 Rhyon i ddiwrnodau cyfnodau y ddiobl Skolbeth eisiau ar gyfer lateral i ddiogelwadau Paedwyrol Cymru. Rwy'r ddiobl cyfnodau yn ddiogelwadau eisiau i ddiogelwadau eisiau i ddiogelwadau membeth i eu cael y ddiogelwadau, mae'n digwydd o'r ddigelwadau i ddiogelwadau? Fel amser, mae'n ddiynau anghybreddau i ddiogelwadau ac i ddiogelwadau i ddiogelwadau ei dd驦io i ddiogelwadau. Nighting officer and tonight were joined by my constituent Ron Beatty of Gamrie. He's far from unique in believing that we owe a duty to protect our vulnerable and inexperienced young folk. But, following the permanent disablement of his granddaughter and accident in the vicinity of a school bus, he's being a ferocious champion improving safety in our school transport system. I've not been alone in supporting Ron, members of the Public Petitions Committee, o'r fforddiau, o'r fforddiau o'r symelnyddu ni wedi nhw'n psychicibnenio, o'r fforddiau o'r fforddiau o'r hunain a'r fforddiau i'r bwysigau cyfnodau. Ieithiadau nhw'n bwysigio eich hoffi gyda cadw i i ddim yn ystodgiadu ac yn ei gael amferth hyn yn ei chynnod, ac yn unrhyw y ddim yn ystodgiadu i gael a'n hynny. First, nid yw'n bobl питau neu oes yn troiandr �farnfiolau基本 a'r siwr ddau Maes i fod yn ei ffordd o gadw i'r ffordd o gyfliadau gyda'r bwysig, a wnaeth i gael i'r ffordd o'i ac yn edrychwch, yn lleiwch o'i gael ei ffordd o blaenau neu i'r busiau ar gyfer ei wneud. Fodd yn ei wneud o'i gael i'r busiau, os rôl i'r bandwi ac i'r bandwi. Fy先u ddag i gael i'r 1,2 miliwn ffordd o'i ddiwrs o gael i'r ddeuorau agor 1,700 poedd yr ydydd. Rwy'n cynhyrch gyda'r busiau i'r ddisgu y pach ar gyfer hynny, of those use the bus. Youngsters are not naturally born with adequate appreciation of all the risks they will meet in life. Motorised transport in particular presents challenges. Assessing the speed of approaching traffic, deciding whether it's safe to step onto a road, these are not skills we're born with. Buses add a further complication. They're big and likely to obstruct one's view of the road. Education authorities and bus operators working with them to transport school students are acutely aware of the need to protect their passengers, and other road users also have a role to play. This debate and hopefully the commentary around it will help to remind us all of the need to exercise care near school buses, especially when they're stationary. So what can be done to help alert the driver? Good, clear signage that the bus is a school bus, and crucially it's removal when it's not operating as a school bus. Our brains are alerted by changes in the environment. The psychological phenomenon of OMW, what we see all the time, we no longer notice. So buses must look different when they are carrying school students and only then. Flashing lights on the bus to break into drivers' attention. Speed limits which can vary throughout the day and lights to alert drivers to the need for reduced speed. Something we already do outside many schools, the length and breadth of the country. In Aberdeenshire, in Aberdeen and in Murray, we've seen a number of steps taken to improve safety. Transport Scotland, I will say Mr Beattie, is not their greatest fan, has produced guidance for our 32 local authorities on how they can help improve road transport safety. CME technology has been trialled in Aberdeenshire. It causes flashing lights to switch on at bus stops as it detects people who are approaching the stop who are carrying a transponder. After it was established that there was no legal impediment to do so, much larger school bus signage has been used. An Aberdeenshire council has made a condition of bus contracts that the signage comes off when the bus ain't carrying school students. Progress has been made. Lots of good things are done by people of good heart. I will indeed. I'm very grateful to Stuart Steele, both for taking intervention and for bringing this important issue to the chamber. He's right to point to this being an issue across the country. One of the most tenacious campaigners on this issue in my constituency, Councillor Andrew Driever, has been putting forward the suggestion of a ban on overtaking of stationary school bus. I wonder whether that's something that he's been aware of as a campaign strategy and what his views are on the efficacy of that. I wasn't aware specifically of Councillor Andrew Driever's initiative on that, although I've heard it in other places, and it certainly is something worth considering. It's not, of course, within our gift in this Parliament to legislate to do that, but I will return to the subject with another suggestion that might have that effect a little later in my remarks. With a greater focus on school transport safety in the north-east in particular, we've not seen a repeat of the string of very serious injuries that we had a few years ago. Policy and practice changes may have contributed, or the very bad winters that caused down schools, and therefore school transport, and the comparatively mild winters that reduce weather risks may have been a significant factor. Either way, the questions are, is the more we can reasonably do and do we know what to do, and the answer to both really ought to be yes. Perhaps