SP Paper 967 (Web)
Contents
Report
Introduction
Legislation
Inquiries
Other evidence sessions
Budget process
European issues
Petitions
Equalities
Innovation
Subordinate legislation
Meetings
Remit and membership
Remit:
To consider and report on infrastructure, capital investment, transport, Scottish Water, and other matters falling within the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities; and matters relating to housing and digital infrastructure.
Membership:
Jim Eadie (Convener)
Adam Ingram (Deputy Convener)
Clare Adamson
Alex Johnstone
Mike MacKenzie
Siobhan McMahon
David Stewart
Note: The membership of the Committee changed during the period covered by this report, as follows:
Previous Members of the Committee during the reporting year:
James Dornan (from 27 November 2014 until 5 November 2015)
Mary Fee (from 3 September 2013 until 2 September 2015)
Annual Report 2015-16
Introduction
1. This report covers the work of the Infrastructure and Capital Investment (ICI) Committee during the parliamentary year between 11 May 2015 and 23 March 2016.
Legislation
Private Housing (Tenancies) Tenancies (Scotland) Bill
2. The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill was introduced on 7 October 2015 with the purpose of replacing the current system of private tenancies in Scotland. This would see the existing short assured tenancy and assured tenancy replaced with a single new tenancy, known as the private residential tenancy.
3. The Committee’s general call for evidence on the Bill garnered 82 responses, primarily from groups representing landlords and tenants. The Committee was nevertheless keen to hear from those most affected by the Bill such as private tenants and individual landlords, who may not normally respond to a formal call for evidence. The Committee therefore issued a short online survey via social media which received almost 500 responses. Some of the respondents’ comments were included in the Committee’s Stage 1 report, which agreed with the general principles of the Bill.
4. The Committee considered 141 amendments to the Bill at Stage 2 on 10 February 2016 while the Parliament passed Stage 3 on Thursday 17 March.
Harbours (Scotland) Bill
5. The bulk of the Committee’s scrutiny of the Harbours (Scotland) Bill took place during the previous reporting year. However, the Committee published its Stage 1 report in June 2015 and had a brief consideration of the Bill at Stage 2 in September as no amendments were lodged. The Parliament passed Stage 3 on Tuesday 27 October 2016.
Inquiries
6. The Committee undertook the following key pieces of inquiry and scrutiny work during the parliamentary year.
Inquiry into the circumstance surrounding the closure of the Forth Road Bridge
7. At midnight on Friday 4 December 2016 the Forth Road Bridge was closed to all traffic due to the failure of one of the truss end links at the north west corner of the main span. In response to this closure of a major piece of transport infrastructure, the Committee agreed at its meeting on 16 December 2015 to undertake an inquiry into the circumstance surrounding the closure of the Bridge.
8. As the inquiry would have to be concluded prior to the dissolution of Parliament on 23 March 2016, a call for views was issued on 17 December while a series of four oral evidence sessions began on 20 January 2016.
9. The Committee published its findings on 11 March 2016, a little over 3 months after the closure of the Bridge and also held a debate in the Chamber on Tuesday 15 March.
Access to Scotland’s major railway stations
10. In May and June 2015 the Committee carried out a short piece of work on the accessibility of Scotland’s major urban railway stations. The Committee aimed to identify if there were shared issues being experienced by passengers up and down the country, including how easy it was for pedestrians, cyclists and disabled people to access and move within these stations, as well as how accessing other modes of public transport and taxis from stations might be improved.
11. As part of this work the Committee undertook an online survey of almost 5,000 rail passengers across nine major railway stations in Scotland. At the conclusion of this work, the Committee wrote to the ScotRail Alliance to highlight a number of areas where it would welcome further updates. As well as responding to the Committee’s letter, the Managing Director of the Alliance attended a subsequent meeting in March 2016.
Freight Transport in Scotland
12. In June 2015 the Committee published its report on its freight transport in Scotland inquiry. While the majority of the Committee’s work on the inquiry had taken place during the previous reporting year, the report made a number of recommendations in relation to rail, road and water freight. This report was followed by a debate in the Chamber on the Committee’s findings on 10 September 2015.
Other evidence sessions
Transport
13. The Committee received further updates from the Forth Replacement Crossing Project Team in September 2015 and March 2016. During both sessions David Climie, the Project Director, confirmed that the new bridge was under budget and remained on course for opening by the end of 2016. Members of the Committee also visited the new bridge in September 2015.
