff from a bellio of ScotRail to ScotRail trains limited have begun. Staff will transfer with their current terms and conditions, and we have committed to the application of the public sector pay policy to staff of ScotRail trains from 1 April, with a caveat that any deals that have already been agreed for 2022-23 will be honoured those historic deals. ScotRail holdings is accountable to ScotRail ministers, and it will oversee on behalf of ministers the delivery of services by ScotRail trains limited. That robust holding company governance model will ensure that Scottish Government strategic priorities, which include a fair work and net zero, are delivered. What are the total projected costs of nationalising ScotRail? When will the minister publish both the forecast and the final account? I thank Liam Kerr for his question on the finance. It has been funded from the rail services in Scotland allocated RdL budget. There is a budget provision of £2.5 million in 2021-22 for this workstream. We anticipate the full budget provision to be spent on delivery of the workstream, and it is in line with actual expenditure thus far. Jackie Dunbar joins us remotely to be followed by Colin Smyth. Rail, of course, is not fully devolved. Does the minister anticipate the cause and challenges for the new public sector rail service, and what more can be done to make the case for full devolution of all powers and resources for rail to Scotland? I thank Jackie Dunbar for her question. It is hugely important that we consider the ScotRail Holdings approach in line with where we are currently constitutionally. She is absolutely right to say that I would love to see the full devolution of railway powers to this Parliament to allow us to have that fullness of approach in terms of our nationalised infrastructure. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. I hope that it is in the not-too-distant future. I very much welcome Ms Dunbar's points about how we can work with the public on bringing forward a system that will work for the people of Scotland. The passengers, their experience of Scotland's railways. It is a shame that the minister has not been in listening mode last week when she endorsed the biggest hiking in rail fares in a decade and voted for 250 fewer trains a week. However, if she really is listening, while she is scrapping the current flawed consultation on ticket office cuts, we do not yet know what passenger numbers are going to return to. The information in the consultation is incorrect. For example, in Lockerby station in my own region, it claims that the station will not open at 7.30 now but open at 7 o'clock. When anybody who has used that station knows, it has opened at 6.50 for years. How can you trust a consultation on future opening hours when ScotRail does not even seem to know what the current opening hours are? I thank Colin Smith for his question. I think that he raises a number of important points. I think that I was listening mode last week to reflect, but, nonetheless, I will scrap it. I cannot scrap something retrospectively. The consultation closed on 2 February, so it is done. However, Transport Scotland, which, as I mentioned in my answer to Neil Bibby, is the independent water stock for transport users, is collating responses and is also going to provide its own view on the consultation process itself. I have been told that the timescale is involved, and that will be two weeks, and it will then come to me to make a decision on it. I cannot retrospectively scrap it, but I will give him an undertaking that will look at the specifics of the issues that he mentioned. Some of what he has highlighted in the chamber to me gives me some cause for concern, so I will be keen to understand a bit more about it. In terms of the rationale behind it—we talked to some of that in the chamber last week—this is about a behavioural shift from people not going into ticket offices and buying tickets in the same way that they might have done in the past. ScotRail's response to that was to consult to look at how people are engaging with buying their tickets. The last time we carried out a review into that was 1992, so I hope that Colin Smyth will understand the need and rationale for the review. On the specifics of his point about how the review was conducted and if there were potentially mistakes made, I will be looking very closely at the detail of that report when it makes its way to me in a couple of weeks' time. I will give him a reassurance on that point. Natalie Dawn joins us remotely to be followed by Beatrice Wishart. Excuse me, if you could just pause there, Ms Dawn, there seems to be something wrong with your audio. If you could just begin again and hopefully that might have resolved itself. I'm afraid not. I tell you what, I'm going to go to Beatrice Wishart next and I'll come back to you afterwards and hopefully I.T. will have sorted out the problems. Beatrice Wishart? Fifty days before taking on the running of the railway in more than two years since the decision was taken and only now is the Government starting to think what to do with them, but I do welcome the engagement that she says will take place. The minister wants to achieve carbon emission reduction targets, so would she support Scottish Liberal Democrats' calls to expand the current rail card scheme that provides a third off travel to a model that can be seen in London and the south-east, where more people benefit from cheaper rail travel, which would then encourage more people on to trains and off the road? I thank Beatrice Wishart for her question. First of all, I think that it's 51 days, but forgive me if I'm wrong, Presiding Officer. I may need to correct the record on that point. She spoke to the tone of my statement today. I very much want to work with political parties on that, so I hope that she will take up the offer of that invitation and others to engage in that work, because it's really important that we get it right. On expanding—I think that the rail card she spoke to is a specific example for the Liberal Democrats—I don't know if that's with reference to the under-22 scheme. I know she does that at a point on this last week. I'd be more than happy to look at the detail of it. My view as Minister would be that the cost thing is involved in this. We would need to look at the detail of it. I can't give her a specific answer on the points that she's raised, but on the general point about facilitating people