the most important thing that the north-east experience does say to the rest of Scotland is that the costs of addressing the issue are between nil and trivial. It just takes an increased focus on the issue, so we can and must do more, but what should we do? Put requirements into school bus contracts, not necessarily the existing contracts—it always costs a lot to change one that you've got—but certainly new ones, which tend to be in a three-year cycle. Make contractors provide better signage, not behind the school window, but outside the bus window, but outside the bus. Use it responsibly, get the drivers using constant headlights when running, and flashers when stopped. Do risk assessments and introduce 20-mile-mile speed limits where it will help. Look again at school travel plans, work with parents on bus routing, perhaps to arrange for pick-up and drop-off points to be at safer locations, and perhaps in the morning in the evening for individual kids at different places, because the bus may be coming in a different direction. When I spoke in Alex Neil's debate on school bus safety in November 2006, whatever else we can say, it's not really a new issue. I suggest that we could use bus signage that looked as if it were making a legal statement to other road users. A big sign in the back of the bus saying, don't break the law on line 1, and on line 3, don't overtake the school bus, and on line 2, the word please, an incredibly small print, might give the effect of a legal request without the necessity of legislation. Let's try to think of a few tricks that grab attention and make things happen. Let's innovate, but let me close by congratulating Ron Beatty for his tenaciousness in keeping the issue alive, but let's make sure that the actions of our Government and our council mean that we are keeping youngsters alive so that Ron's issue doesn't need to. Thank you, Mr Stevenson. We now move to open debate. Can I ask members to have speeches of no more than four minutes? Maureen Watt, followed by Alex Rowley. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I too congratulate Stuart Stevenson in securing this debate and specifically in relation to recognising the tireless work that Ron Beatty has done on school bus safety following the tragic accident involving his granddaughter Erin? Road safety and accidents involving school children has been a particular focus of mine even when I was a councillor in Grampian region and I was proud to have managed to get one particular rat run, which commuters used through my ward, blocked off, which definitely reduced road accidents in that road and adjoining roads. So I was happy when I came here to support Ron Beatty's campaign, particularly when there was a bad accident, a school bus accident on the Netherley road, which lies between my home and my work. When I saw Stuart Stevenson's motion, I thought, that rings a bell. I remember that I had a similar member's debate on 8 February 2007. That debate was more specifically about the provision of seat belts on school buses. Only vehicles first used after 2001 were required to have seat belts fitted. The legislation was still rested with Westminster, and that was the main focus of the debate. In fact, the legislation was in the hands of Douglas Alexander, the then transport minister. Rightly at that time, I got an email from Ron Beatty gently reminding me that there was more to school bus safety than seat belts. I quoted his email. Yes, belts are vital to safety as are improved bus visibility, modern visibility, flashing signage, the removal of the sign when children are not aboard at the time, and you will see bushes on outings with the signs still displayed, which makes a total nonsense of its use. Dedicated school transport, extra flashing lights, more visible than hazard lights, many of us use when popping into the local shop, so please don't just stop at seat belts. It's the cheapest option. That was me told then. Mr Beatty has, of course, kept up his campaign with petitions considered by the petitions committee. I note that progress has been made, albeit slow. That, in no way, has yet met Mr Beatty's ambitions. It would seem that we still await the transfer of this power from Westminster and I look forward to hear what the minister says, but I hope that it will be transferred before the general election. The time that it has taken to do this is not a good portent of the transfer of many much more substantial powers, but much has been done, as Stuart Stevenson has mentioned. He mentioned that Aberdeenshire council has conducted various demonstrations and trials, and on top of the ones mentioned by Mr Steven that it has produced a bus stop education pact, including operators induction training. As has been mentioned, councils have great opportunities in the way that they frame school bus contracts in what they can and can't do and what they require of people. As Mr Stevenson has mentioned, the behaviour of school children and parents should always be at the top of the agenda. I congratulate Mr Stevenson again on that motion. I would also congratulate Stuart Stevenson on securing this debate this evening and acknowledging the role that Ron Beatty has played in