Winter Resilience

– in the Scottish Parliament at 9:15 am on 16 December 2010.

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Photo of Alex Fergusson Alex Fergusson None 9:15, 16 December 2010

Good morning. The first item of business is a Labour Party debate on motion S3M-7604, in the name of Andy Kerr, on winter resilience. As the debate is very heavily subscribed, I ask members to stick rigidly to the timings given.

Photo of Andy Kerr Andy Kerr Labour

At the start of the debate, it is only proper that I place on record the appreciation of the nation and the many communities throughout it for all those gallant men and women in the public and private sectors who, despite treacherous conditions, fought hard to keep our communities connected and our people looked after. I welcome Keith Brown to his new post as Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.

It is also correct for us to reflect on individual experiences such as that of a constituent of mine, who was concerned, stressed and worried about getting the dialysis that she requires three times a week to treat her life-threatening condition. She was looked after by our national health service at Monklands hospital, whose stalwart service went above and beyond the call of duty. Of course, the weather conditions created similar situations for many of our constituents.

In bringing this debate, Labour seeks to give the Parliament the opportunity to look forward not just over the next few months but over the much longer term with regard to our ability to cope with severe winter weather conditions. In my speech, I want to focus on ideas, options and choices for the future. Although my colleagues and I are quite happy to discuss past events, I believe that it is best to look forward. In that light, we will abstain on the Liberal Democrat amendment, which we believe fights last week's battle, not this week's. Of course, had the previous transport minister not decided to resign, we would have supported it.

I share the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth's view, expressed in the media, that when we have conditions such as those that we have just experienced, which we will experience again, there will be delays and disruptions. However, it is our duty to reduce those delays and disruptions to a minimum. Our economy lost millions; our schools were closed; our workers could not get to their workplaces; our elderly were trapped; and the sick and disabled were housebound. For many, Scotland ground to a halt, and we must put in place as many measures as possible to mitigate such a consequence.

As everyone recognises—indeed, I heard the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure discussing this very issue on the radio this morning—communications are vital in such situations. For a number of years, we on these benches have called for a dedicated phone line or single point of reference, and we repeat our request that the Scottish Government establish a Scotland-wide telephone helpline in preparation for such events. There was undoubtedly a lack of consistency in the messages that were being given by Scotland's many helplines, which were staffed by people in different councils or different organisations.

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I know that Mr Kerr and his colleagues have pursued the matter for some time but, in considering the practical consequences of the situation, the Government has focused on the essential point that individuals who phone helplines must get the help that they require at a local level. That suggests to me that effective mechanisms must be in place in all parts of the country to deliver support to back up any local or national telephone helpline that might be established.

Photo of Andy Kerr Andy Kerr Labour

People still need a single point of access. It is of course important that they are referred on to other public services, but consistent advice must be given on first contact. I believe that our idea still has merit and should be discussed further.

The scale of the problem has also been highlighted by our pensioner organisations. According to the Scottish Pensioners Forum, 200,000 pensioners in Scotland were left vulnerable and trapped in their own homes. The treacherous conditions on our highways and local roads meant that many old people were unable not only to get the support of those who work with them but to go out themselves, get fresh food and supplies and even keep their homes warm.

That brings me back to a point that should be made in this debate. We need to ensure, as neighbours and friends, as a society and as communities, that we personally look in on those who are vulnerable or elderly and that we act as good neighbours. It is not all about Government intervention; there is a role for all of us in society.

I return to communications. Our messages must be clear and consistent, and decisions that have been taken must be communicated effectively to all news and information outlets. I welcome the six-point action plan that the transport minister announced, but I have picked up reservations from local authorities that they were not included in the discussion about that plan. Indeed, my local authority was able and willing to assist Amey Highways when it was having real difficulties with major carriageways in and around South Lanarkshire, but there was a lack of co-ordination in the situation.

We all assume that websites can deliver everything for everybody, but many websites crashed because of the level of demand, and the accuracy of information on websites has been criticised. The websites of the Government, Transport Scotland and ScotRail did not meet the challenge that they required to meet. Further work needs to be done on that. Indeed, some in the media have described those websites as next to useless. If people try to interrogate poorly designed websites that crash and about which our communities express concerns, that undermines people's confidence in our ability to take on and challenge the inclement weather conditions that we face.

There are other forms of communication, of course. At 10.30 on Monday morning this week, I had a welcome meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and the new transport minister in Glasgow. During that meeting, I said that we should consider whether it is possible, with digital communications, to have a dedicated radio channel just for dealing with such conditions so that our messages can be given out in a clear and unadulterated fashion and people can rely on them.

On leadership, I acknowledge the difficulties that we all face, particularly the ministers, but many organisations that had a role in dealing with what we have seen over the past wee while were unclear about where final decisions were being made and the communication of those decisions. The emergency committees were there, and people from them looked good standing in the Scottish Government's response room or standing next to shiploads of grit, but if there is a lack of leadership and a lack of understanding of who is responsible for decisions, that can, of course, lead us into difficult situations. We advocate the holding of a national planning day to ensure that we bring together all the agencies involved and iron out those situations. I hear noises from members in sedentary positions, but if one engages with the officers, councillors, agencies, bodies and individuals concerned, one will hear those concerns being expressed. We will find out in future whether they are right or wrong; all that I am saying is that those matters require to be looked at.

We must consider procurement strategies for vehicles and equipment in light of the conditions. Diesel vehicles could not be heated or used, and the police and other services have been unable to provide sufficient four-by-four vehicles. I believe that the availability of registers to get access to those pieces of equipment is being addressed. There has been a big discussion about tyres, particularly for large goods vehicles and private vehicles. We need to consider such matters. I think that the transport minister will have something to say about packs for stranded motorists and how we support them. I welcome the fact that we have had positive engagement with the Government on such matters and that ideas are coming forward.

The retail industry and the supply chain rely on just-in-time deliveries. Therefore, we must ensure that we engage realistically with our freight transport organisations. It is easy to say that we should stack and rack LGVs and other vehicles at the side of motorways or in pens, but we need to understand the impact on the supply of goods and services, and on supplies of essential goods, particularly fuel. We must ascertain the facts, consult now and ensure that the right decisions are made for future incidents. I understand the concerns that road hauliers have raised about views that have been expressed, but it is our job to engage with them to ensure that the decisions that are taken are right and effective so that there is no great impact on the economy as a whole. There is, of course, a balance to be struck in how we handle such situations.

I regret the intervention of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, who felt that he was somehow in a better position than others to judge individual council responses. Headteachers, teachers and education authorities are much closer to the issues and were making more appropriate decisions. They are far more experienced in such matters. They have student education at the heart of their principles, but they also have safety at the heart of their decision making. I saw the letter from Councillor Pat Watters to the cabinet secretary on the issue, which stated that the cabinet secretary's actions were more about being seen to be doing something than about doing something effective. The fact that the cabinet secretary's letter to councils was immediately turned into a press release did not help the situation.

In coming to an overall view on the situation, I again place on record my thanks to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and others for their engagement. We on the Labour benches welcome the six-point plan that the transport minister recently announced, as it is the start of a response and an on-going process to manage conditions. I give credit to my colleague Charlie Gordon, who, before the crisis began, recommended that the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee should hold an inquiry into how we handle and manage inclement weather. It should be the responsibility of us all in the Parliament to feed into the process.

Much has been made of the Scottish salt group report of August 2010. I would appreciate, from the cabinet secretary or the transport minister, an up-to-date position on some of the many issues that the report raises on salt stocks and salt storage mechanisms. There are other considerations, including whether we need a dedicated winter emergency fund and clearer guidance on the maintenance of routes; whether we should create national salt reserves that are sustained at a higher level; how we can ensure better working with local authorities and trunk road operating companies; what vehicles and equipment we should specify; what our position is on winter tyres and clearing frontages; whether we need an assessment of the economic impact of measures that we seek to take to ensure that we get them right; and, of course, how we can ensure that we get clarity in decision-making processes.

The availability of salt is of particular concern. From my discussions with the council in my area, I believe that it is fairly well off in its salt stocks. However, that means that it has five or six days of available salt supplies. If that is one of the good local authorities, I worry about the state of salt supplies throughout Scotland. A well-stocked local authority such as South Lanarkshire Council has less than 10,000 tonnes, which is enough for five or six days. Many local authorities are worse off and have much less stock. We have a stock target of 25,000 tonnes in Scotland, whereas Wales has a stock target of 70,000 tonnes. If the weather conditions as described in the long-range weather forecast come true, we might have 30 continuous days of sub-zero temperatures. I have a great concern that the salt stocks are not sufficient to allow Scotland to keep moving during such conditions.

My message to the cabinet secretary and the new transport minister is that it is the responsibility of us all in the Parliament to work together to ensure that our economy and people are not disrupted by inclement weather conditions. I accept that the recent conditions were challenging, but nonetheless we did not respond as we should have done. The job of Parliament and the ministers is to ensure that we respond as we should in future.

I move,

That the Parliament acknowledges that lessons have to be learned about how the Scottish Government and its agencies react to exceptional weather conditions; considers that MSPs must now look ahead and work together to ensure that all possible measures are taken to prevent the experience of recent weeks, which saw older people trapped in their homes, schools shut, people stranded on roads, businesses losing money, diesel and food supplies running low, mail undelivered and bins not collected; calls on the Scottish Government to improve communications, ensure closer and effective liaison with all appropriate organisations and consider more robust planning exercises, and, while acknowledging that severe weather will cause disruption and delays, believes that Scotland needs to keep moving regardless of the weather conditions.

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party 9:28, 16 December 2010

This is the first opportunity that I have had to address Parliament since the resignation of my colleague Stewart Stevenson. I place on record my appreciation to him for what I consider to be a distinguished period in office with achievements on many issues, including the Forth replacement crossing, which we debated yesterday, the national planning framework, the strategic transport projects review and the climate change legislation. I thank him warmly for his support and for his service to the Government. I welcome Keith Brown to his office and look forward to working with him in the period ahead.

I welcome the opportunity to provide Parliament and the public with a further update on the measures that we have in place and those that we continue to put in place to deal with severe winter weather and to minimise disruption. Mr Kerr characterised the challenge as being to do with minimising and mitigating disruptive issues. That was a helpful observation at the outset of the debate. The tone and substance of Mr Kerr's speech will help us to make a great deal of progress on the issue. Although the Government will do everything possible to minimise and mitigate disruption, we must accept that, in periods of acute winter weather, there will be disruption to the normal pattern of life in Scotland. The challenge of public authorities is to try to minimise that disruption, which is what the Government is focused on just now.

The amendment that the Government has lodged recognises the outstanding efforts of the many people in the public sector and the voluntary sector within our communities who have contributed towards helping to resolve many of the challenges that we and all our citizens have faced in the past few weeks. The Government records its appreciation for what those public servants have contributed. I associate—

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

In a moment.