back on to trains and on to buses using public transport, she's absolutely right. We've got a challenge on our hand in government. I'm not shying away from that. People are scared to go back to using public transport. A lot of people are still working at home or they're doing a hybrid approach to employment, and that has also had an impact on football. We need to be live to that, but there's a job for government to do here to help support the public sector and the public transport infrastructure that we have. I'd be more than happy to speak to Beatrice Wishart on the specifics of the proposals that she raises. I'm not cited on the detail of the financials around it, so she'll understand. We don't yet have Natalie Dawn's audio back, so I next call Stuart McMillan, who would be followed by Tess White. The minister has spoken about the changes to travel patterns. What steps will the new ScotRail limited take to encourage more people to travel at short and long journeys by rail, while also ensuring that rail is affordable for people to use more frequently? I thank Stuart McMillan for his question. It's absolutely important that people are encouraged to use rail and infrastructure on their doorstep. One of the ways in which we can do that is through our conversations, for example, with local authorities. I spoke in the statement today about the importance of working with partners, so British Transport Police Network rail, for example, and local authorities in ensuring that people are encouraged to go back to using public transport. I very much welcome his question. He's correct. We have seen a reduction in the longer journeys that people were taking prior to the pandemic. People tended to take longer journeys, and people also tended to use public transport to travel to work. That has now changed. We now see the public using rail, for example, at the weekends and for leisure purposes. They don't tend to travel on the train or on buses to work in the week, in the same way that they did before the pandemic arose. I think that that needs to nuance our approach as a Government to how we encourage people back on to public transport, but we have to make sure that people feel safe to do that too. I spoke to some of the challenges on that, which do not just relate to the pandemic. I welcome the minister's comments that the Scottish Government intends to consult with women and women's groups on public transport. However, with reports of harassment on transport increasing compared to pre-pandemic levels, can the minister advise how many people have been charged and prosecuted over the past year and what immediate measures of the Scottish Government putting in place to protect women's safety on public transport? I thank Tess White for her question. She raises some really important points. She asked a specific question about numbers of, I think, convictions. I don't have that detail in front of me, but I have been more than happy to speak to justice colleagues and share that information with her office. On the immediate things that we will be doing, as transport minister, I have committed today to consult with women's groups about their experiences of public transport. We know that there is an issue here. I see Jamie Greene at the back of the chamber. I know that he was referencing data in the newspapers yesterday or the day before about LGBT people's experience of public transport. Sorry, I apologise that I prejudiced his question there. However, it is really important that we look at marginalised groups and their experiences of public transport. If they are less likely to use public transport, we need to encourage them back on to using our railways and our buses. It is really hugely important. On the specifics, I am really interested in the group that is being drawn together by British Transport Police Chief Constable Jill Murray. I know that that will have representation from other modes of transport. The intention of that working group is to identify and agree a joint strategy to tackle a wide range of anti-social behaviour issues on various Scottish transport networks. I very much look forward to meeting with Chief Superintendent Jill Murray in the coming months and working closely with her on those issues of significant importance. I am not sure if I mentioned that, but I apologise, Presiding Officer. Network Rail has a similar campaign in this space. It is about using the variety of partners that we have on the railways, meeting together and agreeing what our way forward will be to protect vulnerable groups, as Tess White rightly highlighted in her question. The Greens strongly agree with the minister that a people's ScotRail must be rooted in the experiences of passengers and, of course, the dedicated women and men who work on our railways. Just last week, we saw damaging timetable changes for Perth and Fife scrapped by ScotRail after hundreds of my constituents campaigned for change. How can we harness the energy and enthusiasm of those passengers to help co-design services now and in the future to meet their needs and to increase patronage? To the specifics of Mark Ruskell's question, the May 2022 timetable, which initially proposed to add 100 extra services compared to December of last year, is following feedback from ScotRail customers and businesses, now adding nearly 150 services following the consultation. That consultation provided an opportunity for ScotRail customers and businesses to help to shape a reliable and responsive timetable. It is the starting point for rebuilding Scotland's railway following the Covid pandemic and ensuring that it is fit for purpose. He spoke to co-design. I know that ScotRail currently has an opportunity, a stakeholder group whereby it consults with members of the public. I think that that stakeholder group—there is a proposal at this moment in time—will also move on 1 April. It is a hugely important forum where vulnerable groups, for example, or members of the public can have their views listened to, but they can also feed back on the consultations that ScotRail have undertaken. I know that they use the stakeholder group, for example, when they were framing some of the design around the ticket office consultation but also on the timetable consultation. I hope that that gives Mark Ruskell a reassurance that some of those structures are already in place, and I would very much expect them to migrate over on 1 April. John Mason, to be followed by Natalie Donne. The