Hansard

I welcome the opportunity to update Parliament on the progress of ScotRail’s improvement plan. This is an exciting and challenging period for rail in Scotland, with record levels of investment, projects such as the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement programme and fleets of new electric and high-speed trains, which will revolutionise services. I know that members are also keen to hear an update on the management changes that Network Rail and Abellio recently announced for the ScotRail franchise and to hear details of the free week fares offer.

I start with the performance improvement plan. When I received the plan, the moving annual average performance level was 89.6 per cent, against the contractual trigger of 90.3 per cent. As soon as the plan was received, we set about detailed scrutiny of its delivery. Our latest information is that more than 86 actions have been completed and that the vast majority of those that remain are under way.

As a live document, the original 249-point plan has expanded to include more than 270 initiatives. Members will be familiar with the fact that the improvement plan was split into three distinct sections covering infrastructure, rolling stock and operations. It was also backed by £16 million of accelerated funding by the ScotRail Alliance.

I take the opportunity to thank railway staff up and down the country for all the hard work that they have put in, particularly over the past few railway periods, to help to make our railways run better—from the engineers who have improved signalling through to the station staff who have tweaked operations to run even more efficiently. Their efforts are not often acknowledged enough, so I give heartfelt thanks to each and every one of them.

The particular reason why I thank those staff is that, because of their direct efforts, we have seen an improvement in performance across the railway network in Scotland. I am confident that the continued focus from staff and management through the performance improvement plan will see a return to the levels of performance that passengers are—rightly—entitled to expect.

Let me be clear that ScotRail is not yet performing at the level that I would like it to. However, let us be equally clear that neither is the situation the apocalyptic scenario that is often presented and painted by some of our opponents. Let us examine the facts. First, since the improvement plan was received, performance has improved. The moving annual average—the contractual measure and the standard industry measure that is used across the United Kingdom—has improved from 89.6 per cent in period 6, when we received the plan, to 90 per cent. That is 0.3 of a percentage point away from ScotRail’s target of 90.3 per cent, achieving which would lift it out of improvement plan territory so that—obviously and logically—it would not require an improvement plan any more.

If we look at the most recent railway period—period 10, which coincided with high winds, including two storms—we see that there was a 6 per cent improvement in performance between periods 9 and 10. The comparisons with the rest of the Great Britain rail network tell their own story. ScotRail’s bettering performance has seen it increase the gap between how well it is performing and how railways across the United Kingdom are performing. ScotRail’s level is now 2.3 per cent better than the GB average.

I know public performance measure and moving annual average figures are not the only measures of how well a railway performs. Passengers and commuters tell me, as I imagine they tell many members across the chamber, that they are frustrated by, for example, practices where their stops are skipped. The managing director of ScotRail, Phil Verster, announced a number of months ago that he would be putting in place a protocol to avoid that practice. Skip-stopping is reducing. I can confirm that, between periods 9 and 10, the practice reduced by about a third. It occurred on only 0.59 per cent of all services booked. I want ScotRail to do even better, but that is further proof that the improvement plan, as instructed, is delivering results.

However, I am disappointed by the national passenger survey results that were published today. The fieldwork for the survey took place in the autumn, just at the time that we demanded the improvement plan and before it started to take effect. There is no sugar-coating it—the results are disappointing.

I know that members also want an update on ScotRail’s free week initiative, which was announced at the end of last year. We said that we would make announcements with more details and we will. I reiterate, without any equivocation or doubt, that a week of free travel will be offered to annual and monthly season ticket holders this year. Further discounts will also be offered to weekly and less frequent travellers—whether the travel is for work or for leisure—and particularly for those who use a ScotRail smart card for their journeys. That is backed by £3 million of funding, which is £1 million more than those in the Opposition called for.

At the time of the announcement, I made it clear that we would bring forward further details of the scheme in early 2017. I was also clear that there will be a contribution from ScotRail, as well as from the Scottish Government. Members are keen to understand the source of funding for our fares initiative. Our service quality incentive regime—SQUIRE—focuses on improving the passenger experience across stations and services. The financial contributions that result from each four-weekly rail period on a rolling basis are reinvested for the benefit of rail passengers. Using a proportion of those funds to benefit ScotRail passengers through the fares initiative falls within the fund’s remit. The SQUIRE fund currently stands at £2.06 million, which is the net total after deducting £834,000 that is for projects that have been committed to or delivered. Of the SQUIRE fund, £1.8 million will be used for the fares initiative, and the remaining £1.2 million to fund that initiative will come from Transport Scotland’s budget. I want to be clear that other ring-fenced funds, such as the access for all fund and the Scottish stations fund, will not be impacted.

This is an exciting time in our railways. Backed by Scottish Government investment of more than £5 billion in this control period, there will be a revolution in rail. This year, the first of 70 new electric trains is being tested in Scotland. Passengers will be able to travel on those trains from autumn, and all the Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk services will operate with the new fleet by December. Those longer, faster, greener trains will provide 26 per cent more seats at peak times from December 2017 and, from December 2018, that will rise to 44 per cent more seats when eight cars can operate. That will help with the capacity issues that passengers and members around the chamber want to see tackled.

From next year, the new fleet will be joined by 26 high-speed trains to link our seven main cities. Those trains will be completely refurbished before entering service and, combined with the revolution in rail initiative, they will help to deliver a step change in provision from the Highlands to the Borders. Once both fleets are introduced, the ScotRail fleet will contain more than 1,000 carriages, which is an increase of 50 per cent since we took over in government in 2007.

We are progressing our commitment to ensure that a public sector body can bid for future rail franchises. I set up a group to meet and discuss that important work that comprises delegates from Opposition parties, rail trade unions and other key stakeholders. We met in December and had a positive and constructive discussion, and we will meet again next month. At present, the focus of the work is on examining the suitability of existing bodies as bidders and the steps that would be required to create a new public sector body, if that is necessary.

In recent coverage, members will have noted a focus on the performance of Network Rail, on delays caused by its management of the network and on recent cost increases that have resulted from its development and management of major rail projects. That focus is justified. Network Rail is critical to the delivery of excellent day-to-day services and to our ambitious plans for growth and improvement, and that is why we fully fund it to deliver its network maintenance, management and project functions.

It cannot be right that the partner whose work we specify and fund has little accountability to ministers and to this Parliament, which is why I wrote last week to all parties to seek their support for the devolution of Network Rail. I thank those who have already given somewhat constructive responses. I believe that a properly devolved and accountable Network Rail will bring improved responsibility, accountability and operational efficiency and provide better alignment with Scotland’s needs and priorities.

I conclude by looking at one issue of Network Rail management—the planned departure of managing director Phil Verster. That is, of course, a decision for him, Abellio and Network Rail—a reclassified body under the Department for Transport—to make. I have shared a good relationship with him and I have never doubted his commitment to making our railways better. He continues in post and will oversee the improvement plan until he vacates his role. He has already presided over periods of improvement, as I have outlined, and I am grateful for that. I wish him well with his future endeavours. His successor, Alex Hynes, will join us in what are exciting and challenging times, as I have outlined. He comes with considerable experience in the railways.

Ultimately, progress in an industry as large, valuable and complex as rail is not about individuals. It is the collective efforts of the thousands of dedicated employees who I thanked earlier, supported by Government ministers and—critically—by the Parliament, that will deliver our ambitious plans, support and grow the economy and deliver a first-rate service, day in and day out, for passengers across Scotland.