I associate myself with the remarks that Mr Kerr made about the fact that all individuals in society have an obligation to look out for and help others in any way that they can during these difficulties. I am sure that we have all been touched by examples of where that has been the case within our own communities.

Photo of Duncan McNeil Duncan McNeil Labour

The cabinet secretary is correct to praise those public sector workers who battled through the snow to look after our most vulnerable and elderly people in their communities last week. While warm words are welcome, does he think that it would be a more practical appreciation of that commitment and work if he was to ensure that those low-paid workers received at least the minimum wage or the £250 protection that they are currently not eligible for?

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

As Mr McNeil knows, in the part of public sector pay policy over which I have control, the exact aspirations that he set out will be delivered. I cannot control all areas of public sector pay because the local authority sector is involved, but I am sure that his words have been heard loud and clear by that sector.

Let me spend a couple of moments looking back at the events of Sunday 5, Monday 6 and Tuesday December, when we experienced sustained, heavy, wet snow falling on already freezing surfaces, which followed a period of sustained snowfall in the preceding week. During the night of Sunday 5 December, the detailed predictions were for fairly small depths of snow of 2cm to 5cm across the central belt with the possibility of up to 10cm on higher ground. The eventual volume of snow that fell and the rate at which it fell were significantly beyond what had been predicted. The heavier snowfall during the morning peak resulted in severe congestion across the network, which restricted the operating companies' ability to continue with appropriate treatment cycles of ploughing and gritting.

At that point, there was full recognition that there was disruption to traffic, and both the operating companies and the police were fully engaged in responding to incidents, many of which they were able to deal with. However, it is clear from the analysis of the range of incidents that took place during Monday that, when one incident was being cleared on one aspect of the motorway and trunk road network, another incident was happening in close succession. We hoped that traffic would have the opportunity to clear in the early afternoon period—that would be the expectation in the circumstances—but it was unable to clear because of the plummeting temperatures that were experienced during the day. That was coupled with the fact that many people, fearful of the weather conditions, left work early, and schools closed. The motorway and trunk road network had virtually no opportunity to recover on Monday afternoon. Consequently, by the time we reached 4 to 5 o'clock in the evening, there was significant congestion and gridlock across many aspects of the motorway network.

Shortly after the early evening, the situation around the city of Glasgow improved dramatically, but traffic was congested on the M8, the M876, the A80 and the M77. That led to significant difficulties and acute problems for individuals who were stranded in those circumstances. The plummeting temperatures—for example, the temperature fell to minus 12 at Gogarburn in Edinburgh at 4 o'clock in the morning on 7 December—resulted in compacted ice forming on carriageways, and with the continued low temperatures, salting activity became ineffective and ploughing was the only option. In some cases, the ice was so thick that it resulted in the blades of snowploughs breaking.

I assure the Parliament that, in those circumstances, the trunk road operating companies, the police and the Government's resilience operation were in constant communication to try to address how the issues could be resolved for the individuals who were affected. It clearly took some considerable time to do that, and judgments were formed and applied during the night, in which I was involved, about the extent to which it was better to remove people from the carriageways to rest centres or to concentrate on tackling the carriageway problems to allow the traffic to flow, which eventually, in the course of Monday evening and Tuesday morning, we were able to achieve. I offer that information to explain the difficulties that individuals who were caught up in those circumstances faced.

I assure Parliament that the trunk road operating companies prepared for the weather forecast that was delivered and undertook the necessary preparation of the road surfaces beforehand, but the extent of the snowfall and the nature of the congestion that was created as a consequence of a number of blockages on the motorway network exceeded predictions. On Tuesday, I explained to the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee exactly where those blockages, which resulted in significant disruption and the circumstances that I have outlined, took place.

Photo of Charlie Gordon Charlie Gordon Labour

The cabinet secretary says that the trunk road operating companies were prepared. Paragraph 8.1 of the winter maintenance plan for the south-west sector in relation to snow and ice states:

"Ploughing of snow will normally commence at a snow depth of 30mm"— which is 3cm—

"and will be accompanied by salt applications."

The cabinet secretary has told the chamber that the predicted snowfall was between 2cm and 5cm, so why did the contractor not prepare to plough as well as to grit?

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

As was explained to Mr Gordon at Tuesday's meeting of the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee, there are snowploughs on the front of the vehicles that undertake gritting. If snow falls, the plough will come down and plough. I heard a commentator on Sunday morning demand that ploughing should have started before the snow came down—I was somewhat mystified by that concept. The gritters will have gritted before the snowfall; whenever snow accumulated, ploughing activity will have been undertaken. That is part of the trunk road operating companies' approach.

I will now concentrate on the steps that we are taking. In the past few days, we have received some acute weather warnings, which have been widely communicated and disseminated. On Tuesday, the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure announced a range of new measures that will bolster our resilience. Mr Brown announced the establishment of a special multi-agency group to respond to future severe weather events. He presided over that operation in Glasgow last night to assess the contribution from representatives of Scotland's eight police forces, the trunk road operating companies, Traffic Scotland, Transport Scotland and First ScotRail.

Photo of Andy Kerr Andy Kerr Labour

Am I correct in understanding that local authorities were not involved in the operation?

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I was referring to the arrangements for operational control last night. If there are operational issues at the local level, of course local authorities will be involved, through their interaction with the police and their interface with the trunk road operating companies. The localities are important when we concentrate on these questions.

The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure announced a series of six additional measures that have been widely communicated and will assist our response. During the debate, we will hear more from Mr Carlaw about the Conservatives' suggestion that we establish a warning system for the communication of messages. The Government is undertaking work in that area. Mr Carlaw's amendment contains a helpful suggestion that will advance our efforts to produce greater clarity in the messages that we send. Utterly clarity and consistency are required in the messages that are issued to members of the public during winter events.

Mr Kerr asked me about salt stocks, so I will take a moment to address that point. According to the most recent reports, 157,000 tonnes of salt are held by the trunk road operating companies and local authorities of Scotland, with approximately 203,000 tonnes on order. In addition to those numbers, the Government has established a national salt reserve, which we replenish constantly with new orders. Based on the decisions that the Government has taken, I expect that strategic salt reserve to reach about 100,000 tonnes. I further reassure Parliament that, if an individual local authority faces salt supply difficulties, the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland provides a network for communication on that point between directors of roads. SCOTS is working to ensure that no authority is left with an inadequate supply of salt.

I hope that my remarks have given Parliament confidence about the steps that the Government is taking to address these issues and I look forward to hearing members' contributions to the debate.

I move amendment S3M-7604.2, to insert at end:

", and acknowledges the significant efforts made by a wide range of public service workers, voluntary organisations and people across Scotland to maintain essential services, support their neighbours and keep communities moving through the extreme conditions."

Photo of Jackson Carlaw Jackson Carlaw Conservative 9:40, 16 December 2010

I begin with an uncharacteristic welcome for a Labour Party motion, which we will support tonight. With its Osbornesque language that recognises that we are all in this together, it makes amends in part for the subject of my principal complaint last week, which was that, even as thousands of motorists remained stranded in sub-zero temperatures and were unprepared and uninformed, too many seemed to be concerned with opportunistic political scapegoating and calls for a minister's scalp.

The objective was not noble. In the face of a national emergency, Scots were wholly unimpressed with politicians who scrambled to do what politicians are inclined to do—to blame one another. People desperately wanted to hear a clear and reliable statement of precisely what was going on and an expression of resolve from politicians of all parties to address the underlying issue—our inability, which we have seen time and again, to provide an effective national response to a weather emergency and to fix the situation so that we have such a response next time.

The public understood perfectly well that Scotland and the minister had been overwhelmed by events. Not for a moment were they persuaded that, had any other party been in office, that would have made a whit of difference. As Mr Swinney said, Mr Stevenson was an experienced and competent minister and is a decent man, but his resignation in due course was probably correct. However, it should not have been the axis on which events focused at the height of the emergency.

Tales of those days will be legion and will live long but, in one respect, they were a time for celebration. When faced with the unexpected and the dreadful, ordinary Scots—those who work and those who do not, those who are in the public sector and those who are in the private sector, as Mr Kerr acknowledged, whether old or young—responded magnificently. There were countless instances of individual kindnesses and of exemplary and heroic conduct, which were all of a character that represents the best in our nation.

What people now require of us and the Government is a convincing strategy. The motion recognises that. In speaking to my amendment, I will concentrate on communication. My colleagues Mary Scanlon and Liz Smith will touch on the challenges that Scotland's NHS and schools face.

There is no question but that, last week, our transport infrastructure—road, rail and air—suffered a near-total collapse. The consequences are far-reaching and potentially deeply damaging. For Scotland to have an emerging reputation that its roads network is unfit for purpose is a gross and undeserved exaggeration. The decisions of delivery operators to suspend Christmas deliveries to Scotland add insult to the injury that many Scots have suffered. We cannot allow the notion that we cannot cope to become entrenched.

I welcome the transport minister back to his post in Parliament this morning after—as I gather from the press—spending a night at the refurbished Savoy. I welcome, too, his first statement of actions, although I note that some of his remedies were previously unimplemented recommendations that arose from last winter's debacle.

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I take Mr Carlaw back to his point about the transport networks' robustness. We must deal with the observation that, in the face of uncharacteristically low temperatures, many aspects of our transport networks were severely challenged. That reflects the current networks but also prompts us to consider the most appropriate rail and road infrastructure to have in place to tackle severely lower temperatures than those to which we are accustomed.

Photo of Jackson Carlaw Jackson Carlaw Conservative

I wholly agree with the cabinet secretary. I merely reflect that we must be prepared to tackle the growing noise that emanated from some in the media that Scotland was in some way uniquely incapable of coping.

It was immediately clear last week that the public do not believe that they have access to reliable information that commands their confidence. Over time, we have allowed public information to become devalued. For example, as people drive in perilous snow and look to overhead motorway gantries for essential advice, what is the point of telling them to consider cycling rather than driving or that snow is forecast? When we are told not to make a journey unless it is absolutely necessary, what does that mean? Does it mean that we can proceed with due care and diligence or that we should proceed with no journey unless a life depends on it?

It was inadvisable of some to exploit a decade of mild winters as irrefutable evidence in support of another campaign, however worthy or essential. We are fortunate not to have experienced regularly the severest winter weather that was once commonplace throughout large parts of Scotland. After 25 years in the retail motor industry, I can attest that we were fortunate last week to have the enormous technical improvements that have taken place in cars and commercial vehicles in the 25 years since we previously had a storm of such magnitude. Given that there are far more vehicles on the roads today, had those advances not been made there would have been 10 times the number of individual mechanical breakdowns. Had anti-lock braking not become standard, the number of serious accidents could have been dreadful.

