Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board - meeting minutes - 18 December 2024

Attendance

Members

• Fiona Hyslop (Co-Chair - CS) - Cabinet Secretary for Transport
• Hugh Gillies (Co-Chair - HG) - Transport Scotland (TS) - Director of Roads
• George Henry (GH) – TS – Head of Roads Policy and Safety
• Gary Ritchie (GR) – Police Scotland
• Hilary Sloan (HS) – Police Scotland
• Robert Nicol (RN) – Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Colin Park (CP) - SCOTS
• Councillor Gail MacGregor (GM) – Spokesperson for Environment and Economy - COSLA
• Oliver Harding (OH) – National Health Service (NHS)

In Attendance

• Vincent Fisher (VF) – Police Scotland
• Laura Cotton (LC) – Police Scotland
• Ed Gordon (EG) – COSLA
• Stewart Leggett (SL) – TS - Head of Operations
• Steven Feeney (SF) – TS – Road Safety Policy
• Michelle Van der stighelen (MVdS) – TS – Safety Camera Programme
• Katrina Caldwell (KC) – TS – Statistics
• Ryan Gilbert (RG) – TS – Strategic Communications Manager (Roads)

Apologies

• Graham Foster – NHS
• Kenneth Barbour – Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS)

Secretariat

• Hannah Wood (HW) – TS – Road Safety Policy
• Hannah Green (HG) – TS – Road Safety Policy

Welcome and Introductions

The Cabinet Secretary for Transport (Co-Chair CS) welcomed everyone to the meeting highlighting to members that there is still a concerning trend relating to the number of those being killed and injured on Scotland’s roads and that action is required to address this.

Co-Chair CS noted that His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS), published a thematic inspection of road policing in Scotland highlighting that one of the recommendations was to progress the full implementation of educational training courses for people who commit driving offences. Co-Chair CS added that a range of partners, including Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), are progressing towards delivering the full suite of road traffic diversionary courses, including speed awareness courses.

Co-Chair CS also noted that National Speed Management Review consultation was launched on 27 November and is open until March. It was agreed that all partners would ensure the consultation was shared across their networks.

Co-Chair CS highlighted that the draft Scottish budget has been announced that the proposed road safety budget is £48m which is an increase of 33% on the 2024-25 budget of £36m. The Board noted that this was subject to approval from the Scottish Parliament. 

Previous Minutes and Actions

The previous minutes were circulated and no comments received, these have since been published. All actions stemming from the last meeting have been completed or will be picked up throughout the meeting.

An agreed action for all members to meet with Cabinet Secretary for Transport is ongoing. There have been 1-2-1 meetings with Police Scotland, COSLA and SCOTS with remaining discussions with NHS and Scottish Fire and Rescue to be scheduled.

Current Road Safety Performance

Police Management Information Data

The latest management information data was provided, highlighting that Police Scotland is continuing to monitor the analytical data to identify trends in activity and investigate how they can be prevented. Police Scotland continue to work with operational partners on emerging trends and threats.

2024 Comparison to 2023

KC provided members with an overview of current 2024 data and how this compares to finalised 2023 data.

Updates from Board Members

Members provided an update on their road safety activity with the following points being highlighted:

CoSLA

Cllr MacGregor advised that the proposed budget increase for road safety throughout Scotland in 2025/26 would be welcome at a local level; Cllr MacGregor further advised that unreported incidents and using local knowledge to reduce road safety risk was a primary consideration; In response, GH advised that in 2024/25 the £10m Road Safety Improvement Fund (RSIF) had been utilised to deliver road safety measures which were targeted at local collision profiles and at reducing road safety risk and that a further round of RSIF funding was expected to be made available in 2025/26.

SCOTS

CP supported Cllr MacGregors view that more informed data is required at a local level; 20 mph initiatives and Pavement Parking are being implemented across different local authorities, enforcement of Pavement Parking will be reviewed in the new year; Winter preparation continues to ensure that the roads are as safe as possible for travelling during this period; CP welcomes the proposed increase in budget and noted that SCOTS continue to work closely with TS colleagues.

NHS

NHS continue to work with Public Health, linking into operational and regional groups; OH noted that a briefing from meeting with Professor Ian Walker, had been shared prior to the meeting; Engaged with directors of public health group is ongoing and is hoping to attend a first meeting in the new year.

Police Scotland

Campaign for drink drug drive festive campaign is now live; A pilot enabling local policing officers to use drug wipes has been launched in the Shetlands; The pilot will be evaluated in June and then reviewed to see how this can be rolled out to the force as a whole; In conjunction with TS, e-bike activity around educating people in what to purchase and what is legal and not legal has been undertaken before Christmas; Police Scotland continue to run a National Campaign calendar and the next campaign will be Get Ready for Winter.

Transport Scotland

Officials continue with follow up dialogue between the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and UK Government; Officials also sit on a number of Road Safety groups and continue liaising with partners on a regular basis; A review of where we do research and how we share the finding is going to be undertaken; Trunk road research is being undertaken to investigate brake analysis and understand where harsh braking is taking place; The trunk road adaptation plan will be launched in the new year; Resilience and messaging in relation to Scotland’s preparation for flooding will be analysed in the new year.

Safety Camera Programme

Q3 performance figures will be provided in January; Issues effecting fixed enforcement have now been resolved and it is expected that performance will continue to improve; Technical issues impacting mobile enforcement vans continue; TS continue to support Police Scotland colleagues with getting this rectified; Two Temporary Average Speed Camera (TASC) systems that were deployed at have now concluded with the final speed survey due mid-December; The Distracted Driver Trial is still progressing and is due to be undertaken in January – April.

Updates from Governance Groups

GH noted that activity Reports for each of the Governance Groups were shared in the papers and noted that feedback from LPFs had been positive. The Board noted that plans were in place to deliver a series of key priority groups. 

GH further advised that a National Safe System Observatory Working Group would be established to allow a greater focus on available data and ways in could be used in the future. It was agreed GH would share the terms of reference at the next Board meeting.

Delivery Plan – Progress and Development

An update on the current position of the deliverables contained in the 2023/24 delivery plan that were red/amber at the time of the last meeting was provided.

The board agreed that Deliverable: 22/33 - ‘We will publish a new Strategic Road Safety Plan for the Trunk Road’ is to be removed from the delivery plan.

Comms Handling Plan

RG updated members on activity that has been delivered to promote road safety investment and efforts to enhance road safety in Scotland.

National Speed Management Review

An overview of the National Speed Management Review was provided detailing that the purpose of the review was to ensure that speed limits on Scotland’s roads were effective and acted to reduce the number of those being killed and seriously injured on Scotland’s roads.

Police Scotland

Vinnie Fisher (VF) added that work is being finalised in relation to revisions to Fixed Penalty Notices. The group also noted that work associated with Road Traffic Diversionary Courses continues to progress. VF and SF advised the group that liaison is continuing between Transport Scotland and the UK Government to progress associated legislation to enable Police Scotland to obtain the powers to charge those offenders and attend associated courses.

The group also noted that work to finalise the DESC project is also ongoing and a meeting will take place in the new year to ensure best use of infrastructure already in place.

Risk Register

Members reviewed the risk register in advance of the meeting and was updated to note two recommendations from the HMICS report. The board confirmed that they were all content with membership of the group and that all areas were represented.

Any Other Business and Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held virtually, on 6^th March 2025.