keeping this issue high. I know that when parents in Kingsie and Fife had a major issue around school safety in the bus, they were able to go on to websites and look at what was happening in the north-east and get advice and speak to people, and that helped them to achieve the campaign that they run at that particular time. I do have some concerns in terms of the pressures that are on local government at the present time. I know that, as a former council leader, one of the options that was often put to me by council officials was to go to the statutory limits in terms of school buses. I know that some local authorities have done that. I do worry, particularly in these winter months, if we were to do that in Fife, for example, in my home village of Kelty, a lot of the kids there would be expected to walk to Cowham Beath to be thigh school because it would be within the statutory limit. I do worry about the pressures that are on local authority budgets. School transport often seems to be an easy option when officials are looking at ways to save money. I certainly wanted to come along tonight and flag that up. On a more positive note, I know that, in Fife, there is a lot of good work going on within the schools themselves. I was recently approached by a volunteer driver who pointed out to me that some of the minibuses that were being hired in for kids to go on trips, etc. There was no signage in them. I know that I took that with Fife council, and I have been assured that that has been addressed. The role of the police and community safety partnerships is also very important, particularly when you are looking at primary school transport. I would say that we need to continue to highlight the new trend that parents tend to try to get their cars as close to schools as possible. That can create a hazard for kids coming off buses, and it can create a hazard around the school itself. I often joke that some parents think that if they could get the car into the playground, they would actually do so. It is important that Police Scotland community safety partnerships and the schools themselves continue to look at that. We send our kids, our grandkids, out to school in the morning, and we want to know that they are safe. We want to know that they are safe in the schools, but we want to know that they are safe getting to the schools. That is why I commend Stuart Stevenson for bringing this debate here tonight. We need to continue to be vigilant and ensure that the kind of pressures that are on local government right now do not result in any compromise in school transport. I also welcome the opportunity to discuss this motion today. I like others. I congratulate Ron Beattie for his efforts in campaigning on the issue for many years. It often takes an impassioned constituent to raise issues in the petitions committee. It is a mark of the success of this Parliament that it can go from petitions through to the floor of this chamber. I would also like to thank Stuart Stevenson for bringing forward this issue for debate. It was back in October 2005 that petition PE892 was presented to the Parliament by Mr Beattie, calling for the then Scottish Executive to set down minimum safety standards for school bus provision. As Stuart Stevenson spoke, he reminded me of a friend of mine at school who ran out from behind the school bus and was in fact killed at Hillside Primary School, Montrose, many years ago. The petition moved between the petitions committee and the education committee, and there have been two further reports in 2010 and 2013, but we are still in the position today where, as the motion states, more has to be done on school bus safety. The Transport Scotland report in 2010 identified 10 ways to improve school transport safety, some of which have been mentioned by Stuart Stevenson, but those include reducing speeds on school routes and around schools, encouraging motorists to reduce their speeds when passing stationery school buses, setting minimum safety standards in school transport contracts and risk assessing school drop-off and pick-up areas. The Minister for Transport and is forward to that document said, and I quote, "...I believe that this guide will be invaluable for local authorities and operators as a reference point for their responsibilities in terms of school transport and will provide local authorities with the toolkit of measures that they could consider in seeking to implement best practice." Unfortunately, three years on, when Transport Scotland reviewed the success of the document, its conclusions were disappointing. Some council respondents who were spoken to had never even heard of the 2010 study, let alone its recommendations. Some councils said that it was because school transport could lie with education, transportation or engineering departments, and there was often confusion within councils over who should take the lead. It is exacerbated when there is a shared responsibility, which diffuses the responsibility even further. As I said, one of the most critical conclusions was that some local authorities had never even seen the 2010 report. That is not to say that school bus safety is not considered an important issue in those council areas, but