If severe weather events are once again emerging as part of the expected pattern of winter life, what can we do to better inform the public of what might well be coming their way? We should be able to implement an authoritative Government code that traffic-lights severe weather warnings, similar to the system that applies to a national security alert, or the system that was used for the national flu pandemic. For the most severe weather, the advice would be clear: do not travel. At a level that is one step less severe, people should appreciate that they must travel with extreme care and be prepared for an emergency. The introduction of such an authoritative system does not require the commitment of any major budget; it requires the application and energy of current ministers to effect its introduction. I welcome the cabinet secretary's advice that the Government is specifically looking into that idea.

In addition, I urge the Government to enter into discussions with broadcasters, particularly BBC Scotland, to forge an agreement that, when the severest weather emergency occurs, the public can be assured that authoritative statements will be broadcast at least hourly by a partnership of national and local government, Transport Scotland and the police, to seek to give them reliable information on which they can base informed decisions. For those who are stranded and conserving power, the certainty of the regular timing of such broadcasts would provide reassurance as well as advice, and it would overcome the difficulties with standalone helplines, which the cabinet secretary identified—although I also understand the merits of using a helpline.

Such advice and reassurance was all that many people were looking for last week. They fully appreciated that the event that they were enduring was unparalleled, but they could not understand why they were getting contradictory information and advice that seemed general in character and remote to the challenges that they were facing.

It is truly ironic that we have never had more media to tune into, but with less reliable, helpful or consistent advice broadcast. Neither Government nor politicians can control the weather, but we can do much more to prepare Scotland to meet the challenge that a severe weather event presents. Parliament and Government must convince Scotland that we are ourselves fit for purpose and capable of meeting these challenges with a sense of urgency that will lead to measures that, next time, will demonstrate that Scotland's national response in the face of a weather emergency is second to none.

I support Mr Kerr's motion and the Government amendment. I move amendment S3M-7604.1, to insert at end:

", and further calls on the Scottish Government to give consideration to a traffic-light style graded system of severe weather warnings."

Photo of Jeremy Purvis Jeremy Purvis Liberal Democrat 9:47, 16 December 2010

As members were coming across to the chamber, as snow started to fall on the Parliament again, we were reminded that this is probably just the start of the winter season. We can recall that there were almost three bouts of bad weather last winter, continuing as late as March. It is absolutely right that the Labour Party brings this debate of substance on the issue of resilience.

We owe it to the communities that we represent to ensure that the Parliament is holding the Government to account, and we, in all our political parties, should be working in our own areas to represent the public appropriately.

Like other members have done at the start of their speeches, I welcome the new Minister for Transport and Infrastructure to his post. Stewart Stevenson was always courteous and timeous in his dealings with me, for which I thank him.

On behalf of the Liberal Democrats, I share with members our thanks to the public sector workers who have been out there, going the extra mile. I speak as the son of someone who worked as an ambulance driver for more than 30 years. We owe a real debt of gratitude to our emergency workers, social workers and those who care for the more vulnerable in society.

I do not wish to comment on, and I do not share, Jackson Carlaw's criticism of Annabel Goldie, but I make no apology for the robust Liberal Democrat amendment. Our concern is that, unless hard lessons are learned, real action might not be taken. In welcoming the new minister to his post, I trust that he will consider what went wrong recently, that he will listen to the many council and public sector workers who were on the front line and who have a breadth of practical knowledge, and that he will learn from the poor handling and the poor communication.

On the subject of communication, we think that the minister is learning from what happened, and we are pleased about that. Jackson Carlaw mentioned the six-point plan that the new minister announced, and one can hardly quibble with its elements. However, we asked the Scottish Parliament information centre what document or strategy the six-point plan was based on, SPICe asked the Scottish Government where the six-point plan existed, and the Government told SPICe that it existed in a press release.

We must learn properly and build the plan into our existing strategies and service plans. A six-point plan in a press release will be fine for messages over a week, but it will not address, as we deliberately say in our amendment, the considerable economic damage that was done over the past week—which continues to be felt, and I will touch on that in the remainder of my speech—

Photo of Jeremy Purvis Jeremy Purvis Liberal Democrat

I need to make progress on some areas, but I will come back to Rob Gibson if I have time.

Reputational damage was also inflicted on Scotland. When I met a member of the board and the chief executive of VisitScotland yesterday, we discussed the issue. We should not deny that the news and broadcast images of the capital city's airport and of drivers sleeping overnight in their freezing cars on the main arterial road in Scotland damaged Scotland's reputation, particularly for business tourism.

Photo of Jeremy Purvis Jeremy Purvis Liberal Democrat

Ordinarily, I am keen to give way to members, but I wish to make some points.

Photo of Jeremy Purvis Jeremy Purvis Liberal Democrat

I hear a comment from a sedentary position that it is a ridiculous point, but it is not.

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I appreciate the sincerity with which Mr Purvis has expressed his point of view, but if he had looked at television screens a few weeks ago he would have found that exactly the same circumstances happened in the south of England. Was there reputational damage there? Is there reputational damage in European countries where the same happens? He is making a ridiculously negative point.

Photo of Jeremy Purvis Jeremy Purvis Liberal Democrat

I do not deny that reputational damage has also been done in other parts of the United Kingdom. The fact that primarily—

Photo of Jeremy Purvis Jeremy Purvis Liberal Democrat

I say to the cabinet secretary that it is about our capital city's airport and our main arterial route, and we should not deny the damage.

The cabinet secretary also said, I think, that we had had uncharacteristically low temperatures and exceptional weather. There is real merit in saying that. However, it is interesting to read the "Lessons learned and recommendations following the events of winter 2009/10" from the Scottish Government, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and others in the Scottish salt group, which I read carefully. That paper says that it is based on the paper that was

"published in July 2009 following the then considered exceptional winter of 2008/09."

The foreword to the latest paper relates that

"The winter of 2009/10 was exceptional", and now the winter of 2010-11 is considered exceptional. If we have three such winters in a row, we cannot consider this one exceptional. That is why long-term planning must be considered.

Many constituents of mine have been in touch with me concerning rural pressures and difficulties with heating oil. We have not simply gone through the difficulties, we are still facing them. I will make a specific point to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure: constituents in rural areas are not receiving heating oil deliveries as of today. When I spoke to Johnston Oils yesterday, I was concerned to hear that, according to some estimates, there could be delays of up to four weeks in the deliveries of heating oil. Notwithstanding that, there has been a peak in the price of heating oil, which has increased by 70 per cent over the past three months.

I know from speaking to filling stations in my constituency last night that they are having difficulties securing product from Grangemouth. There are difficulties with not only reliability but provision. I know that the Cabinet sub-committee on Scottish Government resilience has discussed deliveries, but I make an appeal to the minister, because customers are facing difficulties now and there are forecasts that they will continue over the winter.

I have spoken to many constituents who cannot believe that, unlike in Canada or Scandinavia, pumping equipment in Grangemouth was frozen for a number of days and there continue to be real difficulties in securing product from Scotland's main refinery. The Scottish Government, whether working alone or with the UK Government, simply must act on that.

I move amendment S3M-7604.3, to insert at end:

"; regrets the damaging economic and reputational impact of the severe disruption to Scotland's roads, rail services and airports and the Scottish Government's poor handling of the exceptional weather conditions; recognises that difficulties are ongoing; believes that there are several practical steps that could be taken to help avoid such disruption in the future, including for Transport Scotland to carry out more comprehensive scenario planning, for rail operators to review the preparedness of the network and their communication with passengers and for the Scottish Government to facilitate closer co-operation between trunk road operators, the police service and local authorities in their efforts to keep essential routes open and the public advised, and believes that the Scottish Government should outline the measures that it is taking to rebuild confidence in Scotland's ability to remain open for business under adverse weather conditions."

Photo of Alex Fergusson Alex Fergusson None

We come to the open debate. Members will appreciate that there is no time to spare. Speeches of six minutes only, please.

Photo of Johann Lamont Johann Lamont Labour 9:54, 16 December 2010

I am happy to contribute to this important debate. I recognise the desire not simply to dwell on the problems of last week but to reflect on them and learn lessons. I am frustrated that all the evidence of the last period is that the lessons of last year have clearly not been learned. That compounded the problems that we faced last week.

The problem with the way in which the debate around the issue was conducted last year, and last month at First Minister's question time, is that the response to anxieties about the mistakes of last year, and the lack of preparedness this year, was to suggest that those asking the questions were attacking the blue-light services, volunteers and neighbours who dealt with the difficult circumstances. That is simply not true. In acknowledging that selfless effort, we also have to acknowledge that those who are charged with protecting communities from the severe weather—ministers and others—compounded the difficulties and made the circumstances worse for those who gave up their valuable time and made an effort to help others.

My concerns go back a year. Since that time, I have sensed a fundamental flaw in the approach of the Scottish Government, which seems to see the issue of severe weather conditions as one of grit and traffic management. It seems not to see the people and the cost and risk to individuals, families and communities. There simply has to be a shift in attitude. Indeed, the report that the Government commissioned last year focused on little else but salt issues. As far as I can see, when the report was consulted on, the Government did not seek to engage with communities, voluntary groups and organisations.

That approach was reflected in last week's problems. Even on the roads, as the traffic stacked up, authorities seemed to see the vehicles not the occupants. There seemed to be no strategy for identifying or making contact with vulnerable passengers—those with children and others. Indeed, I have heard that people saw the police only when they were being told to get back into their cars. There seemed to be no understanding why someone with a young child, elderly people or those who needed medicine might want to go to the local services.

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I will share with Johann Lamont a conversation with a senior police officer who explained some of the challenges that his officers faced on the road network. In trying to remove the gridlock, they spent substantial amounts of time providing welfare assistance to individuals in the circumstances that the member cites. I appreciate her point, but she has to understand that many of our emergency workers provided exactly the assistance to which she refers.

Photo of Johann Lamont Johann Lamont Labour

I am not attacking any individual emergency worker. I made that point before. As I said, when we raise these issues, it is unhelpful to suggest that. This is about strategy and approach, not individual instances of assistance.

The challenge that the severe weather presents demands a response that goes beyond Mr Swinney as the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and beyond the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. We need a joint ministerial approach in which the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing—who, I am disappointed to say, is not in the chamber today—plays a critical role. I regret her virtual silence on the issue. I cite the example of swine flu by way of comparison, for which rigorous contingency planning was rightly put in place. That included a national helpline, and the information sharing from that—not only on practical issues—saw the Government reaching out to people and giving them reassurance. If we can do that for swine flu, why not for severe weather?

The people who were trapped on the roads were visible, but I believe that we have seen only the tip of the iceberg in respect of those who were trapped in their own homes and therefore invisible. We need more rigour. It is simply not good enough to say without evidence that people were helped. There is no certainty in that. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth does not need to take my word for it. In the middle of the crisis, Age Scotland said on the radio that people were phoning its helpline having phoned their local council for help and being told, "You are not known to us. We can do nothing for you." Age Scotland also reported that people who phoned its helpline expressed feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Surely, in this context, my on-going call for a national helpline makes sense. The number could be circulated early in the year, including by way of advertisement, so that people had it beside their phone. I agree that people who used such a national helpline could be directed towards other appropriate helplines, but a national number would help where there were local weaknesses, as in the example that I cited. We ask people to surf the web, but the disproportionate number of elderly people and poor people who have no access to the internet means that the most vulnerable are the least likely to have access to information. I have never understood why the Scottish Government is so defensive on the matter.