14. The Committee received two updates on current transport infrastructure projects from the Minister for Transport and Islands and held a specific session with the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities on the Scottish Government’s strategic vision for Glasgow Prestwick Airport. In June the Committee also took a trip on the Borders Railway before its formal opening in September 2015.
Housing
15. In early 2015 the Committee explored with the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) a range of concerns highlighted by a number of the regulators stakeholders. The Committee invited the SHR to provide an update on progress in relation to these issues in June and December 2015. The Committee was encouraged by the progress made in tackling these concerns and this optimism was largely mirrored in subsequent correspondence with the same stakeholders.
16. The Committee also received a general housing update from the Minister for Housing and Welfare in March 2016, covering such issues as housing supply, homelessness, housing options for older people and sustainable housing.
Broadband infrastructure and digital participation
17. The Committee has continued to monitor progress in relation to the Scottish Government’s broadband roll-out project and the Committee took evidence from the Deputy First Minister (DFM) at its meeting on 9 September 2015. As well as hearing about the progress being made on the broadband infrastructure targets, the Committee also questioned the DFM on digital participation rates.
Scottish Water
18. In December the Committee received its annual update from Scottish Water on its annual report and accounts for the 2014/15.
Budget process
19. For the 2014-15 and 2015-16 draft budgets the Committee focused its budget scrutiny on how the spending within its remit affects the Scottish Government’s national performance indicator on reducing Scotland's carbon footprint. The Committee agreed to continue that focus for the 2016-17 draft budget. In particular, it explored what further action might be necessary going forward to help meet the Scottish Government’s climate change targets.
20. The timetable to consider the draft budget was particularly tight this year due to the later than expected announcement of the UK Government’s spending review. To mitigate this impact, the Committee heard from a range of witnesses with a particular interest in alleviating climate change prior to the draft budget being published. While figures were not available, it provided an opportunity for the panel to comment on the outcomes of the spending in 2015-16 and to suggest what more might need to be done, both in 2016-17 and beyond, to help reach the carbon emission targets.
21. The Committee made a number of recommendations on how the Scottish Government might wish to help reduce carbon emissions in the future, including a systematic re-evaluation of the level of funding for sustainable and active travel.
European issues
22. Following its scrutiny of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill, the Committee agreed to continue to monitor the implementation of the resultant Act and the transposition of the related EU Directives. The Committee received an update from the Cabinet Secretary in June 2015 and scrutinised the resultant secondary legislation during January, February and March 2016.
23. In May 2015 the European Commission launched its Digital Single Market strategy. In order to get a better understanding of how the strategy might open up digital opportunities for people and businesses across the EU, the Committee invited a senior official of the EU Commission to give evidence in September 2015.
Petitions
24. Over the course of the parliamentary year the Committee considered:
- PE1236, on the construction of a grade separated junction where the A937 crosses the A90 at Laurencekirk; and
- PE1539, on housing associations coming under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (‘the Act’).
25. While the Scottish Government has agreed to provide £24m funding for a grade separated junction at Laurencekirk as well as formally consult on extending the Act to include housing associations, the Committee has agreed to keep both petitions open. These will be included in its legacy paper for its successor committee to consider further in Session 5.
Equalities
26. The Committee mainstreamed equalities issues throughout its work in the parliamentary year. For example, the Committee highlighted the need for improved disabled access as part of its work on accessing railway stations.
Innovation
27. As previously highlighted in Committee’s work on the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill, using targeted social media to encourage tenants and private landlords to provide their views of the proposals was an example of trying to reach beyond traditional calls for evidence. While these are still valuable, the online survey helped the Committee to reach beyond its usual stakeholders who are often already engaged in the work.
Subordinate legislation
28. During this parliamentary year the Committee considered 14 statutory instruments of which 10 were negative and 4 were affirmative.
Meetings
29. During the parliamentary year, the Committee met 27 times. Of these meetings 3 were wholly in private and 16 were partly in private. Most items taken in private were the consideration of draft reports. All meetings were held in Edinburgh.
Any links to external websites in this report were working correctly at the time of publication. However, the Scottish Parliament cannot accept responsibility for content on external websites.
Back to top