minister mentioned passengers freight, the unions decarbonisation, safety for passengers. Does she have one overriding aim for the railways? I am not sure if I can pick one. I thank John Mason for his question. We need an efficient, reliable, sustainable railway service for all of Scotland, but I was really stuck by some of the comments in the chamber last week around what our vision is for ScotRail services. Are we just going to keep things ticking over as usual? I think that we need to have a rethink, and that is why I framed today's statement in that space. What it means is that I want to work with partners and political parties in this chamber, but we also need to make sure that we have a railway service that encourages passengers back on to our trains. We need to recognise whether there are challenges in that respect. I have given the example today of women in particular, but it is not just women. There are some people who are fearful of using our trains for a variety of different reasons. Some examples were highlighted to me in the context of the ticket office consultation around disability, for example. We need to take a cognisance of that as a Government and help to move forward on 1 April. I hope that that gives John Mason an idea of what my vision is, but I am interested in looking and speaking to other political parties on that. Tomorrow's meeting with the trade unions will help to give me more of a flavour of their positioning on what steps they want us to take as a Government as we move forward together in partnership on 1 April. I am pleased to announce the delayed arrival of Natalie Dawn to be followed by Katie Clark. I appreciate the concerns that unions may have about how the public sector pay policy could have an impact on pay increases this year. Would the minister be able to provide more information about the potential additional benefits that the public sector pay policy will have on rail workers as we bring Scotland's railway into public ownership? Public sector pay policy sets out the parameters for pay increases for staff, pay remits and senior appointments, and it applies to Scottish Government's co-directorates and its associated departments. It maintains our distinctive Scottish approach to public sector pay and it also continues our focus on sustainability, reducing inequalities and promoting wellbeing. It underlines our commitment to tackling poverty with specific measures that are set out to address low pay, for example, including the introduction of a Scottish public sector wage floor. The key benefits of it, if I can summarise, are to invest in our public sector workforce, which delivers top-class, person-centric services for all, to provide a distinctive progressive pay policy that is fair, affordable, sustainable and delivers value for money in exchange for workforce flexibilities and to reflect real-life circumstances, protecting those on lower incomes, continuing the journey towards pay restoration for the lowest paid, and recognising recruitment and retention concerns. I also welcome the Scottish Government's announcement that it will be consulting women on their safety on public transport. Last week, the Scottish Women's Convention and Inclusion Scotland wrote to the First Minister expressing grave concerns about the proposals to close three booking offices completely in stations and cut hours in 117 further stations. A recent survey of women transport workers found that 45 per cent said that they had prevented the sexual harassment of passengers in the past five years. Does the minister agree that cutting staff in train stations will deter women from using the railways and will she agree to a full debate in the Parliament on women's safety on public transport? On the latter part of her question, yes, I will agree to it. It is hugely important. I have set out today some of my thinking about this challenge. Last week, I felt that the issue of women's safety on public transport was tagged on to the end of a lot of other heat around some of the political debates that we are having. It is too important an issue to do that. On the specifics, she mentioned the cuts to staff, for example. I just want to again put on the record that there are no proposals from the Scottish Government to cut any staff numbers. I am live to some of the challenges around about the ticket office consultation here, particularly in terms of women's safety. I have mentioned some of those factors. We also need to think more broadly about women's experience of public transport. I hope that she will accept that point, because it is not just about our ticket offices. It is standing on platforms. It is walking to the train station. It is getting home from the train station late at night, when it is dark. There are lots of other parts of women's experiences of the public transport system that we need to identify, which do not just relate to ticket office closures. However, I think that she raises some really important points. I will be more than happy to have this debate on Government time. I have announced today that I am commissioning research into women's experiences of public transport, because I think that we need to get the data. I also cited some of the specifics of women's experiences of the public transport system in London, which I thought was really quite compelling. The actions of British transport police are taking to that end. I hope that that gives her some reassurance about the seriousness that I take this issue with or judge it with, but on the specifics of the ticket office consultation again, I think that I answered some of that in a consummous response. It will come to me in two weeks' time, and I will look at the detail of that and specifics with regard to women's safety on public transport, because it is so important that we have the data. Christine Grahame, to be followed by Tim Eagree. I refer to the shift in balance from commuting on the business model to one of different post-COVID balance between commuting and tourism and leisure travel. Can I ask if the Scottish Government will give consideration to investigating providing integrated ticketing with, for example, discounted access to various tourist destinations? For example, on the borders there with the Save the National Mining Museum, the Great Tapestry of Scotland, Abbotsford, co-ordinating with the management of these, which I think might increase travel on the railway. I think that Christine Grahame