I join others in commending voluntary effort, but what national and local contingency planning has been put in place to harness that voluntary effort? That should be done when the sun shines. We should get such arrangements sorted and learn from local good practice. My local carers centre has a plan in place whereby, when the weather becomes bad, it does a phone-round. Are we recommending that to others? What are we asking general practitioners to do? Are they identifying vulnerable people to contact once the snow comes? What are we asking of our lunch clubs? Are we asking those who are willing to help to clear footpaths to do so in a more rigorous and planned way? The approach does not need to be bureaucratic; it can harness the energy of people who want to help and provide more benefit more consistently across the piece.

I want to flag up a number of other issues in the short time that I have left. There is a public transport issue that has not been addressed at all—that of people getting the wrong information, walking for miles to get to stations and then being told that the trains were not running.

A final, critical issue is that of some employees in our workforce being discriminated against.

Some commentators have asked why people went on the roads when they knew that the snow was coming, but if you are in a low-paid job and your boss tells you that you must get to your work—

Photo of Johann Lamont Johann Lamont Labour

The irony is that managerial people with their BlackBerrys can work at home without suffering any financial impact, whereas the most low-paid workers are forced to go to their work and are condemned if they do not. We must have a dialogue with our employers across the sector to ensure that those people are protected, too.

Photo of Bill Kidd Bill Kidd Scottish National Party 10:01, 16 December 2010

I fully understand the need for the Scottish Parliament to have a debate on winter resilience, and I very much welcome this morning's debate. I believe that we should have had such a debate a long time ago, as winter is hardly new to us. It is a bit ripe of some people to charge on and suggest that the issue is one that just the Scottish Government is responsible for, and that no else has ever had any responsibility for it. However, it is better that the issue is dealt with now than not dealt with at all.

Let us put things in perspective. This is no ordinary winter. Countries across Europe are experiencing their worst winter in decades. There is a reason for that, and a bit of, shall we say, cool and rational thought might help as we prepare for more of the same, which is likely to come our way.

I hope that members will not mind if I provide a wee bit of Open University stuff because, to paraphrase our American cousins, snow happens. It happens as a result of scientific reactions. A large area of high pressure has developed in the Atlantic, which has caused a block to the usual westerlies—the westerly winds—that tend to keep Scotland a bit milder than our latitude would suggest. That has allowed very cold Arctic air to move south across mainland Europe. At this time of year, during the long nights over the European land mass, there is a rapid cool-down from daytime temperatures, with the result that the Arctic blast remains bitterly cold. When that air crosses the relatively warm North Sea before reaching us, evaporation means that it picks up moisture, which then condenses as snow when it reaches the colder temperatures on land.

The weather cycle that Scotland normally experiences does not cause a great deal of problems, but the phenomenon of Arctic oscillation, which happens when opposing atmospheric pressure patterns surrounding the north pole shift back and forth, disrupts the standard weather patterns in the northern hemisphere. Members have got to stay with me here.

Photo of Charlie Gordon Charlie Gordon Labour

Keep going—I was off school that day.

Photo of Bill Kidd Bill Kidd Scottish National Party

It is a while since some of us were at school, so it will not do any harm for us to remember this.

Since the 1960s, in general, a ring of high pressure has surrounded the relatively low pressure over the pole, thereby keeping the cold air where it should be—on top of the world. However, we have been subjected to a reversal of that situation, whereby high pressure over the north pole has been surrounded by a low pressure system, which has resulted in the cold blast of air that has recently moved down over us and our neighbours, both near and far. Members will be happy to hear that that is the end of the science.

It is necessary to be able to respond to changing weather patterns rather than just react to them in the short term. Now is the time to take a long view of equipment planning and to mobilise resources in readiness for any part of Scotland being as badly affected as has been the case over the past few weeks. I have been hearing calls for that to happen for decades—I know that I do not look old enough—and we have all heard that for many years, but no one has yet delivered, so I welcome the Opposition parties' positive proposals that members of the Parliament will work together constructively to prepare for future extreme weather events.

Scotland has seen exceptional weather, as have countries that are expected to suffer worse winter weather than we normally get. Paris had its heaviest snowfall for 23 years, and Charles de Gaulle airport was closed. I do not think that people are slagging off the French Government for that situation; it was the snow.

Sadly, 18 homeless people were reported to have frozen to death and another 12 were killed in snow-related accidents in Poland, which is not a warm country. A record -18°C was reported in parts of Germany, which is not a warm country. A state of emergency has been declared in Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, where schools have been closed, power and heating have been lost and water supplies have been left contaminated. Minneapolis in the mid-west of the US has seen its heaviest snowfall in 19 years. Nashville in Tennessee is experiencing its coldest winter since 1942. It is no fun playing country and western music when your ukulele is frozen to your leg—I have tried.

We all have lessons to learn. However, we are not alone in being hit by a force of nature that is beyond the control of mankind in this country or in any other. With co-operation and good sense on all sides, we can plan for the best of outcomes. We know that we have to do our best for Scotland's people, and at the same time we know that we are not in control of the climate, even with the best of legislation. However, we must all continue to try, and we welcome the Opposition parties' proposals.

Photo of Karen Whitefield Karen Whitefield Labour 10:06, 16 December 2010

I welcome the opportunity to speak in today's debate. I grew up in Shotts, and I and my constituents are accustomed to severe winter weather around Shotts and Harthill. However, even I accept that the recent winter conditions in Scotland are unprecedented. The scale of the problem caused by heavy snowfall and extreme freezing temperatures led to an incredibly challenging situation.

I do not wish to dwell on the failings of the former transport minister in relation to the problem. His preparedness for and response to the crisis were clearly lacking, but I recognise his integrity and his decision to stand down as a minister.

Last week's crisis on the M8 and other significant trunk roads caused chaos and misery for many of my constituents. We should never again have to face the situation of thousands of people being forced to spend the night in their cars in freezing conditions with no clue about what action was being taken to help them. There was a clear breakdown in communication that exacerbated the problem and led to understandable frustration and anger.

I welcome the suggestions that the cabinet secretary and Andy Kerr have made in this debate. During such a crisis, we need clear messages from those in authority. We need a widely known and simple point of contact for information. I agree with Andy Kerr that we should examine the option of a dedicated radio channel and a single phone number to contact for information. We also need to ensure that Government websites and the telecommunications that support them are robust enough to deal with the large volume of web traffic that such a crisis leads to.

We should also examine closely the adequacy of the infrastructure that is owned and controlled by local and central Government. I understand that that will not be easy, given the cuts that all tiers of government are facing, but the cost to our society and economy of the recent crisis is so great that we must make the investment.

For example, the infrastructure that supports the Glasgow to Edinburgh railway line via Shotts is clearly not up to such weather conditions. My constituents in Shotts and the surrounding villages have faced the effective withdrawal of the train service for almost three weeks. That simply is not good enough. Too many of my constituents in Shotts and the surrounding villages—indeed, all the people who rely on the line from Livingston to Bellshill—were forced into cars and on to the M8 on the worst day of the year for weather because they wanted desperately to get to their work. It is not good enough that our train service was not running and that it continues to struggle to operate even today.

If the trains that run on the line are not up to winter conditions, First ScotRail must invest in upgrading or replacing them. If the rail line and points cannot function in low temperatures, Network Rail must upgrade or replace them. With all of the investment that is taking place in rail in Scotland—investment that I welcome—we must ensure that rail services can operate during the winter months. Perhaps Network Rail and Transport Scotland should look at investing in heated points as part of their plans to modernise our rail infrastructure.

Local government also needs to take steps to improve its response to extreme conditions. I appreciate the scale of the challenge facing our local authorities. North Lanarkshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council and Glasgow City Council have many tens of thousands of kilometres of roads and paths, all of which require to be cleared following heavy snow falls and icy conditions. I understand the size of the task, but we need to find a way of overcoming the problem and of changing the way that we deal with the issue.

The current system of prioritising primary and secondary routes all seems reasonable enough, until we realise that practically none of us can access those primary and secondary routes because the street in which we live and the streets around us are snowed in.

Once again, we may need to increase substantially and modernise the infrastructure that we have in place to tackle the problem. We also need to enter into a clear social contract with local residents with an agreed understanding that, if councils provide sufficient grit to each street, local residents will play their part in helping to clear their street. I know that my constituents would be more than happy to do that, but they did not have any grit last week and therefore struggled to fulfil that bargain. Such an approach works in many other countries across the globe; there is no reason why we should be any different.

I will also mention the need for a joined-up approach to dealing with serious winter conditions. For example, decisions to close or open schools clearly have a significant impact not only on the education of our children but on the traffic on our roads at peak times. It makes sense that those matters should be viewed holistically, and I do not believe that it is appropriate for the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, for example, to put pressure on directors of education to ensure that schools remain open or to leave those decisions to headteachers. I trust headteachers, but when they are in school they do not know the difficulties on the roads or whether the roads are passable. For that reason, the cabinet secretary should revisit the memo that he issued to local authorities.

I hope that we can work together to ensure that in future we deal with severe weather better than we have up until now.

Photo of Ian McKee Ian McKee Scottish National Party 10:13, 16 December 2010

I begin my speech by praising the work of Stewart Stevenson over the past three and three quarter years. His work on transport and climate change was of immeasurable benefit to Scotland, and I am certain that history will judge him in a much more favourable light than it will those on the Opposition benches who played a part in bringing him down. Let us make no mistake about it: the utterances of some Opposition parties in response to the adverse weather conditions of the week before last are grounded more in opportunism than in principle.

Of what has Mr Stevenson been accused? It is said that he did not pay sufficient attention to the weather forecast issued just before the snow made many roads impassable. Only yesterday, Murdo Fraser pronounced in an uncharacteristically pompous and patronising climax to his speech that the lesson of Stewart Stevenson's resignation was:

"it is always worth paying attention to the weather forecast."—[Official Report, 15 December 2010; c 31537.]

Can that be the same Murdo Fraser who contemptuously dismissed the science of weather forecasting in his contribution to the Alcohol etc (Scotland) Bill stage 3 debate as recently as 10 November, only 25 days earlier?

