The process for re-designating the National Cycle Network (NCN) is the responsibility of Sustrans, the UK Charity which owns the NCN.

In re-designating a NCN path, the route manager or responsible party, mainly local authorities, would approach and discuss the route with Sustrans. The route would then be assessed against NCN standard criteria and strategic route assessment criteria. If it met these criteria, a route number would be issued and the responsible party would then be expected to sign the route to standard, with support from Sustrans.

As part of the criteria, the route would need to link communities, be of a given minimum distance and serve a core strategic purpose, for example, encouraging recreational cycling, cycle tourism, or everyday journeys.

Some local authorities such as Edinburgh, Fife and Moray and have their own numbering systems for signing local and regional routes that either don't meet NCN criteria or do not have 'national significance'.

The following table lists the local authorities which have adopted a cycling strategy or an active travel strategy. An active travel strategy is a strategy to encourage both walking and cycling, and therefore contains all the elements of a cycling strategy. Local authorities have developed them in response to action 4 of the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland 217, with guidance and support provided by Sustrans and Transport Scotland to assist their development.

Day to day operation of train fleets and how they manage passengers on board rests with ScotRail. They are currently finalising the layout and operational aspects of how on-train cycle storage will be managed to maximise the number they can carry when the 26 refurbished HSTs enter service on Scotland's Inter-City routes next summer. However, Transport Scotland has recently reached an agreement with ScotRail to increase the number of spaces available at intermediate stations from 2 to 4 and with 6 spaces (3 per power car) available for end to end journeys on the HSTs planned to be introduced into service in the latter part of 2018.

The Franchise Agreement requires ScotRail to ensure that rolling stock includes a bicycle storage area with space for storage of at least two bicycles. The HSTs by comparison will now have at least ten cycle spaces.

Cross border passenger services are operated under franchises specified and awarded by the Department for Transport, with the exception of The Caledonian Sleeper service. The Scottish Ministers are entitled to offer advice on the specification of these services (to the Secretary of State for Transport) as they relate to Scotland. But the Scottish Ministers do not have any contractual or financial agreement with any Train Operating Company (TOCs) operating under a DfT franchise.

The new Caledonian Sleeper trains, to be introduced during 2018, will also have enhanced capacity for the carriage of bicycles. Trains to and from each of the five Caledonian Sleeper destinations – Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William – will each have space for ten bicycles.

The forthcoming Transport Bill will support our aspiration to deliver a safe, efficient, cost-effective and sustainable transport system for the benefit of the people of Scotland.

Its detailed content is still in development but we anticipate that the Bill will include provisions on obstructive and inconsiderate parking, the regulation of road works and bus services, and smart ticketing. By helping to tackle issues such as congestion and irresponsible parking, we would expect the Bill to be of benefit to all road users, including cyclists.

Transport Scotland, as the trunk roads authority, is a statutory consultee on planning applications which have an impact on the trunk road network. Our existing transport appraisal guidance provides advice to developers, infrastructure promoters and planning authorities on how to consider transport and land use matters through an objective and robust, evidence-led approach. We are in regular contact with partner delivery agencies.

Transport Scotland is currently refreshing the design guidance document ‘Cycling by Design’. As part of this process, we have had initial consultations with a wide range of stakeholders, including local authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships and lobbying groups.

Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the Armed Forces, veterans and their families receive the best possible levels of support. We are keen to see the local Veterans First Point (V1P) services succeed and become financially sustainable in the future.

To help the NHS led partnerships as their UK Government LIBOR funding came to an agreed end, the Scottish Government offered all Partnerships interim funding on a 50:50 basis, and continues to fund the V1P Central Team for its network training and governance role. Six of the eight partnerships accepted this matched funding offer for 2017-18. In total this year the Scottish Government will provide £824,591 to support the network.

In addition, the Scottish Government has made further funding offers to all eight Partnerships for 2018-19 and 2019-20 on the basis of a 50 : 50 matched funding arrangement. Those areas which decide not to continue with a V1P service are expected to fulfil their statutory duties and provide services and support to meet the needs of veterans.

All local authorities are able to bid into the Community Links fund, administered by Sustrans and funded by Transport Scotland, for building cycle paths in both urban and rural areas. Once built, the local authority or other bodies such as The Forestry Commission, Scottish Natural Heritage, the National Parks or Scottish Canals adopt the path and maintenance then becomes the responsibility of that organisation.

In 2017-18, the Scottish Government provided over £3 million pounds to expand and maintain the National Cycle Network, most of which is in rural areas.

Maintenance of cycle paths is largely the responsibility of local authorities or other bodies. Any audit or monitoring programme would be the responsibility of each of these bodies. The Scottish Government does not collate this data nationally. However, some routes falling within the trunk road corridor will be the responsibility of the trunk roads contractor and data may be available for those specific routes.

Sustrans recently carried out a network audit of the National Cycle Network in Scotland, which determined the current condition of the route but not the level of maintenance activity. This data is for NCN routes only and does not cover the wide range of local cycle paths across Scotland. This information will be published in due course.

The Scottish Government is supportive of the research Citizens Advice Scotland and Ofcom are doing in relation to this issue. I am also reassured to note that the UK Consumer Protection Partnership, which is chaired by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has agreed work to review existing evidence on parcel delivery surcharging as this is an important strand of work. This is being done with a view to coordinated action by partners to address any consumer detriment, as appropriate and I can reassure you that, for our part, we will seek to ensure that UK Ministers deliver much needed fairness in cases where the regime of charges is discriminatory against communities in Scotland, as we firmly believe that examples of unfairness will emerge from this analysis.

hub North Scotland has a contractual key performance indicator to monitor spend on projects with SMEs, which is achieved through monitoring the value of work packages placed with tier 2 sub-contractors.

For the Elgin High School project, there were 65 Tier 2 work packages valued at £23.22 million. Of the Tier 2 Subcontracts, local sub-contractors (from Moray, Aberdeenshire and Highland) were given the opportunity to bid for 40 work packages worth £19 million, with 18 of those Tier 2 Subcontracts being awarded to local subcontractors, with a total value of £12 million.

In addition, it is understood that some of the Tier 2 sub-contractors have sub-contracted with local Tier 3 and 4 sub-contractors and suppliers but we do not hold further details on that breakdown.