 The next item of business is a statement by Michael Matheson on the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call Michael Matheson for up to 10 minutes, please, cabinet secretary. I welcome this opportunity to update Parliament on the cycle action plan for Scotland and the work that we are doing in partnership to realise the active travel vision. This government remains strongly committed to delivering an active nation and the vision that Scotland's communities are shaped around people with walking and cycling the most popular choice for everyday short journeys. The Cycling Action Plan for Scotland was originally published in 2010. It set out a shared vision that by 2020 10 per cent of all journeys in Scotland would be by bike. That vision was intended to be bold, aspirational and challenging. We have seen significant progress in some areas, such as cycle commuting in Edinburgh, which is now at 9.8 per cent, but progress towards overall figure has been slow and it is unlikely to be met by 2020. We recognise some time ago that the speed of change was not good enough. That is why last year we doubled Transport Scotland's active travel budget from £39 million to £80 million. To make the best use of the investment to bring about the transformative change that is needed, we are working with our partners to develop a monitoring framework. That will define a range of important outcomes, including to make sure that cycling is accessible for all and to improve safety, health and the economy and the environment. That framework will be a key new measure to help drive forward active travel policy and will inform on-going work with our partners on developing a reliable and nationally consistent way to measure progress towards 2020. We are also undertaking a broad programme of analytical work and engagement with delivery partners to understand better where we and others are succeeding in making progress and to apply those lessons elsewhere. With the doubling of the budget, we now have levels of investment in active travel that match our ambitions. Including match funding from local authorities, Scotland's investment in walking and cycling in 2018-19 was £135 million, which is over £25 per capita. Far more than the rest of the UK and similar to our northern European neighbours such as the Netherlands and Denmark. As well as our £80 million active travel funding, we have allocated a further £5 million for sustainable travel behaviour change projects. We offer £950,000 worth of loan funding for electric bikes and we have secured a further £7.6 million from the European regional development fund for low-carbon and active travel hubs. We have used those increased budgets to step up support for local authorities to build safe, segregated walking and cycling infrastructure and to expand and improve our behaviour change programme. That integrated approach is crucial. Everon shows that combining training and advocacy with high-quality infrastructure and places designed for people is the best way to enable more people to walk and cycle for everyday journeys. We are seeing some sign of progress, as well as the increase in cycling in Edinburgh. We have seen similar increases in Glasgow, Murray and Highland. In 10 per cent of people who live in small remote towns cycle at least once a week as a means of transport. Since 2011, more than a quarter of a million school children have participated in cycling Scotland's bike ability, Scotland Cycle Training. The percentage of schools participating has risen from 29 per cent to 42 per cent. Nearly 500 Scottish schools have received cycling friendly status through Cycling Scotland's cycle friendly scheme. This is before the effects of our record capital investment are truly being felt. It will take time to build equality, transformational places and infrastructure that we need. It is important that we take time to work with communities to ensure that the projects are right, but we will look at ways to streamline the process. Last year, we invested £36 million in Sustrans community links programme and £9 million to Commen's design of six larger ambitious high-quality segregated cycling infrastructure projects. I look forward to seeing the first of those, the South City Way in Glasgow, being delivered in 2019. This year, I am delighted to announce that we will be allocating a record £51 million from our active travel budget for 2019 to our new combined places for everyone infrastructure programme administered on our behalf by Sustrans. As part of the programme, 10 ambitious projects are currently being considered for large-scale multi-year funding. So far, Sustrans has received funding bids from 30 local authorities for segregated paths, improvements to the public realm and projects that make our towns and cities safer and friendly places to live, work and spend time. We hope to announce those projects in the next few months. It is important to recognise, however, that investment in active travel facilities and behaviour change projects won't, on its own, bring about the step change that we want to see. In all of this Government's work on bus services and public transport more generally, on health and wellbeing and planning, the environment and climate change, we need to consider how we can support active travel. This broader, more strategic approach will be supported by the national transport strategy and the second strategic transport policy review. Both will set out a compelling vision for the kind of transport system that we want for Scotland over the next 20 years and the type and scale of intervention that we will deliver to achieve that. The draft national transport strategy, which we will consult on this summer, sets four prioritariats. Tackling taking climate action, improving our health and wellbeing, promoting equality and helping our economy