This year, Jackie Baillie, Richard Simpson and Helen Eadie have all dismissed weather forecasting as unreliable, the latter joining Mary Scanlon in rubbishing weather forecasts specifically as they apply to the state of the roads in winter. How is it that their party now holds in such high regard the science that it had no time for before? I will tell you: it is because Dr Petra Meier of the University of Sheffield likened the science of modelling to weather forecasting when she gave evidence to the Health and Sport Committee on the Alcohol etc (Scotland) Bill and the effect of minimum unit pricing. Labour and the Conservatives had already declared against minimum unit pricing, so it was in their interests to rubbish the Sheffield report, and the weather forecasting remark gave them their opportunity.

Photo of Ian McKee Ian McKee Scottish National Party

This time, they wanted to rubbish Stewart Stevenson, so weather forecasting suddenly became something akin to a universal truth. As I say, it was naked opportunism with an unmistakable whiff of rank hypocrisy—and all to bring someone down. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Let us consider the reality of the situation. A week last Monday, several factors came together to create an impossible situation. There was a snowfall at rush hour that was far greater than expected. Schools, businesses, road hauliers and the general public had all been anxious to set about their normal activities after the paralysis of the week before, so the road system was congested. Add to that incidents such as the jack-knifing of articulated vehicles and the freezing of compressed snow and we have the circumstances that led to the ensuing chaos.

The Government has admitted that its response as far as information provision was concerned was inadequate. Lessons have been learned. What about closing the motorways sooner? The traffic was already on the roads, and someone as experienced as Chief Constable Kevin Smith, head of road policing at the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, has categorically stated that that would have been impossible. Were gritters in the right places? Yes. Was there enough grit and salt? Yes. Were they ineffective because of temperatures below -10°C? Yes. There comes a time when, because of the severest weather conditions in a generation—there was an avalanche warning for Arthur's Seat for heaven's sake—it is simply impossible to cope unless we prepare to a much higher degree of readiness for future winter conditions.

Would things be better if it was made mandatory for vehicles to change to winter tyres for the winter months? Yes. But would people be happy to do that? Probably not. The same goes for a range of other expensive measures. It must be remembered that, before last year, we had many years when most of the central belt had no snow at all. It is the variable severity of winters that so handicaps all who try to take appropriate and proportionate precautions.

I will give way to Dr Simpson.

Photo of Richard Simpson Richard Simpson Labour

I might have left the chamber by now. [ Laughter .] All those whom the member criticised for their remarks in response to the weather forecasting comments that Petra Meier made also said that the Sheffield report was an excellent report that was peer reviewed. Weather forecasting is important. All that we said was that weather forecasts do not always get it right. In terms of emergency planning, a Government ignores a severe weather warning at its peril.

Photo of Ian McKee Ian McKee Scottish National Party

I know very well that Richard Simpson added that caveat to his negative statements about weather forecasting, but I am absolutely certain that the other members whom I mentioned added no such caveat.

At this stage, I will touch on a sensitive subject that l am sure needs to be aired. As Opposition members have pointed out, a forecast of severe weather conditions in central Scotland was widely broadcast on the Sunday evening, yet thousands of vehicles—from huge artics to tiny Mini cars—still set out on road journeys the following morning. Were all those journeys necessary? Do not individuals and businesses also have a duty to use their common sense and avoid venturing out in such conditions? Do we really think that the omission of a warning from Stewart Stevenson was all that led to chaos on that scale? I think not, especially as we have been told that even when such warnings are issued they are widely ignored. Perhaps what happened last week will encourage more of us to take a little bit more responsibility for our own decisions instead of blaming the Government all the time.

Photo of Alasdair Morgan Alasdair Morgan Scottish National Party

No. He is too near the end of his speech.

Photo of Ian McKee Ian McKee Scottish National Party

One lesson to be learned from recent events is that the country looks with contempt on those who seem more concerned with gaining a ministerial scalp than with ensuring that sound measures are in place to deal with winter crises of unparalleled severity. Let us hope that today marks a new beginning.

Photo of Elizabeth Smith Elizabeth Smith Conservative 10:19, 16 December 2010

As others have done, I want to thank all those who helped clearing away the recent snow and ice—especially the many hundreds of people whose diligent efforts were responsible for keeping open our essential services.

In particular, I saw at first hand the efforts of pupils, parents and teachers who went to great lengths to ensure that schools could be kept open, especially for pupils sitting important preliminary exams—although I hope not exams in arctic oscillation.

I was enormously impressed by the many thoughtful gestures of good will that were made by pupils to help elderly people—and not-so-elderly people—across the road or safely back into their properties. I witnessed a group of high school pupils whose initiative in distributing a wheelbarrow of grit was impressive and much commended by the whole street of residents, if not by the parents who found the grit missing from their garage.

I should also mention the pupils who gave up their lunch hour to help clear the entrance to a care home and the pupils who set up a 24-hour shopping rota for their elderly neighbours. Those young people turned out to be the salt of the earth in more ways than one, and in a day and age when, too often, young people do not get the best press, it was heartening to see their community spirit, and I am pleased to hear that the Scottish Government will recognise that with some special awards.

Much criticism has already been directed this morning at the Scottish Government for the way in which it handled the extreme weather situation—deservedly so, in many cases, particularly in relation to the gridlock on our roads, which other members have dealt with. The First Minister and his then transport minister were being controlled by events rather than controlling events themselves.

Last week, the First Minister stated that "the Scottish Government should have done much better in terms of the information flow".[Official Report, 9 December 2010; c 31417.]

That point has been dealt with by my colleague, Jackson Carlaw. There was weak leadership and an absence of direction, but there is a much wider issue at stake: the question whether there is a better way of delivering our public services, particularly when our country experiences poor weather conditions. I will, therefore, concentrate my remarks on how we can help schools and nurseries to be better prepared.

Any parent will understand that, from time to time, they will have to take time off work to look after ill children. It is important that employers are as flexible as they can be to allow for that. However, from the communications that I and many other colleagues have received, the lack of communication regarding school closures has been an issue. Fife Council was quick to acknowledge that when it apologised for the inconvenience that school closures had caused and stated that it would move quickly to improve communication to parents and children about school closures.

However, is it really appropriate that local authorities, which are often spread over wide geographical areas, insist upon operating a one-size-fits-all policy in relation to school closures? Across Scotland, at the height of the big freeze, many local authorities took the decision to have a blanket closure of schools, regardless of the fact that the weather patterns varied considerably across the area. Would not it be better if the decision to close a school or keep it open was left in the hands of the senior teachers in that school?

Photo of Karen Whitefield Karen Whitefield Labour

I appreciate that Elizabeth Smith wants to ensure that young people's education is not adversely affected and that we do not have schools closed needlessly. However, with the best will in the world, is a headteacher best placed to make a decision about whether a child is able to get home from school safely when they have no idea what the weather conditions are on the roads slightly further away from the school or whether the local authority can grit the roads to allow safe passage of vehicles?

Photo of Elizabeth Smith Elizabeth Smith Conservative

By and large, I think that many of headteachers are, as long as that decision is made in consultation with the local authority and with regard to the information and advice with which the local authority provides them. Headteachers know best what the immediate routes into the school are like, what the conditions around the school building are and what the needs of the pupils and their parents are. I have no doubt that headteachers agree with that. Witness some of the innovative decisions that have been taken by headteachers; for example, the headteacher at Hamilton College who went well beyond the call of duty to look after pupils overnight, and the headteachers who advised hundreds of parents to step in and clear snow so that some of the little ones could get to their classes safely. I think that it is important that such decisions are taken at the local level.

It is also vital that headteachers know that the council will give them backing for keeping schools open and that they should not have to worry about action being taken against them because they have had the courage or, more often, the common sense to do something a little bit different.

There is a lot of misinformation out there, and that can sometimes make headteachers a bit reluctant to keep their schools open. Parent-teacher councils can also have an important role in that regard.

We must ensure that we are better prepared to deal with poor weather. The clearing of paths and access to schools is an issue that was raised in many local authority reports, and I hope that the Scottish Government—as it has indicated this morning—is considering that.

There have been many positive suggestions—for example, that local councils can provide better information by using text messages, or that teachers may be able to report to the school that is closest to their home in order to provide some type of supply service for the period of poor weather.

As has been widely mentioned in today's debate, the Scottish Government's response to and handling of the extreme weather situation was inadequate. I would welcome any further details from the minister of the discussions that the Scottish Government will have with local authorities on future preparations for severe weather, and in particular on the contingency plans that it is putting in place for schools.

Photo of Iain Smith Iain Smith Liberal Democrat 10:25, 16 December 2010

The debate has been very useful so far in highlighting a number of concerns from members on all sides of the chamber about the problems that we have experienced during the severe winter weather. It is about learning lessons for the future; everyone accepts that we have had an extremely unusual situation in which such severe weather has lasted for so long, and things have gone wrong, but we must learn from that and see what we can do to improve things in the future.

I say to Ian McKee, whose speech I thought was totally inappropriate, that Stewart Stevenson had to resign not because he got the weather forecast wrong, but because he went on "Newsnight" when people were still stuck in their cars—and had been for more than 13 hours—and said that the Scottish Government was doing "a first-class job". That level of complacency was just unacceptable when a very serious issue was affecting hundreds of people in central Scotland who were stuck in their cars overnight.

Jeremy Purvis's amendment quite rightly highlights the potential economic consequences of the severe weather, and it is important that we recognise that those exist. It was slightly ironic that one of the first events that was cancelled because of the severe winter weather was the launch in the Parliament of VisitScotland's winter white campaign. At the same time as VisitScotland was trying to encourage people to come to Scotland to take advantage of the country's winter, our airports, our railways and even some of our major roads were closed. That was not the message that we wanted to get across, and the economic consequences are potentially very damaging unless we get it right in the future.

Many of our retail businesses have been suffering because they cannot get supplies of goods and people cannot get to the shops. Businesses are suffering because the workers cannot get to work, and individual workers—as Labour members in particular have highlighted—are suffering because they either cannot get to work themselves and are losing salary, or have to stay at home to look after children whose schools are closed and so they are not able to get paid. All those things impact on local economies.

For many people, Christmas will be cancelled because the presents that they have ordered from online retailers are not being delivered, and those retailers are no longer taking orders from Scotland. That is not good news for the Scottish economy, either.

Jeremy Purvis highlighted the issue of heating oil supplies, which I hope the minister will address when he sums up, because it is very worrying. I, too, have had information about serious problems with heating oil supplies not being available until January. Many people who have ordered, or have tried to order, heating oil have been told that they will not get a delivery for several weeks, and heating oil suppliers are refusing to tell them what the price will be—there is evidence that the price of heating oil has doubled, in some cases. That is a major concern that was brought to my attention by a student in my constituency.

However, of more concern to me are the elderly people who may be stuck in their homes over the Christmas period with no heating oil supplies, or with their supplies so low that they have to run their heating at a very low level to avoid damaging the equipment.

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I wonder whether I can assist Iain Smith, because I acknowledge the seriousness of the issue that he raises. One thing that has helped to address some such issues has been the derogation of the regulations on drivers' hours in order to assist with fuel oil deliveries. That has been a welcome area of co-operation between the Scottish Government and the Department for Transport, which has enabled heating oil companies to undertake some of those deliveries. If Iain Smith has specific intelligence on the issue, the Government will be happy to address it, because there is a daily call between the Government and heating oil distributors on the matter.

