Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 24 January 2017
24 Jan 2017 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
ScotRail Performance Improvement Plan (Update)
I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement. It is right that he has come to the chamber to make a statement, given the changes at the top of the ScotRail Alliance in the past few days. We welcome the appointment of Alex Hynes to be the new managing director of the ScotRail Alliance. I wonder, however, whether Mr Hynes is prepared for the relationship with the Scottish Government that he will face in his new role, for it is that above all else that seems to have driven Mr Verster from his post.
There have been ill-thought-through announcements regarding public sector bids and the future of the franchise and uncosted raids on the SQUIRE fund without adequate consultation, for which Mr Verster cannot vouch, while the situation on the ground deteriorates for the travelling public, with customer satisfaction down and the latest performance data showing average annual punctuality lower than the contractual target.
It is not good enough. Can we have assurances from the transport minister that Mr Hynes will have the full support of the Government and that the minister will cease to bounce policy into the public domain without proper consultation with either ScotRail and/or the various stakeholders? Will the minister promise those passengers who are so fed up with the performance of our railway network that he will stop the gimmicks and the policy-making on the hoof and finally focus on resolving the underperformance of our national railway?
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh)
NPA
The next item of business is a statement by Humza Yousaf on an update on the ScotRail performance improvement plan. The minister will take questions at the e...
The Minister for Transport and the Islands (Humza Yousaf)
SNP
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 Scotlan...
Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement. It is right that he has come to the chamber to make a statement, given the changes at the top of the...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
I am afraid that being lectured on national railways by the Conservative Party—which of course is overseeing a 10-month dispute with Southern Railway—is a bi...
Neil Bibby (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement. Scottish Labour always welcomes the opportunity to question the Government on behalf of Scotland’s p...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
It must be depressing to live in the mind of Neil Bibby, where everything seems to be going wrong. We should have an objective look at the facts, which show ...
Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP)
SNP
The minister has previously agreed to take an interest in the local improvement plan for services on the Maryhill train line that ScotRail agreed to develop ...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
That is an important local matter, so I am not sure why Opposition members are laughing at it. I thank the member for raising the issue of Maryhill. I can gi...
Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
I am interested in the minister’s explanation of the funding for the one-week-free travel scheme. Transport Scotland’s website states the following: “One of...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
No. I find that utterly ridiculous. When we made the announcement that £3 million would go towards a free week, Opposition members—including some from the Co...
Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab)
Lab
The vast majority of passengers on Scotland’s railways buy their tickets journey by journey. Labour’s plan for a fare freeze would have benefited every passe...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
I will try to correct some of the inaccuracies in what Daniel Johnson just said. When I made the announcement at the end of last year, I did not say that the...
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
I thank the minister for his statement. I am pleased that he is so excited about the state of Scotland’s railways, although I thought that we were all beyond...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
Mr Harvie is being slightly flippant. There is nothing wrong with being excited about the plans that we have for our railways. Seventeen new trains, faster, ...
Mike Rumbles (North East Scotland) (LD)
LD
Just before he resigned, Phil Verster made it clear to the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee that he had not agreed to the transport minister’s attemp...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
The member is incorrect to say that there is no money in the SQUIRE pot. There absolutely will be money in that fund, even when the contribution for the free...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Seven members wish to ask questions. I ask all members to ask questions without any preamble and the minister to be as brief as possible in his replies.
Mairi Evans (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP)
SNP
How many of ScotRail’s trains that run late currently skip stops to improve their punctuality during rush hour? What action is being taken to improve the sit...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
As I said in my statement, if a stop is skipped, that gets marked down against performance. As I also said, that practice has reduced by around a third betwe...
Annie Wells (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
Given that the position is a senior one, what process was followed in replacing the managing director of ScotRail? It took place at extremely short notice—ba...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
Of course, those are matters for Network Rail, which, as a reclassified body, comes under the UK Department for Transport. The salary level has the sign-off ...
Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
SNP
Is the minister content with the fact that, one minute ago, the public performance measurement was 9 per cent better in Scotland than in the GB network, and ...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
I am grateful for that. The serious point is that, as I have said, there has been an improvement in performance over the past few railway periods. Performanc...
James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
At the time of the publication of the improvement plan, the public performance measure stood at 90.7 per cent. In the subsequent four periods, it did not rea...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
The member is asking why railway performance in the summer is not as good as railway performance in the winter. The reason why we use the moving annual avera...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP)
SNP
I have a register of interests and anyone can read it if they like. Can the minister give me an assurance that the review group for the far north line will ...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
Yes. The review group will go ahead, and its first meeting will take place in Inverness tomorrow morning. The member will be fully apprised of that. We know ...
Elaine Smith (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Will the minister support the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ safer Scottish trains campaign, which includes an independent review of...
Humza Yousaf
SNP
As the member knows, of course—because she was there—I met her and the RMT to discuss the safer trains campaign. I would support many of the initiatives in t...
Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley) (SNP)
SNP
Given that more than half the ScotRail delays that were of more than three minutes’ duration were as a result of faults attributed to Network Rail, what bene...