Hansard

I am sorry that the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities is not here, as I wanted to welcome her formally to her new post. That pleasure will have to wait for another time.

In early 2010, more than 900 workers at Scotland’s only bus manufacturer, Alexander Dennis Ltd in Falkirk, were on a three-day week. Their unions had met with members of the Scottish Parliament and there were grave concerns about the future of the company. In March 2010, by which time ADL had, fortunately, returned to five-day working, my colleague and predecessor in the role of Labour’s transport spokesperson, Charlie Gordon, brought a motion to the Parliament in Labour debating time that drew the Parliament’s attention to the efficiency and flexibility of the five ALX300 buses that were built by Alexander Dennis and that operated in the Strathclyde partnership for transport area. Charlie Gordon also emphasised the environmental and economic case for increasing production of the new hybrid buses and called on the Scottish Government to fund grants for the acquisition of ADL buses as a matter of urgency.

Charlie Gordon’s motion, with some amendments, was agreed to. I think that only the Conservatives abstained, which they did because they had objections to a Liberal Democrat amendment, rather than to the original premise. Although John Swinney did not commit in that debate to establishing a green bus fund, later in 2010, the Scottish Government announced the allocation of £4.4 million to a green bus fund, which, as we have heard, assisted in the purchase of 48 buses. Therefore, I believe that Charlie Gordon might take some credit for the establishment of the fund.

There was United Kingdom precedent. Following a review of support for the bus industry, the Labour UK Government launched its new green bus fund in 2009, through which it invested more than £30 million to enable the purchase of 349 green buses in the first tranche of grants. The UK and Scottish Governments have since supported grants for green buses. In 2010, the UK Government allocated a further £15 million, which assisted with the purchase of 169 buses. In 2011, the coalition Government provided a third allocation of more than £30 million, which enabled 434 additional green buses to be purchased by operators. For a change, all of us across the chamber agree with Westminster that a green bus fund is a good idea.

Although the Scottish Government was a little slower off the mark than the Labour UK Government, there has been welcome investment here, too, with another £1.8 million in a second phase at the beginning of this year. I understood that that had purchased a further 26 buses, in which case Mr Brown is underselling himself in his motion by three buses. Perhaps my figure is wrong, as it is highly unusual for this Government to undersell itself.

Last month, a further £3 million was announced, which is expected to fund 40 more buses. So far, the Scottish Government has invested 12 per cent of the funds that the UK Government put into its green bus fund, and that has purchased about 12 per cent of the number of buses—which seems just about right in terms of the Barnett formula. I do not know whether there are any Barnett consequentials for the green bus fund or whether that is how it has been funded, but it seems that we are in line with the rest of the UK.

I see from Mr Brown’s motion and, indeed, from John Swinney’s announcement last week, that the draft budget proposes an additional £2.5 million funding for next year. That is welcome, too.

As the minister said, Alexander Dennis is a world leader in green bus technology, and I am certain that the workers there will be pleased to learn that the Government will continue to make funding available to support low-carbon vehicles.

As we have heard, the process is competitive and there are other suppliers of green buses. Lothian Buses is supplied by Volvo. In the first two funding rounds, Lothian Buses secured funding for 25 buses to the value of £1.75 million. I vouch that I travelled along Princes Street on the number 10 bus a couple of months ago—it certainly is a fine bus and I am sure that Lothian Buses is proud of it.

MacEwans Coach Services, Deveron Coaches and Henderson Travel were granted subsidy for six buses in total in the second round, and those will be supplied by the Optare Group. Obviously, in Scotland, we hope that Alexander Dennis gets as much business as possible, but there are a number of other competitors in the area, too.

Although the 80 per cent subsidy is attractive to operators that are running busy, popular routes—this touches on Patrick Harvie’s point—I have been advised by the south west of Scotland transport partnership that the significantly higher purchase cost of green buses has deterred operators on rural routes from applying, even at that level of subsidy. In the south of Scotland, we have seen only MacEwans Coach Services—it runs the Abington to Dumfries to Edinburgh route—and Henderson Travel being successful in obtaining an 80 per cent grant. I am advised that few other operators in my area have come forward to apply for the money.

MacEwans Coach Services is, of course, tendered by Strathclyde passenger transport but, unfortunately, that ran into problems this summer when the tender increased by 52 per cent above the previous contract—I think that the problems were more to do with the Disability Discrimination Act compliance requirements of the new buses—so that route is now being run on a temporary contract, although I hope that that issue will be resolved in a few months’ time.

In welcoming the progress in providing funds to assist with the purchase of hybrid buses, I do not intend to deceive members into believing that I have completely suspended my critical faculties. Our amendment refers to the wider issues of promoting bus transport. The amendment is competent—it would not have been accepted by the Presiding Officer if it was not—and the Minister for Transport and Veteran Affairs talked about the need for a modal shift from cars to buses in order to improve our carbon footprint. That must be done in the context of a wider sustainable transport policy, which is why we must look in the round to see what is happening to promote bus travel.

The Minister for Transport and Veteran Affairs is pleased to come to the Parliament with a 140 minute debate, congratulating himself on a proposed investment of up to £11.7 million, including what is in the draft budget for green buses. If he wanted to talk to the Parliament, why was he not prepared to come to the chamber to announce the reduction in the budget for the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement programme by a sum of £350 million, some thirty times the investment in the green bus project? It took Opposition Labour debating time for that saving to be aired in the chamber. Moreover, the minister did not come to the Parliament to advise it of the privatisation of the NorthLink Ferries route. Again, Labour had to request a statement on that.

Although the draft budget allocates £2.5 million to the green bus fund, the bus service operators grant, which last year was cut by 17 per cent, remains static, which is a real terms cut of 2.5 per cent if the Treasury’s gross domestic product inflator is applied.