Photo of Iain Smith Iain Smith Liberal Democrat

The issue is that the heating oil companies are being told that they are unlikely to get supplies at present, and the customers are unlikely to get deliveries until January. That is the situation on the ground, and it needs to be addressed. I accept the point about the derogation of the drivers' hours regulations, but that does not help if there is no heating oil to supply, which seems to be the problem. Someone has that heating oil, but they are trying to make a huge profit from it, and that is unacceptable.

The issue of the railways has been addressed by other members, particularly Karen Whitefield. Many members have experienced the chaos that ScotRail has inflicted on the people of Scotland over the past two weeks. Part of that is simply down to ScotRail's inadequate information systems: its website has failed to provide accurate information. If we want to find out whether a train is running, it is guaranteed that if it says on the live rail departure board that a train is on time, it has been cancelled. If the board says that a train is delayed, it has been cancelled. The only way of knowing whether a train is running is if it can be seen moving down the line. If we are at the station where the train we want to catch originates, such as Edinburgh Waverley or Aberdeen, if the train is not moving we cannot tell whether it will ever go. ScotRail must do something about improving its information to passengers.

Photo of Iain Smith Iain Smith Liberal Democrat

I am sorry. I am in my last minute.

It is disgraceful that people have been stuck at stations, not knowing whether they will get to work or get home. That is not good enough.

There is also the issue of whether the rolling stock is capable of doing the job. ScotRail says that the brakes freeze and that snow accumulates under the carriages, which causes damage to the equipment. We are told that there are infrastructure problems, such as points freezing. Those issues are all of serious concern and need to be addressed. A once-in-a-lifetime event has happened twice within 12 months, and we need to upgrade our railway network so that it can cope. I have written to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure and to ScotRail. I have also written to Patrick Harvie to ask whether the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee will look into the matter. I hope that the committee asks ScotRail to account for its poor service to Scottish customers throughout the past two weeks.

Photo of Pauline McNeill Pauline McNeill Labour 10:32, 16 December 2010

The fun and beauty of the winter snowfall quickly wore off for many of us when every aspect of daily life was severely interrupted by freezing conditions. For many, it has been an extremely frightening time. Hard lessons appear to have been learned over the past weeks as public confidence in the Government's handling of the severe weather has been in question.

I, too, respect the integrity of Stewart Stevenson's decision to go. He has been a decent minister, and Ian McKee has done him no favours this morning.

The severe weather may have damaged the Scottish economy. Many people were stranded in their homes—some unnecessarily because local pathways were unsafe, although with some gritting they would have been safer. The full impact has yet to be assessed.

We are all grateful to those who provided public services during the recent weeks and we deplore employers who withdrew payment from workers who could not get to work through no fault of their own.

As Iain Smith said, Christmas for some people will be affected, because some well-known companies have cancelled their home delivery services, which a completely unfair overreaction that affects Scottish customers. Shame on companies including Marks and Spencer that have announced that they will not deliver anything to Scotland. We should condemn the companies that have overreacted and are not doing all that they can at this time.

The severe weather has brought out the best in people as they help their neighbours and even strangers. I thank my own local heroes. But for the efforts of my neighbour, I would not even have got to the train station. When my car got stuck, two strangers helped me. I hope that I can repay them. The spirit of the Scots has been replicated throughout the country. That is a good thing about our nation.

I welcome the minister to his new post and appreciate the approach that he has taken so far. I welcome the debate, which is crucial to our future for two reasons. First, we need to reassure the public that everything that can be done to keep things moving is being done and that we have a clear strategy for doing that. Secondly, if we are to experience periods of severe weather in the future, we should decide what changes are required to deal with the weather. Considering that periods of severe weather tend to be relatively short, we need to decide how far our investment should go.

Rumours abound that the police have too few four-wheel drive vehicles. I do not know whether that is true. There have also been lots of rumours that we do not have the equipment that we need. That should be clarified for the future. It is appropriate—indeed, it is necessary—to look at such investment because the issue is not just how we in Scotland deal with these conditions; visitors and business outwith Scotland also need to know that the country can deal with its cold weather. It is fair to say that, up until the very cold spell, the public's expectations were unclear, but last Monday's M8 debacle has sparked the debate at another level. We must be clear about how the Government and its agencies will respond.

That said, it must also be clear how local authorities will respond, because their standards are varying too widely and the public simply does not know what to expect. I agree with Karen Whitefield that if the public are clear about what to expect from local authorities they will fill the bit in the middle and do what they can to ensure that side streets and surrounding areas are, if necessary, gritted.

On the lack of public information, which other members have referred to, I think that what the public want is easily accessible real-time information to allow them to make choices about what they will do on a particular day. In a number of areas, the provision of such information has been extremely poor. Iain Smith mentioned ScotRail's failure to give any real-time information on its website or, indeed, any information at its stations on whether trains were leaving. The situation has been unsatisfactory in the extreme, so I ask the minister to outline in his summing up the discussions that he has had with First ScotRail on that failure. I commend ScotRail staff for being helpful in stations and very kind to passengers, even to the extent of offering free tea and coffee, but the company itself has simply not done enough.

As an elected member, I believe that I am entitled to information about what Transport Scotland is doing to keep Scotland moving. It tells me about the good progress on the M74 and the M80 from Stepps to Haggs, but it has not provided me with a single briefing about how it is dealing with this situation, so I urge the minister to give members the briefings that they should receive.

As I have said, local authorities' performance has varied, so I ask the minister to tell us in his summing up how that situation can be made clearer. Clarity on that would be helpful.

Trunk road network operators must be more visible to the general public and we need to be briefed on what is expected of companies such as Amey and BEAR Scotland. Last Christmas, the A80 was not cleared or gritted on time, and the public did not know who to contact over the Christmas period. We need to be able to satisfy ourselves that those private companies have not skimped but have invested in suitable equipment. I urge the minister to outline to members what those companies have done in that regard and how they can be more visible to the public.

In the interests of the welfare of our Scots people, we need a strategy to help the most vulnerable and to get Scotland moving. In these difficult economic times, the outside world needs to know that Scotland is able to deal with its cold weather. We need to raise our game. I welcome the constructive discussion that we have had so far and I hope that, by the end of the debate, the minister will feel that he has some new ideas—and new challenges—to take on. I wish him all the best.

Photo of Rob Gibson Rob Gibson Scottish National Party 10:38, 16 December 2010

I will be gentle with central belt members and merely suggest that it would have been interesting had the leaders of the Opposition parties taken any interest at all in the weather conditions in the north and north-east of this country at any time in the past. Those who simply fly over the country and do not have to deal with the road and rail situation in the north do not know what I and fellow members in the Highlands and Islands and rural areas have to do to cope with it.

It would be a good idea to learn some practical lessons and, indeed, to inject some facts into the debate. When the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee discussed the matter on Tuesday, it was pointed out that on the railways only half the units were available for use because the other vehicles were caught up in tonnes of ice. In such circumstances, it is very difficult for Scotrail to put on services. I am sure that it was trying to put on trains; indeed, many of us who make long-distance journeys found that eventually a service was made possible.

The problem is that people have become totally dependent on getting places no matter the weather. That is where our resilience and personal decision taking have got to kick in. The question whether there should be one helpline or one website is part of the issue, but people have become so tied in to the idea of being able to use the arteries of this country that they have assumed that they will always work.

Photo of Rob Gibson Rob Gibson Scottish National Party

I will not at the moment, thanks.

The arteries of this country will not work in extreme circumstances. In many cases when questions are asked about particular services—Shotts and the railways were discussed earlier on—I would say that the same applies to the far north. What does it take to heat points? We want to know about the work of Network Rail, ScotRail's franchise and what it takes to give us better information. When that franchise comes up for renewal, we should ask for a more robust service in that respect.

Photo of Lord George Foulkes Lord George Foulkes Labour

Will the member take an intervention on that point?

Photo of Rob Gibson Rob Gibson Scottish National Party

Not at all, thank you.

Passenger Focus Scotland's experience is that passengers want information and that ScotRail should be told, "You got us into this. Get us out of it, because we've become dependent on your service." We have learned the lesson that arteries will sometimes not work. They have not done so for three or four days out of 365. Further north and north-east, they have not worked in many more instances because of weather circumstances that are very hard to deal with.

Photo of Rob Gibson Rob Gibson Scottish National Party

No, thank you.

The contracts that have been made by Amey and BEAR Scotland have excluded mutual support between those transport companies and the local authorities on the major road networks. They have ruled out local authorities taking part in activities. A Transport Scotland report talks about the need for more mutual help.

I am sorry that the convener of the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee is not here, which is a disgrace, to listen to the debate. Transport Scotland's report was published in August. There have been times in the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee when it might have been possible to discuss that report. The convener of that committee should have had his antennae ready to organise a debate on it. On three occasions, we did not have meetings that were due to take place; discussions about the report could have taken place then.

I suggest to all the other parties that we should ensure that not only the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee discusses resilience; the Local Government and Communities Committee should also consider it, because local government matters are concerned. Like other issues that crop up across the Parliament, winter resilience is the responsibility of more than one committee. I ask the people who have been complaining about local government services to make their complaints through the Local Government and Communities Committee.

I must move on, as we do not have much time. HGVs have been blamed for too much of the problem. There are issues to do with bad driving on our motorways. In our cities, where there has been less traffic, people have been driving faster in terrible weather. People have, to say the least, behaved inappropriately on the roads. We should take the opportunity to take a bit of education from what has happened. We can all learn from this debate and get out of the way of looking for someone to blame. Every path and road cannot be cleared, but councils and others must think seriously about a resilience issue that may need more spending. If that is the case, we need a plan to be able to do that.

On the very day on which the events that we are discussing took place, we had the success of the Cancun climate change talks. Stewart Stevenson and this country should have been able to celebrate that success. The severe weather that we experienced is very much a part of climate change. Perhaps the central belt has woken up to the fact that climate change is a huge issue.

Members know that and perhaps the public know it, too. Perhaps people up north understand that severe weather will be part of their programme, so we had better be prepared.

Photo of Karen Gillon Karen Gillon Labour 10:44, 16 December 2010

I, too, pay tribute to Stewart Stevenson. He was a good transport minister and I had good and positive discussions with him. However, he did the right thing. He is a man of integrity and he knew that he had not delivered what he should have delivered and so took the honourable decision to resign. The comments of SNP back benchers have done nothing to uphold his decision, but perhaps they have established that, in part, he was brought down by the arrogance of a Government that fails to accept the responsibility that comes with governing and which seeks to abdicate responsibility at every opportunity.