surely school bus safety should be the same in Shetland, Shettleston, Elgin and Edinburgh. The 2010 report and Mr Beatie's petition both sought consistency of approach across Scotland. However, when there are recommendations of best practice and advice on how to optimise school transport safety, it is disappointing that so little progress has been made since Ron Beatie began his campaign almost a decade ago. I did look at the transportation policies of each of the councils in the Highlands and Islands region and, to be fair, it is quite difficult to decipher whether they have implemented all or even some of the recommendations of the 2010 report. I hope in summing up that the transport minister can reflect on his comments in the 2010 report, which we welcome, and suggest how the Scottish Government and local councils can work together to further improve safety on our school buses in order, as other speakers have said, to protect school pupils' safety across Scotland. I, too, am grateful to Stuart Stevenson for bringing forward this important issue tonight. I am pleased to record my own gratitude for the tireless work of my constituent, Ron Beatie. Alongside others, touched by similar personal tragedies in my own North East region, he has fought for a decade for safety improvements on school transport. Together, they have determinedly turned traumatic events into a positive, substantive campaign for change. That commitment and contribution of our campaigners must be matched by the relevant authorities, and I hope that the minister will explain how the Scottish Government intends to encourage compliance with the 2010 transport guidance if there is indeed a disparate approach across the country. It is worth highlighting the ground-breaking work of Aberdeenshire Council in this area in proactively developing safety measures. Tragicly, it was two fatalities within two weeks in 2008 that, in part, led to their adoption at 15-year-old Robin Oldham and 12-year-old Alexander Milne, where both knocked down having just got off a school bus. In consultation with the Department for Transport, the council trialled the revised larger school bus signage, and that included the words school bus, the chevrons and utilised the high visibility material. The results were overwhelmingly positive. Only 40 per cent of motorists surveyed could correctly identify the statutory signage, but 80 per cent understood the enhanced model, and indeed all the findings indicated that it was more effective, comprehensible and visible. The council has since rolled it out across all of its services and covered the initial costs of that. The council also has two surveyors whose prime purpose is to monitor contract compliance and safety across the school transport network—that is some 174 schools and 700 contracts—and non-compliance, such as the failure to appropriately display the sign's results and penalties against the contract. Elsewhere, as Maureen Watt has indicated, it has piloted the interactive school bus stop technology and the bus stop education packs. More crucially, it has required the provision of seatbelts and all-home to school transport services since 2010. Building up in a car has been second nature since it became law in 1983, and we know that wearing a seatbelt can dramatically reduce the risk of serious injury or death. I am surprised that, 40 years later, it is not yet compulsory on buses. I welcomed the announcement in March that the UK Government will transfer to us the powers so that we can make it mandatory for buses dedicated to taking children to and from school to provide seatbelts. I would be grateful again if the minister could provide an update on its plans and the reasons why, if the reports are correct, it will not be phased in until 2018. My colleagues at Malcombruse also highlighted further options while seeking to introduce a new road traffic offence to prevent the overtaking of school buses, which my colleague referred to earlier, when children are boarding or alighting. Malcombruse told the Parliament's Petitions Committee in December 2009 of the benefits of standardising seatbelt types, flashing signage and the requirement to remove school bus signs when they are not operating as such. When parents entrust their children to others each morning, whether it is at the school gates or the bus stop, they rightly expect them to be safe and secure. There is a duty of care, and it must not take further accidents to focus minds on better protecting children during the school run. There is much more to be done, but, as everyone else has said tonight, the initiatives would not require under-pressure local authorities to fund significant investment or new infrastructure. Often, it is affordable, practical and primarily cultural changes that are needed, but they are changes that will help to save lives. I am delighted that the Scottish Parliament of the United Nations Association for Banshire and Birkencoast has received cross-party support for this debate today. The debate titled the importance of school bus safety around Scotland. I too, like Mary Scanlan, would like to congratulate Mr Ron Bitty and other colleagues who spoke before me, and particularly I would