Who We Are And What We Do

Who We Are And What We Do

Role

Transport Scotland was created in 2006 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government, accountable to Parliament and the public through Scottish Ministers.

The Agency role covers all of the Scottish Government's national transport policy and project responsibilities. These include overseeing the operation and improvement of the trunk road, ferry, inland waterway and railway networks in Scotland; the air passenger facilities and routes in the Highlands and Islands; the national concessionary travel schemes and for the provision of travel information services. We also support Ministers in prioritising future transport policy and investments and promoting sustainable transport and road safety.

Strategy and Planning

The Scottish Government's purpose is to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth, and this provides the focus for our work. Our delivery priorities - improved connections across Scotland; better journey times, better reliability; greener transport alternatives, reduced emissions; and increased safety, more innovation - are all set in that context. We are refreshing our commitment to them as part of our ongoing business planning process. This provides a clear focus to enable us to develop and deliver efficient, effective and sustainable transport infrastructure and services for Scotland.

Our detailed delivery outcomes are drawn from our Corporate Plan and annual Business Plan covering the past year. Delivery against our targets for 2011-12 is summarised here.

Governance

The Chief Executive is the Accountable Officer for the Agency. This role is supported by a Board comprising the Chief Executive and six executive directors as shown below. The Accountable Officer is also supported by an Audit and Risk Committee chaired by a non executive member Alex Smith, and including two further external members Dorothy Fenwick and Alan Thompson.

Current Directors

David Middleton Chief Executive
Roy Brannen Trunk Road and Bus Operations
Donald Carmichael Transport Policy
Frances Duffy Rail (until February 2012)
Aidan Grisewood Rail (from February 2012)
Sharon Fairweather Finance and Analytical Services
Ainslie McLaughlin Major Transport Infrastructure Projects
Alastair Wilson Aviation, Maritime, Freight and Canals

Richard Scott served as Director of Business Improvement and Corporate Services until retiring from the Agency on 30 June 2011.