I welcome Keith Brown to his new post. He will bring a lot to the job. I welcome the new plan, particularly the points on the removal of central reservation barriers from motorways and on welfare packs. The measures in the plan are all welcome ones that people talked about last Monday and Tuesday when I spoke to them. They asked why measures were not in place to get people off the motorway. People with young children or who were ill were trapped and needed to get off the motorway. The steps that the minister has outlined will help the next time.

I want to raise a couple of issues that relate to my constituency. Members have talked about train services. Day and daily, people in my constituency make journeys by rail, mainly to Glasgow. When road conditions deteriorate, more people decide to travel by rail for safety reasons, in the main. However, last week, once again, the main rail services to Clydesdale were suspended from Monday until Friday. That is not the first time that has happened. A similar situation arose last year, caused by Network Rail's strategic decision to fix points to serve the west coast main line. Doing so cuts off huge areas of Clydesdale with the result that, through no fault of their own, people cannot get to work.

It is all very well for us to say that people should not make journeys, but if someone is paid £6.50 an hour and Christmas is coming up, they need to get to work if their employer will otherwise not pay them. They have bills to pay and kids to get presents for. The rail service's inability to function has caused serious concerns for people.

Photo of Lord George Foulkes Lord George Foulkes Labour

Did my friend, like me, hear with astonishment the previous speaker talk about ScotRail and what it ought to be doing, when it was his Government that extended its franchise without any consultation of the trade unions and without any inclusion of such safeguards? Should not the Scottish Government accept that responsibility?

Photo of Karen Gillon Karen Gillon Labour

Lord Foulkes makes a good point. I was coming on to that. Rob Gibson talked about taking the issues into consideration when we renegotiate the franchise, but we did not even negotiate the current franchise. The problems are not new. Rail services in my constituency are suspended any time there is bad weather, which is simply unacceptable. Last year, Network Rail said that there would be infrastructure improvements and that it would put in new heaters on the points. Lo and behold, this year, the points shorted again. Network Rail installed new heaters, but it did not fix the amperage properly, which meant that when the heaters were needed they shorted, and it took Network Rail a week to fix them. Once again, services were suspended, which is not acceptable to people.

Similarly, the decision by East Coast to terminate services at Edinburgh and to cut off the rest of Scotland from services on which people rely is not good enough. The plan that the Scottish ministers have drawn up focuses predominantly on road travel. I understand the reasons for that, but I urge ministers to undertake detailed discussions with Network Rail and First ScotRail. We will get more snow during the winter and there will be more difficulties. People cannot be in a position in which they cannot get to work. They will end up losing their jobs, which they cannot afford, particularly in the current economic climate. I am sure that ministers can make those points.

Members have mentioned heating oil; Jeremy Purvis raised the issue. I welcome the comments that the cabinet secretary made on that, but a further issue is that the price of heating oil has gone up significantly in recent weeks. I do not know whether that is because of profiteering—I do not know what the real reason is—but people who live in some of the most remote parts of my constituency have no option but to heat by oil, and many have had their heating installed through the Government's central heating initiative. The price hike might well force them to choose between heating and eating.

The second issue is the availability of heating oil. My constituents, like people in other areas, are being told that it will be four weeks before they can receive a delivery, which might well leave them without heating over Christmas and the new year. If we have the kind of weather that is forecast, that could well lead to health problems and also to frozen and burst pipes. I know that the Presiding Officer, who is my neighbour, has had problems with that. I urge the minister to get back in touch with the companies to see what can be done to get heating oil to the most vulnerable communities.

Finally, I turn to petrol, which remains a concern. We need to continue to look at the strategic delivery of petrol. People in rural areas in particular are dependent on road travel for many of their journeys. If they do not have petrol and diesel, people simply cannot get about. They cannot get from their village into the town to buy bread and milk and essential supplies. We need a strategic plan for petrol deliveries that focuses on who needs it most rather than on who shouts the loudest.

I welcome this morning's debate and I hope that the minister will respond to some of those points when he sums up.

Photo of Stuart McMillan Stuart McMillan Scottish National Party 10:50, 16 December 2010

I will support the amendment in the name of John Swinney this afternoon. I, too, acknowledge the hard work of everyone in Scotland who has tried to keep Scotland moving in the past couple of weeks.

Much has already been said in this morning's debate, as well as in the media, about what happened in Scotland because of the weather in the past couple of weeks. I am afraid that some of what has been said is political opportunism, but some of the comments have been valid and legitimate.

One thing is certain: last week's weather can only be described as appalling. However, it needs to be put in context. Last winter was the worst that I could remember, but this year the snow has arrived that much earlier. For many years, we have mainly had wet winters with a few days of snow. From my recollection, the few days of snow provided some challenges, but they could be overcome quite easily.

I grew up in Port Glasgow. For any member who does not know the topography of Port Glasgow or Inverclyde, I say that it can be challenging to walk up the hill from the town centre even when the weather is fair. I know that the Presiding Officer knows the conditions of Port Glasgow very well, and she will be aware that walking up the hill in the snow and ice provides an even greater challenge. I no longer stay in that part of Inverclyde, but I was speaking to some friends who still stay up at the top of the hill and they were shocked by the conditions and the poor response of the local authority. However, they understood that the snow was extremely severe.

Growing up in Port Glasgow, we could always tell the severity of the weather by how much snow lay down in the town centre. If there was a lot of snow there, we could guarantee that it would be five times worse at the top of the hill. Unfortunately, last week's weather in Port Glasgow and across the central belt proved to be that bad. The higher ground suffered much more than the lower ground, but the lower ground was caught out by the severe weather conditions as well.

I will give an example of the conditions in Inverclyde last week. Last Monday, a member of my staff travelled down from Glasgow to accompany me to the Greenock sorting office to learn about the activities of the Royal Mail staff in the run-up to Christmas. We arrived at 5 minutes past 8. It was raining outside and practically all the snow and ice from the previous few days had gone. When I left the house, it was snowing but, as I travelled down the hill to the sorting office, the snow turned to rain. When we came out of the sorting office at 20 past 9, there was approximately 1in of snow on the ground. While we were inside speaking to the staff and management, a few postmen came in with their heavy coats on and explained the conditions to one of the managers. Their coats had a fair amount of snow on them, which proved to me that they were telling the truth.

I do not know which weather forecast Inverclyde Council was looking at, but it was clearly caught out by the conditions just as authorities across the central belt were. I could have played party politics and called for the resignation of the relevant councillor in charge of the roads, but I did not want to stoop to those depths. Could they have been better prepared? The answer is clearly yes, but to have councillors resign from councils throughout Scotland would not provide a correct solution.

It is clear that there were failings in many parts of the country last week, and the former transport minister said that lessons had to be learned.

Photo of Helen Eadie Helen Eadie Labour

Does the member agree that one of the biggest issues that every MSP must have faced last week—I certainly did—was the number of e-mails and phone calls to our offices from people who were appealing for help? People were living on porridge for three days, or cornflakes, with no tins of food in their cupboards. Why is there not a helpline? It is not about the blame game. It is about putting in place a helpline for those people who are in utter desperation.

Photo of Stuart McMillan Stuart McMillan Scottish National Party

The point that has been made about a helpline is certainly an interesting one. I am sure that the member heard the response from the cabinet secretary earlier in the debate.

Last week, there were many failures in parts of the country. We must learn the lessons from those failures. The Scottish Government recognises that some of the preparations that were in place were not as robust as they were previously thought to be.

I welcome the six-point plan that has been produced this week, but it is important to acknowledge a couple of important points. First, information from the Met Office indicates that last winter was the second coldest in Scotland since 1914, with only the winter of 1962-63 being colder. This year, snow has arrived earlier than last year. Secondly, there have been conflicting reports about what the weather forecasters were saying last week. I am afraid that, unlike Bill Kidd, who spoke earlier, I am not a weather forecast anorak. I may or may not catch the weather forecast on the telly—it is not a must-watch in my house. Also, this is December—it is cold, it is winter and it may snow.

Photo of Stuart McMillan Stuart McMillan Scottish National Party

I am sorry, but I am in my final minute.

At the weekend, I had a chat with my brother-in-law, who thought that Stewart Stevenson was correct to resign. In contrast, my sister-in-law said that he should not have resigned, as he was not in charge of the weather. My brother-in-law stays in Inverclyde and recently started a short-term contract in Edinburgh, so he drives through every day. He told me that, on Sunday night, he checked the BBC website for the weather forecast, which reported some sunshine; snow was not mentioned. As a result, early the next morning he set off for Edinburgh, only to turn back when the blizzards came. A neighbour of mine who is a teacher told me that they managed to get to their school for 8.30, only to hear when they got there that it had been shut, along with all the other schools in Inverclyde. It is clear that there was a local communication issue.

Clearly, there have been problems. We must learn lessons and ensure that we are better prepared for such conditions. I welcome the debate and congratulate my colleague Keith Brown on becoming the new Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. I am sure that he will deal with his post in the way in which he dealt with his previous ministerial portfolio.

Photo of Mary Scanlon Mary Scanlon Conservative 10:57, 16 December 2010

I take this opportunity to commend the approach that Nicola Sturgeon took last year to the potential flu pandemic. She kept Opposition spokesmen—Cathy Jamieson, me and others—the media and organisations throughout Scotland updated clearly and regularly on that potentially worrying issue. I suggest that the new Minister for Transport and Infrastructure take a similar approach, which could be helpful in the circumstances that we are discussing.

Andy Kerr argued that a single telephone line should be provided. His point was well made, but it was equally well made by my colleague David Mundell 10 years ago, when it fell on deaf ears. I hope that a single source of information and information will be made available at this point.

The weather has seen off one decent, law-abiding and, in my view, well-respected minister. I hope that lessons will now be learned. I strongly support Jackson Carlaw's proposal for a traffic-light system as a means of providing further clarity. On the radio this morning, it was suggested that certain roads in the Highlands are "passable with care". I have often driven on roads that are "passable with care". Some of those roads were akin to a toboggan run; on others, there was a slight fall of snow. What does "passable with care" mean? The phrase is not exactly helpful. Many people who took the journey that led to such chaos may have heard on the radio that the roads were "passable with care".

I turn to the six-point plan that has been produced. I have serious concerns about the stacking of HGVs in lay-bys to keep the traffic moving. I understand that, yesterday, the Government had further talks with the Road Haulage Association but, as a regular commuter on the A9, I know how few large lay-bys there are to store the significant number of HGVs that use the road. What will happen to the movement of livestock? Will livestock be stacked up at the side of the road, with no feed? What will happen to essential deliveries of freight, food and fuel? Will they, too, be stacked up at the side of the road?

What will happen to ordinary motorists—such as me and other MSPs from the Highlands—when they need to stop in lay-bys to clear their windscreens because their screen wash and wipers are frozen, but they cannot get in as lay-bys are stacked up with HGVs?