like, like Mary Scanlan said, saying that the success of the Scottish Parliament, this respetition system, which is a best way of this access to democracy and making sure that all these issues are not left to politicians, but people like Mr Ron Bitty can have really an input and can change legislation. Let's remind ourselves that Mr Bitty first petitioned this Parliament on the matter as early as 2005, and it is imperative that recommendations from Transport Scotland are to be carried out across the country. I share Mr Bitty's frustration on that matter and at the heart of the matter, President Officer, is where the power lies today to change the situation on bus safety standards. The power, like many others, is still reserved to Westminster, like Maureen Watt said, and there is a call today that could be made is for this power to be devolved. We all care about improving school transport safety, but it's where we do it, which is the most important. For example, the EC directive 2003-20 EC says that buses must be fitted with seatbelts, but the directives coming from Europe are only directives, as we know in this matter it's up to Westminster to make them law. Another example we debated this morning at committee was the lack of devolved power to tackle drink driving. Most of us powers are reserved, and President Officer, make it slow and cumbersome for us here to increase road safety. If the Parliament today had the intention to increase penalties for school bus drivers who will be over the drink driving limit, maybe a new limit next month, this Parliament will not be able to do it. I just wonder if the member would agree with me that the campaign now running in Murray, Aberdeen City and Shire on Safe Drive Stay Alive for School Children, which is running this week, helps in this area immensely. Thank you very much Maureen Watt. Maureen Watt will be pleased to know that I designed a motion today which celebrates that event on Monday. If you can talk about that event, you know, not only is it a fantastic event because all the youngsters from different academies and primaries are going to it, but what's important is when I thought about it, when I saw all this film and all this testimony from people from different emergency services, we're trying to and achieving to tell our youngsters how safety is important. I remember when I came into the beach ballroom that there were a line of buses waiting for them to take them back to the academy or to the primary. And I did think, you know, let's make sure that all these buses have got silver and now we are happy that they have. And that safety, it's very, very important that safety is given to the youngsters as early as possible because we need to have that culture of safety. And that culture of safety is not only for us adults and certainly not only for us politicians but for our youngsters as well to understand from the start. And it makes life a lot easier, make them better drivers afterwards, and they might not go and try to pass a school bus stop who will be stopped next to a school. And that's very, very important that we think about that, Presiding Officer, that our youngsters, safety for our youngsters is an important thing. This safety culture has got to be recognised in this debate. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you, and I, too, congratulate Stuart Stevenson on bringing this important debate. Children's road safety matters to us all and road safety in general has particular resonance in the north-east of Scotland. Ron Beatty is an outstanding example of an active citizen affected by a tragic accident to a child on our roads who has worked tirelessly to reduce the risk to other children of suffering in the way his granddaughter has done. And in that he is not alone as we have already heard, but he has put a particular focus on safety around school buses and highlighted the responsibilities of government at every level. This is not, of course, a matter for this Parliament alone as we've heard, nor is it uniquely for Scottish ministers. There are responsibilities at both UK and local government levels. And Mr Beatty has indeed, as I understand it, raised petitions both at this Parliament and with the United Kingdom Department for Transport. And he has, of course, lobbied his local council as well as MPs and MSPs in the north-east region. He has put a particular focus on this place and on those who are accountable to this place, and I read his comments in the present journal this morning that Transport Scotland should stop arguing and making excuses for not doing more and calling on the Scottish Government to use the powers it has to take this issue forward. Members have been right to emphasise that this is not just an issue for the north-east, but there is no doubt that our region has a particular issue of danger on our roads. Aberdeenshire has the highest rate of fatal and serious accidents across Scotland, according to Transport Scotland figures for last year published just last month, with more fatal accidents to people of all ages than any other local council area. And the number of accidents that are specifically involving children on roads across the north-east, that number is also