prosper. Those priorities recognise the importance of enabling people to make active travel choices to improve their health and wellbeing. The transport bill will be an enabler of change. The bill aims to improve journeys for people across the country by supporting the development of a cleaner, smarter and more accessible network. By seeking to improve bus services and introducing low-emission zones, it promotes active and sustainable travel for cyclists. The prohibition on double parking will assist in keeping roadways clear. In addition, we have agreed to support a Scottish Green amendment to enable local authorities to introduce workplace parking levy schemes. That is a discretionary power. It has the potential to encourage modal shift towards public transport and active travel, including by supporting improvements to transport infrastructure and services in local areas to provide alternatives to car use. Better integration between modes is important. Bus has a key role to play in joining up active journeys and in spreading the benefits of active travel more widely. If integrated active travel infrastructure and bus routes offer people faster, easier, healthier and more sustainable means of getting to their destination, they are much more likely to use them. That is why I will be keen to see how the new internal bike racks introduced by border buses earlier this year will be taken up. On rail, ScotRail has delivered 1,500 additional cycle spaces at stations and provided bike and go cycle-higher facilities at 12 stations across Scotland. Overall, 97 per cent of stations have cycle parking with over 5,000 customer cycle spaces in total. On climate change, the Government reacted to the declaration of a global climate emergency with amendments to our climate change bill to set a net zero target for 2045 and increase the target for 2030 to 3070 per cent. Scotland already has an ambitious agenda for decarbonising transport, but transport is Scotland's biggest emitting sector, and it is clear that further action will be required to meet the new target. The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland an active nation, and we are now matching that ambition with record levels of funding. There are positive signs of progress, but less than we would like and much more for us to do. I am confident that our ambitious programme of active travel investment will play a key part in delivering the greener, safer, happier and healthier Scotland that we all want to see. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in the statement for around 20 minutes. Would those who wish to ask the question press a request to speak buttons please? I have a lot of people who wish to ask questions, so we have to be concise with questions and answers to get through them. Jamie Greene. I will start by being positive by thanking the cabinet secretary for his statement, but the reality is that, in this 1,230-word statement, there is very little to be cheerful about. What we learned from it quite simply is the following. On the transport bill, the SNP confirmed its support for the much critiqued and hated car park tax. On active travel, it announced an £80 million budget that it already knew about, but it has been miraculously re-announced today. The big announcement is continued funding for a policy that we already knew about, delivered by an agency that we already know and funded by a budget already announced. Perhaps the real news today, buried away in the statement, is the admission by the cabinet secretary that the Government is going to spectacularly fail its flagship cycling action plan target of 10 per cent of all journeys to be made by bike. I will give the minister a chance to give some substance to his statement. What percentage of journeys does he expect to be made by bike by the original 2020 target? Secondly, when he now expects this 10 per cent target to actually be met? Thirdly, if, after 10 years, his current cycling action plan has failed, will he publish a new one? If so, when? Michael Matheson. It stands at the moment. Overall, it is around 4 per cent of journeys that are made by cycling in a way that was set out within the plan. That is at record level, but clearly very much off the target that was set previously at the time when the action plan was published back in 2010, illustrating the need for us to take further action on this matter. That is why I am putting in place a framework in order for us to monitor implementation taking it forward, but also to make sure that there is a much greater focus on outcomes that are being achieved as part of the plan. In addition to that, we are also undertaking a review of the existing cycle action plan, which is being conducted by Cycling Scotland at the present time, which will inform what further actions we need to take forward as a part of that review. I have never made reference to the suggestion that it is a re-announcement of £80 million. What is important to recognise here is that there is a record level of funding that has been invested into active travel within Scotland. Given that it is match funded by local authorities, it invests a significant amount of investment on an ongoing basis into active travel. The highest level for any part of the UK, what we need to do is to make sure that we start to see the benefits that come from that. That capital investment that we are making in order to encourage people to make greater use of active travel options when they are travelling. Colin Smyth. