Transport resources

The Scottish Budget Spending Review 2012-13 to 2014-15⁶ provides details of how our spending plans over the next three years will help deliver sustainable economic growth. Transport spending lies within the Government's Infrastructure and Capital Investment portfolio.

New pier at Scrabster Harbour (Courtesy of Garry Baxter)

**Scottish Government Transport Spending**
	2012-13 Budget £m	2013-14 Plans £m	2014-15 Plans £m
Total Transport Scotland	1,892.7	2,017.3	2,084.8

Concessionary Travel ticketing machine © Crown copyright

**Transport Scotland Detailed Spending**
	2012-13 Budget £m	2013-14 Plans £m	2014-15 Plans £m	What the budget does
Rail Services in Scotland	741.1	798.2	817.6	Funds the delivery and enhancement of ScotRail franchise and the required rail infrastructure from Network Rail.
Concessionary Fares	192.8	192.8	192.8	Funds the delivery of Scotland-wide free and discounted travel schemes for older, disabled and young people.
Smartcard	2.0	2.0	2.0	Funds the Bus Infrastructure systems to recognise Smartcards.
Bus Service Operators Grant	53.8	53.8	53.8	Funds support to the Bus Industry across Scotland. Provides assistance to allow operators to keep fares down and to run services that may not otherwise be commercially viable.
Major Public Transport Projects	14.8	14.4	8.7	Funding to proceed with the delivery of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvements Plan.
Trunk Roads Maintenance	239.7	239.7	242.7	Funds maintenance of trunk roads and delivers improvements to safety and traffic flows. Secures value for money in the most critical routine, cyclical and winter maintenance.
Motorways and Trunk Roads	325.9	390.9	438.8	Provides for the cost of the Forth Replacement Crossing, the completion of the M80 PFI Scheme, the M8 improvement projects, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, Route and improvement schemes on many of the busiest and most congested roads across Scotland. Also contributes up to £500 million to the City of Edinburgh Council for the completion of the Tram project.
Ferry Services in Scotland	107.1	109.0	114.7	Provides for the subsidy of Scottish Ferry Services and fare setting via Road Equivalent Tariff (RET). Funding is also provided for loans to Caledonian Maritime Assets (CMAL) for the procurement of vessels, and for grants for improvement works to piers and harbours.
Air Services in Scotland	34.5	30.4	30.5	Provides support for Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL), to operate 11 airports in the North of Scotland, the Islands and Dundee. Also sustains the operation and development of the Air Discount Scheme.
Freight and Canals	11.1	11.1	11.1	Provides funding to support British Waterways Scotland for the maintenance of Scotland's canals and their contribution to economic regeneration.
Transport Policy	56.1	66.1	55.1	Funding for the provision of impartial travel information and more sustainable travel choices, including support for Cycling Action Plan for Scotland. Funding also covers Road Safety and capital funding for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.
STPR and Administration	21.3	20.9	20.5	Funds the Strategic Projects Review (STPR) and the Staff and Running Costs of Transport Scotland.
Forth and Tay Bridge	18.0	11.2	11.8	Provides funding for the current maintenance and safe operation of the Forth and Tay Bridges.
PFI/PPP Expenditure	74.5	76.8	84.7	Provides for expenditure on existing PFI road schemes.
Total	1,892.7	2,017.3	2,084.8

Note: since the 2011 Spending Review was announced, Transport Scotland will receive additional capital allocations totalling around £85 million across the three spending review years, principally for roads projects such as A75 Dunragit Bypass, A77 Symington to Bogend Toll and A737 Dalry Bypass but also including £13 million for Sustainable and Active travel. These additions are included in the table above.

Illustration of a modernised Hillhead Subway Station (Courtesy of SPT)

Delivery of goods being transferred from road to rail © The Russell Group

The graph below also illustrates the spending over the period.

Scottish Government Spending

Scottish Government Spending Bar Chart

Funding Capital

With a few notable exceptions such as the Forth Replacement Crossing, capital spend in the budget prioritises consolidation over new projects. The Agency will, however, exploit the opportunities afforded by funding via Network Rail's Regulatory Asset Base (RAB) and the Non Profit Distributing (NPD) model to take forward major projects such as the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvements Programme, Borders Railway, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) and Balmedie project, and the M8 Ballieston to Newhouse motorway upgrade, together with improvements to the M74 Raith interchange and the M8 associated improvements (M8/M73/M74 Motorway Improvements Project).

Port Ellen Harbour © Crown copyright

Value for Money

The duty of Best Value applies to all public bodies in Scotland, and is a formal duty on Accountable Officers. Achieving Best Value is about ensuring sound governance, good management, public reporting on performance and a focus on improvement.

Transport Scotland's aim is to drive improved value for money, ensure tight management of funds and sound asset management. Savings emanating from these measures will assist with the support of the investment programme.

Transport Scotland is dedicated to ensuring that it works with maximum efficiency to deliver maximum benefit. The Agency is expected to deliver efficiency savings of at least 3 per cent on its activities and report publicly on actions taken and results achieved. In the current economic climate, achieving this target will help Transport Scotland to offset cost pressures and live within budget allocation.

Procurement

Transport Scotland spends approximately £600 million each year buying goods, works and services (around one-third of the Agency's Budget) and can, through its procurement policy and activities, exert a significant influence on delivering the Purpose framework. It will continue to contribute to the Public Procurement Reform Programme, and deliver efficiency savings from collaborative procurement. Actions will include:

Using transport public procurement to maximum effect so that the public sector makes maximum use of its purchasing power
Using public procurement to encourage innovation in both the public and private sectors - allowing bidders for work to come up with new ideas wherever possible
Encouraging a broad consideration of sustainability in contracting, for example by using community benefit clauses in contracts to provide training opportunities for local people, or by reserving contracts for supported businesses

Asset Management

The Scottish trunk road network has an estimated value of over £16 billion making it the highest value single asset for which Scottish Ministers are responsible. Audit Scotland highlighted the increasing pressure on expenditure, with 32 per cent less being spent in 2009-10 than in 2004-05, and a reduction from 84 per cent to 78 per cent in the amount of trunk road in acceptable condition.

Transport Scotland's Road Asset Management Plan (RAMP) seeks to identify and prioritise spending in the highest risk areas. Advances made since the publication of the first RAMP in 2007 include defining Asset Management Objectives linked to Corporate Objectives and supported by quantifiable Performance Measures. There is clear articulation of the lifecycle activities to deliver the performance targets, and a financial plan to deliver them.