high and the need for action is clear. Local councils in the region are taking these issues seriously. Just yesterday, as we have heard, Aberdeen Community Safety Partnership hosted the 10th Safe Drive Stay Alive event at the beach ballroom in Aberdeen supported by the police and fire and ambulance services by NHS Grampian and by all three councils in Aberdeenshire and Murray. The pupils and guests, as it was described, were gripped by the testimony of survivors and relatives affected by the impact of accidents, and it seems that the consequences of unsafe behaviours on our roads came across loud and clear to all concerned. Those road shows are aimed not just at making young people safer and better pedestrians, but also at making them safer and better drivers when they do get behind the wheel. In the 10 years that Safe Drive Stay Alive has been running, the number of fatal accidents involving young drivers has fallen in the north-east to a significant extent, although there is clearly a good deal more to do. We need an equal emphasis, as we have heard today, on making the school bus run safer for all concerned. Transport Scotland's guidance on improving bus safety is certainly helpful. The question today is whether more can be done to ensure that its recommendations are implemented in full and across the board. I hope that the minister can tell us what Murray can do in partnership with the powers that he has and how he hopes to increase the buy-in of partners across Scotland. Families should not have to worry about whether their child is going to come home safely from school. That is the point of today's debate. Mr Beattie's impatience for further progress deserves a positive response to make his long journey worthwhile. We now move to the wind-up. I call Keith Brown Ministers up to seven minutes. I would like to express my gratitude to Stuart Stevenson for bringing this important matter to Parliament today. Of course, as many think all members have done to Ron Beattie, whose tireless commitment to improving the safety of our young people as he travelled to and from school deserves the utmost praise—in fact, wider recognition than it so far had. I know that there are tragic family circumstances related to his efforts, and I can only imagine the pain that that has caused, but his tenacity in this area over so many years is an example to us all. I know that he also speaks campaigns on behalf of Alexander Milne and Robin Oldham, mentioned earlier, who died after being struck by cars at ages 12 and 15 when they stepped off school buses in 2008 in Aberdeenshire. There is no greater responsibility of course than the protection of our young people, and Scottish ministers remain unwavering in our endeavours to keep them safe. Reducing the risks to children as they travel between home and the classroom plays a key role in our efforts. All parents know the natural apprehension that we face when leaving our children in the care of others. However, as we wave our children off to school in the morning, none of us should have to worry that they will not come home safely at the end of the day. That is why the Scottish Government is taking forward a range of measures to improve safety on dedicated school transport. Thankfully, the risk of children being seriously injured on bus journeys is small, but there is no room for complacency. Ensuring that buses have clear and visible signs that show that they are carrying young people is vital. We have heard reservations from various quarters about the current minimum legal requirement on school bus signs. The Scottish Government, just to be clear, agrees that there is room for improvement here, and yet the powers to legislate in this area rests with Westminster and the UK Government, which has refused our request for the devolution of this competence. That is extremely disappointing to say the least. Despite that, we will not be sidetracked in our efforts and Transport Scotland has taken forward a range of measures to promote best practice in this area, encouraging local authorities to embrace high visibility signage that builds upon those minimum standards. As has been mentioned by members, we have published guidance that not only details the legislative requirements but encourages local authorities to go further. It encourages local authorities to go further. We are often berated in this chamber for insisting on things with local authorities. What we have done in this case is to encourage them to go further. To supplement that best practice guidance, Transport Scotland also ran workshops where further encouragement was given to adopt enhanced signage. Mary Scanlon and Alison McInnes have put a challenge to the Scottish Government to do more, and I accept that. That is perfectly legitimate. I did not hear from either of them any insinuation that they would support the further devolution of those powers to Scotland from the Westminster Parliament. I am happy to give way to them if they want to do so now. That is what gives us additional powers to take further measures. I am not saying that there is not more that we can do. I am happy to discuss it further. In fact, Mr Beattie is here, and I am more than happy to meet Mr