raises a number of really important points. I think that I was meant to visit the Great Tapestry of Scotland with her in my previous role. Maybe we will get there one day. I have certainly been to the National Mining Museum. I think that she makes a really valid point, which is how do you join up a public transport system with tourism opportunities locally? She will know my interests in this as the constituency MSP for Mid Fife and Glenorthus, where we will shortly, next year, have leaving railway coming back after 50 years. There are really great tourism opportunities on our doorstep in Fife that I would be keen to explore locally. To the specifics of our point about integrated travel, the fair fairs review, which was commissioned by the previous transport minister, will give us some of the data and the understanding of how we might be able to deliver that. I would be keen to explore it further, because she is absolutely right. We have moved away from a society that primarily uses public transport to commute to work, to one that uses it for leisure and tourism opportunities, and therefore we need to think, as a Government, about how we integrate our public transport ticketing to reflect that modal shift. I want to raise an important issue. There have been 676 incidences of hate crime reported on our trains in the last five years, a third of which I directed towards the LGBT community, but it is not just them. There have been targeted incidents against race, religion and disability. I think that we all agree that we have the right to safely use public transport irrespective. Can I ask what dialogue specifically the Government will be having with all groups, including minority groups in society, to ensure that they have full access to public transport irrespective of their status, but not only just that. What action will she take to ensure that her justice partners in Government are to be sure to charge and prosecute those who perpetuate hate crime against those who are most marginalised and are most at risk of those attacks? I thank Mr Greene for his question. I apologise for pre-empting it somewhat earlier on. He raises a really important point. I have seen some of the coverage that he has received in the press on this with regard to the LGBT community and their experiences of public transport. He also raises race, religion and disability. It is absolutely right that those groups who are often very vulnerable anyway feel safe on public transport. The Government has a responsibility here. I have spoken to my concerns about women's experience of public transport in particular. It is really important that we take an intersectional approach to this as a Government, recognising the minority groups that he has spoken to. He talked to how I might engage with them. In my statement, I set out some of the plans that I have around a national conversation. It is not just about speaking to political parties, it is our trade unions. It would also be charities and third sector organisations, I expect, in this endeavour. He mentions the national links with justice. I am keen to meet with justice officials on this specific issue. Tess White asked a specific question about crimes, for example, committed and prosecutions. The statistics for that would sit with justice, but I am keen to meet with Cabinet Secretary for Justice to make sure that we get a joined-up approach to how we deliver our vision for Scotland's railways ensuring that we protect the most vulnerable, absolutely, as he has highlighted in his question today. I am conscious that we are over time, but I want to call the other two members who wish to ask a question first to Llym Mackay and then Douglas Lambson finally. I have a concern regarding staffing at stations in accessibility for disabled people. At some stations, lifts are not turned on when the station is not staffed. That will limit the ability for disabled people to turn up and travel when they want, something that many of us take for granted. Can the minister confirm that any changes are being discussed with disabled people's organisations and that any changes will not adversely impact the accessibility of the network? I thank Gillian Mackay for her question. She raised a specific point about the accessibility of lifts in train stations. I will confess that that has not been raised with me previously on the specific point about consultation with disability organisations. I would expect ScotRail to consult absolutely with disability organisations if that has not already done so. I spoke to some of the equality and ensuring the impact assessment that has been undertaken by ScotRail in the course of the ticket office consultation. That might answer her point, but let me follow that up with ScotRail on the specific point that she raised about the importance of consulting with disability organisations on that. It is a really important matter that she has raised today, specifically on accessibility and on lifts in our train stations. There were no real improvements that were mentioned today for the north-east of Scotland, no mention of relaying the formarton to Buckingline, and no mention of the promised 20-minute reduction in journey times between Aberdein and the central belt. Have those projects hit the buffers? I am sorry if Douglas Lambson missed the memo from today's statement. I am here to work with members of the Opposition. I am not here to have an argument with you. He has raised a number of issues about services in the north-east. I have set out today some of the restoration of services that we have seen under ScotRail. The reason that ScotRail services had to be decreased was, first of all, over the Christmas period because of the Omicron variant, but secondly because passengers are not using the trains in the same way that they were before. In my response to Christine Grahame, I set out the examples of tourism and leisure and why people might not be using the train. Some of the other challenges that we face to the Government right now is making sure that people feel safe. I hope that that gives them a reassurance that we are taking these issues really seriously. I very much hope that he will join with his colleague Grahame Simpson in the positive spirit of engagement and collaboration that we saw in his response at the start of today's statement. Before things boil over, we will move to the next item of business. There will be a brief pause to allow front benches to change.