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement. Almost 10 years ago, the Government set a target to increase the share of everyday journeys made on bike to 10 per cent by 2020. Since then, the portion of all journeys taken by bike has increased by just 0.7 per cent to a woeful 1.5 per cent. It is difficult to imagine the target set by the Government being half the level that it expected by 2020. This failure needs to act as a wake-up call to the Government. I welcome the announcement made today about the places for everyone infrastructure programme. Significant projects such as those being considered for funding will be essential to increasing active travel rates in Scotland. Given the climate emergency that we face and the slow progress in raising the number of journeys by bike, does the cabinet secretary accept that all viable projects in the programme should be funded, not just a select few? Michael Matheson. It is important that we recognise the need to make sure that we take concerted action to tackle the climate emergency, including the need to make sure that local authorities have the powers to take forward measures that can assist them in being able to tackle issues relating to climate change. I hope that the member will reflect on what I think was a needy response that the Labour Party took to workplace parking levy and given local authorities the powers to be able to have that option. Given that it was something that I understand was in the Labour local government manifesto for the Glasgow area at the last elections, I recognise that it can be an important measure that can assist in tackling issues relating to climate change, air quality and moral shift. No doubt we will see the colour of Labour's money tomorrow when the amendments are considered in the transport bill to see how committed they are to the climate emergency or not. I assure the member that we have made that record investment into active travel infrastructure. We have maintained that this year. The proportion of that, which is going to capital investment projects, has increased as well in order to support the type of transformational change that we need to see in infrastructure, which I believe is a key part of what is necessary in order to address the low numbers of individuals who take up active travel options. That is something that we will continue to do. No doubt, for those local authorities that want to make additional investment, the option of using workplace parking levies and the money that comes from that, investing in their local areas gives them the possibility to be able to do that in their area. We move to the open questions. I do not want to be cutting people off midstream, so please be concise in questions and answers. The open questions are Alison Johnston followed by Gillian Martin. There is more spin here than you will see in a peloton. You have a vision for 10 per cent of journeys to be by bike by next year. You have declared a climate emergency and yet you have announced nothing new between more monitoring and analysis. You have even failed to acknowledge in this statement that, with just six months to go, the figure sits at 2 per cent, even lower than the 3 per cent of the huge transport budget that you invest in this area. Is it not high time, cabinet secretary, that this vision became an actual target? Can you tell the chamber, as Jamie Greene asked, just when you intend to meet it? That is why we have asked Cycling Scotland to undertake a review of the action plan to look at what further measures need to be taken forward, not to address those issues. That is why we are committed to continuing with the record investment into active travel provisions with the £80 million that we are investing in it. I often hear the member say that we should use a larger portion of at least 10 per cent of our roads budget in Scotland for this purpose. The roads budget in Transport Scotland for our trunk and motorway network is around £800 million. That is approximately 10 per cent of it. It is actually over 10 per cent of that particular budget. No doubt there will be those who will call for greater investment to be made into this area. Clearly, we have sought as a priority, which is why we have doubled the budget. It is, of course, extremely disappointing that we have not achieved the target over that 10-year, what is almost 10-year period, which is why it is important that we have a very clear focus on making sure that we are taking the right measures that will deliver the type of change that we want to see and to do that. That is exactly what the framework and the reviews about doing to make sure that we get that in place. When the member in a secretary position, Mr Harvie, says when, we are doing that right now in order to get that matter addressed. Gillian Martin, followed by Mike Rumbles. A safe route to school is a right for children. Will the cabinet secretary be able to give any details on how we can ensure that a child has the right to a safe cycle route to school? Michael Matheson. As it stands through the £51 million places for everyone programme, we are encouraging all local authorities to submit proposal projects for delivering safer routes to schools for children. In 2018-19, we invested some £2.5 million in infrastructure in and around schools and over £2 million on behaviour change and cycle training programmes for children. This year, such strands have received proposals from 25 local authorities for safer routes to schools and other infrastructure projects around schools, which are presently being evaluated. Mike Rumbles, followed by Emma Harper. Two years ago, the Parliament passed a motion saying that every school child should have the opportunity to benefit from cycle training. Then, only 62 per cent of schools offered some form of cycle training—62 per cent. Now that figure has fallen when it should have increased. How, exactly how, will the transport secretary ensure that we make cycle training available to all our school children as we all unanimously agreed in this chamber two years ago? Michael Matheson. As I mentioned, we have an increase in the number of local authorities and schools that are