Beattie again to discuss that. I do not know my speech in front of me, I have given it to an official report, but I was quoting the foreword from the 2010 report. The devolution settlement is obviously going forward to the Smith commission, but what you said in 2010 and the promises that you made for a consistent approach then stand the same now. The devolution settlement is no different four years later. I think that it is unfortunate that Mary Scanlon has not used her intervention to suggest that she would support the devolution of the powers that I have mentioned, which are crucial to us taking this further. I think that it is unfortunate that if we had the consensus in the Parliament to do that, it would make a stronger case to the UK Government to devolve those powers. The powers that we have undertaken and the guidance that we have issued, along with the further encouragement, are not the final word. We should look to do more and I accept that. However, we will be building on the effective work that has been done in Aberdeenshire, where there has been a successful pilot that has led to the local authority-wide roll-out of enhanced signage. Despite the UK Government's reluctance to drive forward changes in this area, we are working with local authorities to promote innovative approaches. I think that that is the right approach to take. It is envisaged, for example, that the Glasgow pilot will provide a robust analysis that will help us to further explore how best to promote and support the implementation of enhanced school bus signs more widely across Scotland. However, in addition to signage, we are also driving forward improvements more widely. I will be aware that I have announced their intention to bring forward legislation in the next Scottish Parliament to ensure that seatbelts are fitted to all dedicated school transport vehicles in Scotland. Someone raised the question of—it might be an Alasly McInnes of it—why 2018. We made it clear at that time because of the point that Stuart Stevenson made, that to vary contracts that are currently in place can be extremely expensive for local authorities. By giving them that time, which is the same thing that was done in Wales, in fact, in agreement between local authorities and the Welsh Assembly, you can actually affect those changes when the new contracts come up front. They should not all have to wait until 2018, but that should be the backstop period that we have mentioned. That is why we have taken that approach. In the world where commercial operations are under ever greater scrutiny, does he agree that events such as this debate and elsewhere can often lead companies to act ahead of legislation, and we should not underrate the ability of that to happen? Indeed. The other point would be that local authorities have substantial discretion at the current time to insist on those higher standards, but, as Alex Rowley said, there are sometimes resource implications for that. I faced the same challenges when I councillored on myself to reduce the school bus service to the statutory minimum and always refused that, but there is that question of resources for local authorities. That important measure in relation to signage will ensure the safety of school children on home to school transport. We have also set up a working group of partners, which is actively taking forward discussions to ensure that all those involved are ready for the changes coming into effect. We are aware that there can be issues with bus operators failing to remove school signs when they are undertaking other journeys without children on board, and that is disappointing. The guidance is clear that local authorities should make this a condition of contracts with operators. We will continue to work with partners to consider what further action we can take. I repeat my offer to meet again with Mr Vity, who I have met on a number of occasions when he has come to the Parliament's committees, and I acknowledge the work that he has done. If he is aware of further suggestions that we can take forward with the powers that we have, I am more than happy to listen to that, or indeed for many of the members who have spoken. It is vital that we promote safety for all of our pupils going to and from school, and that is why we are working to reduce traffic speeds on school routes and around schools. The very balanced contribution from Lewis MacDonald acknowledged the fact that different levels of democracy hold different powers in this area, and we have to try to work together for the common good. We are working to reduce those traffic speeds to promote risk-assessed school transport, pick-up and drop-off points, encourage the regular review of school travel plans and promote educational materials that foster road safety behaviours, which can last a lifetime. It is through that comprehensive approach that we can continue to reduce the risks to young people using the roads on the way to school, a goal that all of us in the chamber and beyond strive towards. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you, Minister. That ends Stewart Stevenson's member's debate on the importance of bus school bus safety around Scotland. I now close this meeting.