participating in the bike-ability scheme and the cycle friendly programme. It is a programme that local authorities need to buy into, so we will continue to work with local authorities to encourage them to do so. It is a scheme that can help to support them and our pupils in making sure that they have an understanding of the risks of cycling on the road, the benefits that come from it and to help to support them in thinking about the type of options that they can use cycling for as well. There is a scheme that is available for local authorities to buy into and we continue to promote that with local authorities to ask them to do so, but it is ultimately down to local authorities and schools to decide on whether they choose to make use of that or not. It is available and the funding that is there for it has continued and continues to be made available for them to participate in the scheme. Emma Harper, followed by Liam Kerr. I welcome the commitment for additional funding. Will the cabinet secretary consider infrastructure spending to improve the cycling network along the coast of south west Scotland so that it can be better connected, more accessible and attractive to people in Scotland as well as folks looking to holiday and visit south Scotland? Michael Matheson. As I just mentioned, the £51 million places for everyone programme is a programme that is operated on on our behalf by Sustrans, which local authorities can bid into for cycle infrastructure. I encourage local authorities in the south west of Scotland to consider putting forward proposals for that fund. Liam Kerr, followed by Tom Arthur. Last week, I made the point, which I think that the cabinet secretary agreed with, that a 20-mile-an-hour limit would be ignored and won't get more people cycling. What will, as I think Gillian Martin was saying, is a proper safe segregated cycle lane. The cabinet secretary talked about money to Sustrans, but this is in a context of massively constrained local authority funding. What role will the Scottish Government play in ensuring proper cycling infrastructure is brought in and how much money is the Government directly committing to that? Michael Matheson. The £51 million is much funded by local authorities. For example, the investment that we saw in the course of the past year, which is the vast majority of the funding within the £80 million active travel budget, is capital investment. Most of it is much funded by local authorities. The investment that we saw in the course of this year has resulted in the region of about £135 million being invested between the Government and local authorities. For those who would say that the Government should just pay for all this, I disagree with them. The reason I disagree with them is because local authorities have got a key role to play in making sure that they also take ownership for the delivery of the type of infrastructure that is necessary. The very reason that I agree with the member on is that segregated, separate infrastructure for cycling and walking is one of the critical elements in helping to support people to make that model shift, which is why we have increased our funding for that type of provision within the budget this year in order to support local authorities and why we have also set them the target of making sure that they match fund that so that we see even greater investment in providing that type of cycling and walking infrastructure. Neilson Development Trust, in my constituency of Renfisher South, delivers a range of services to promote cycling, both in Neilson and across East Renfisher, including repairs and maintenance, reconditioning donated bikes and providing training. Can the cabinet secretary set out how work to deliver the ambitions of the cycling action plan will support local community-led groups such as the Neilson Development Trust to promote cycling in their areas and how in turn such groups will contribute to each of our national targets for increased cycling? Michael Matheson The existing cycle action plan underpins the grant funding mechanism that we have in place for a range of different cycling funds that are available. We have invested £7.28 million in 2018-19 on a range of behaviour changing activities to encourage more people to walk and cycle safely and to do so confidently. That includes in that fund some £300,000 in grant funding, which is issued through the Cycling Friendly Communities Fund, which can support small local initiatives of the very nature that has been highlighted by Tom Arthur. I would encourage the Neilson Development Trust to consider making an application to that fund for support for the valuable work that they undertake in his constituency. Claudia Beamish The cabinet secretary failed utterly to even refer to the question asked by my colleague Colin Smith, so let me give him another chance. Given the woeful progress in raising the number of journeys by bike and the need by his own recognition of more segregated on-road cycle lanes, does the cabinet secretary not accept that all the viable projects within the places for everyone infrastructure programme should be funded? Michael Matheson I am conscious of the amounts of calls that are made on government funding for a whole range of initiatives. It would be great if we could provide funding to them all, but we have a limited budget and we can only make investments in areas where we can get the best-most benefit from. That is the same in the transport portfolio that is in health justice education. I recognise that the Labour Party is working the world of a money tree at the bottom of the garden, which can fund everything and anything that anybody requests. The reality is that we have a limited budget, and that is why we have made record investment into cycling infrastructure. No doubt the member will welcome that, and we will do as much as we can to support those various initiatives across local authorities in Scotland to get the infrastructure right. I will leave Labour to deal with the money tree at the bottom of our garden and how they fund all of those things. Mr Smith, can you please stop being so rude to your colleagues when they are being called for questioning by shouting from your seat? The hybridian way has successfully drawn more and more cyclists to the Western Isles since it was opened by record-breaking long-distance cyclist Mark Bowman three years ago. What action is the Scottish Government taking to make provision for this growth in the islands? I am well aware of the increasing number of people who are making use of the hybridian way and the number of people who have been attracted to it, not just from within Scotland or the UK, but from outwith the UK in travelling to make use of that particular route, which is proving to be extremely popular. Part of the funding that we are providing is part of the active travel programme. The £51 million places for everyone programme is a programme that allows local authorities to submit proposals for delivering paths and rural areas for walking and cycling of the very nature that Alistair Allen made reference to. For example, in the highlands, we are continuing to develop the Caledonian way, which is seeing investment being made in order to help to support the route link between North Connell and Oben. We want to see an expansion of those types of strategic tourist routes that we know that will encourage people to travel to Scotland in order to make use of them. The places for everyone programme is the initiative that is in place, which local authorities can submit proposals to in order to get funding support for walking and cycling initiatives. Graham Simpson Cycling Scotland published its own progress report on the cycle action plan in 2016, which stated that the 10 per cent target would not be met even then. It said that there should be a long-term increase in sustained funding with year-on-year increases over time towards a 10 per cent allocation of national and council transport budgets. Is that something that the cabinet secretary agrees with? Michael Matheson On the basis that last year, we doubled the active travel budget and this year we have sustained that in order to see greater capital investment. I recognise that greater funding has been made available for providing the type of infrastructure to support people in making the modal shift from two-cycling or walking. Alongside that, continued investment in other options such as bus, where we have saw further investment by the Scottish Government, and rail, in order to ensure that we have done the right thing. In order to encourage people to make modal shifts from using their cars, we will all contribute to that particular agenda. In those areas, we continue to make significant investment from an active travel point of view but also in the wider transport infrastructure in Scotland as a whole. Jenny Marra A number of school children have just joined us in the gallery. I would be surprised if even one or two of them may be cycled to school, cabinet secretary. Does the cabinet secretary agree that 20 miles per hour might make it better for children to be safe if they are cycling to school? Michael Matheson It is wise that a Government that we support has been introduced in the right place for local authorities to do that, particularly around schools. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach and making sure that local authorities do it in the right areas, we should know that a number of local authorities do it. I am sure that the member would want to recognise that and make sure that councils have the powers and the ability to do that and to support them in doing that. I am afraid that the member is misguided in thinking that we do not support 20mph zones. We do. We just do not believe that the one-size-fits-all approach that was in Mr Ruskell's bill is the right way of going about doing that. Bruce Crawford Can the cabinet secretary confirm that he is aware of the fantastic work that has been done by 4th Environment Link? Stirling cycle hub to promote the encouraged cycling in the stirling area to make Stirling the most cycle-friendly city in the country and the city-wide bike sharing scheme is an important partner for that. What more can the Scottish Government and local government do to help to develop more protected cycle lanes in Stirling? 83 per cent of residents support building new such lanes despite the impact on traffic. I am very much aware of the 4th Environment Link work in Stirling and the active travel hub that I believe may be as good as the active travel hub that it has in my constituency, just along from my constituency office in Falkirk. I am also aware that it is taking forward work on the community links project that is aimed at delivering safer roads and segregated cycle paths and improving the local public realm for pedestrians and other users. I have no doubt that it will continue to pursue that. Additionally, 4th Environment Link is developing the first regional electric bike scheme in Scotland, which will support model shift and the sustainable travel options in the area. I would certainly want to continue to encourage 4th Environment Link on this very important work, which I have seen first hand in my constituency as it has taken place within Mr Crawford's constituency. That concludes questions on the ministerial statement on the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland. There were other members who would like to have asked questions that I was not able to take. I would ask all members to consider that when they are giving questions or giving answers that they should be a bit more concise. We will shortly move on to the next item of business.