I understand from work in my constituency that the law in Scotland does not allow caravans or mobile homes to be parked in lay-bys overnight, because of serious traffic and safety hazards. I would like to know what those serious traffic and safety hazards are and whether they do not apply to HGVs, too. A little more clarity on that is needed.

Most of the complaints that I have received relate to trunk roads and not to local authority roads. Snow and compacted ice were still on the A96, which is the main trunk road between Aberdeen and Inverness, days into the recent cold snap. In recent times, the Keith area has experienced temperatures at 8 o'clock in the morning of -19°. I do not want to go down the road that Rob Gibson took, but let us not forget that that is a very serious issue, too. At a meeting with Moray councillors on 19 November, BEAR Scotland was asked what lessons it had learned from last winter and what changes would be made. Councillors were told that nothing would change, although the A96 around Keith and Huntly was one of the worst-affected roads in Scotland last year.

People in the farming community have undoubtedly rallied round to support their neighbours. Many have assisted in the snow-clearing effort and have taken water and food to animals with frozen water troughs in snowbound fields. The added problem of heavy snow and limited wind has put severe pressure on buildings and roofs. The quick thaw might have reduced the number of buildings that collapsed, but I hope that the Government will do all that it can to assist farmers who lose buildings, given that some farmers are still waiting—because of hold-ups in funding and planning—to build replacements after last year's bad weather.

When the roads are dangerous, surely every effort should be made to maintain public transport links. As other members have said, it has been difficult to obtain accurate information on the train system just to go from here to Inverness. On days when no trains run north of Edinburgh, surely it would help to tell people that the buses are running. I thank my friend Rhoda Grant for texting me at 7 o'clock last Friday morning to say that Citylink buses were running and could be booked. Although the bus journey took about eight hours and the driver had to have a 45-minute break in Aviemore because of the travel time, we finally got home.

It is unacceptable that the far north rail line from Inverness to Caithness is consistently closed—as it is again today. When the weather is bad, surely people in Caithness deserve the attention that is paid to the rail network elsewhere in Scotland. I also agree with Iain Smith's point about the First ScotRail website.

There is little to disagree with in Labour's motion. Lessons must be learned, changes must be made and a northern country such as Scotland must not grind to a halt because of a severe snowfall.

Photo of Trish Godman Trish Godman Labour

I call Cathy Peattie, to be followed by Christina McKelvie. I can give each speaker a tight four minutes.

Photo of Cathy Peattie Cathy Peattie Labour 11:03, 16 December 2010

Four minutes—I will try. I associate myself with the comments about Stewart Stevenson, who is a decent man. I have enjoyed working with him on transport issues in the past few years. I welcome Keith Brown to his post and I hope that my committee will have a good association with him.

In a press release that was entitled "Scotland ready for winter's worst", Kenny MacAskill said:

"all the relevant authorities are as prepared as they can be".

It is clear, though, that he and his colleagues were walking on ice. They believed that they were ready, but they were not. That suggests that they were badly misinformed, that they did not ask the right questions or that they accepted poor information.

Fingers were pointed at weather forecasters—the situation was suddenly said to be their responsibility. Surely the biggest lesson that must be learned is that weather forecasts deal with what is likely, not certain. Preparations for severe weather should allow for variation in where and when the snow starts and in how heavy it is.

We must question whether information that Transport Scotland and others provided on preparedness reflected accurately their ability to deal with severe weather. The mistakes were compounded by people making comments during and after the event. When it became clear that things were going badly, the Scottish Government was slow to grasp the extent of the problem and the need for intervention. Faced with cracks on the ice, the Government kept on walking. If it was clearly an emergency situation, why were no resources deployed? Why were they not deployed sooner? Why was there not a co-ordinated response, with consistent advice regularly issued to news channels, so as to keep the people who were affected well informed about the efforts that were being made to help them—albeit, sadly, belatedly—and to prevent more people from joining those who were already in difficulty?

Conflicting advice lay at the root of several problems. What are members of the public and local authorities to do when the police are saying, "Don't travel," but the Scottish Government is saying, "Don't close schools"? In line with the Scottish Government's advice, local government resources were targeted towards schools, but they were still not able to open. Those resources could instead have been used to clear access to sheltered housing and hospitals. One of the local housing associations in my constituency was trying to buy salt from commercial outlets, but there was none available. It then saw Jackie Bird with MSPs saying that salt was available to collect from local authorities. Unfortunately, however, the Scottish Government was telling local authorities to conserve their stocks, so there were no handouts to the public.

People cannot get to work if the buses are not running or if they cannot get to the bus stops. Public transport has to be a priority. Some of my constituents did not see a bus for over a week. I congratulate my constituents of Canal Walk in Brightons, who organised a snow party, which was attended by 30 people armed with spades and shovels and home baking, who spent an hour clearing snow. Such instances of locally organised actions are great examples of Scotland's communities at their best, organising themselves to tackle adversity. Such initiatives should be supported and encouraged by local authorities and the Government.

Then, we come to the aftermath of the severe weather, and the further mistake of trying to pretend that the actions that were taken have been the best that they could have been in the circumstances. The minister's six-point plan is of course welcome, but I am particularly concerned about road haulage. I am also concerned about the fact that salt and grit should be available for the trunk road network. That is good, but they should also be available for local communities, to help to prepare them. It is not good enough that people cannot access salt and grit.

The fifth proposal in the six-point plan is about better solutions to take HGVs off the road. That might be a welcome announcement to some, but it is not good enough if it means full warehouses, empty shelves and petrol pumps, mail not delivered and businesses losing money.

We cannot cancel Christmas—we need to keep traffic moving.

Photo of Christina McKelvie Christina McKelvie Scottish National Party 11:07, 16 December 2010

We often contrast our winter weather preparation and survival with those countries that we believe to be far better prepared and far better in the execution than we are. I was therefore surprised to read about the problems that are being faced in Canada this week, with hundreds of motorists on highway 402 being caught in the snow and stranded in their cars for 24 hours from Monday morning. Back in February, a third of Sweden's trains were cancelled, the Stockholm metro system was shut down, schools, nurseries and sports halls were closed, and shops and factories were also shut down. However, I did not hear anyone talking about reputational damage in those countries.

Better communication about the problems being faced, the cause of those problems and the movement towards solutions is essential. Preparation is all important, of course, so it was good to see ScotRail moving earlier this week to protect its rolling stock and to prepare for further severe weather. I understand the concern that members have raised today about ScotRail and its preparedness for last week. ScotRail, determined not to be caught out again, is fitting skirts and hot air blowers to its trains—I am not quite sure whether to expect a hover-train or the rail equivalent of a pair of hot pants. It is a start and, hopefully, it will help ScotRail to avoid any repeat of the widespread disruption of last week.

The recently announced Government plan should allow for better winter maintenance to be provided, and it looks like we are at least heading down the right road. Spending on winter maintenance is up. The previous Executive cut it by £5 million in 2003, and it never recovered until 2006. Even then—pardon the pun—it was frozen for the following year, which was the year when the SNP came to power, of course. Resources for routine and winter maintenance have risen in every year in which John Swinney's hands have been on the tiller. They have increased by £10 million over the four years, to just under £62 million.

All that can come to nothing if the resources are not properly deployed, which is why the Government is right to change the emphasis that it places on its readiness for severe weather. Being able to shut down parts of the trunk road network for safety reasons or to allow gritting and salting to take place and giving the police the power to move vehicles off the carriageway to allow it to be cleared are sensible moves that complement the excellent efforts of thousands of people—professionals and volunteers—who make the difference in severe weather conditions.

I refer to those who look out for a neighbour, clear a path or, like volunteers at the churches in Hamilton and Motherwell, get together to ensure that vulnerable people have hot drinks. The Hamilton Asda staff went out of their way to keep their cafe open to ensure that people had somewhere to get hot food, hot drinks and much-needed sanctuary from the weather. That sense of community holds a nation together and allows it to grow.

I am confident that the steps that the Scottish Government has taken this week—the six-point plan and everything that comes with it—ensure that we are as prepared as we can be. I wish it all the best in the coming week.

Photo of Jim Tolson Jim Tolson Liberal Democrat 11:11, 16 December 2010

I pay tribute Stewart Stevenson. I always found him to be a hard-working, dedicated and honest man, although he took the right decision—an honourable one—when he stood down last week.

Yesterday, I also paid tribute to the new minister. I hope that he is surviving well after having done his first night shift on the job. He seems to be quite awake at the moment, which is fine. So far, so good for Keith Brown.

I am grateful to the Labour Party for initiating the debate. I am sure that most members have a tale or two to tell of personal or constituency problems that they have experienced with the current spell of freezing conditions. Many of my constituents in Dunfermline are still suffering 3in or 4in of ice on their pavements and, indeed, many of the side roads. That is making conditions treacherous for vehicles and pedestrians.

Exactly a week ago, I was one of hundreds of passengers who were stranded on a broken-down train at Rosyth. That was bad enough, but the breakdown was not the biggest problem: the lack of effective communication—as outlined in Labour's motion—meant that tempers began to fray and were stretched to the limit.

Promises by the chief executive of First ScotRail, whom I had on the phone several times during the journey for more information, often did not come through to the passengers. He claimed that a replacement train would come by a certain time, but it did not materialise timeously. By the time a replacement train came and set off the long way round the Fife circle due to frozen points, those who were left on the train had a four-hour delay in their daily commute.

People outlined to me the poor information on First ScotRail's website, at the stations and on board the trains. At least First ScotRail has now formally apologised to the passengers and offered them travel vouchers as a gesture of goodwill, for which I commend it.

However, the same cannot be said for the people who found themselves stranded on the M8 last week. Their problems were significant and, potentially, life threatening. Any situation that results in the closure of the main motorway between our two biggest cities is simply unacceptable. Last week's situation led to Keith Brown taking on his new role.

Some members mentioned the M8 closure. John Swinney fleetingly referred to people being stuck in their vehicles. We are glad to see the six-point plan that the minister announced this week and we support it. Karen Whitefield also touched on people being stuck in freezing conditions in their cars, a situation that she called simply unacceptable. I associate myself with those remarks.

John Swinney also touched on the weather forecasting. We may have different opinions about what we saw from different weather forecasting sources last weekend and at the start of this week.

He still claimed that the forecasts were inaccurate but, on Sunday night, I saw information on the BBC saying that people should not travel and that there would be a snow blanket across central Scotland. That is certainly what we found the following day.

I join my colleague Jeremy Purvis in paying tribute to the hard work and dedication of our local authorities. Many people are hammering the local authorities—as I said, in some parts of west Fife, there are still 3in or 4in of ice on pavements, as there is elsewhere—but many authorities and the contractors that they have brought in are doing dedicated hard work in very difficult conditions. Elizabeth Smith welcomed the hard work and dedication of local authorities and, importantly, many members of the public in our communities. She suggested that those people should be awarded for their selflessness. That was a helpful comment.

Photo of Jim Tolson Jim Tolson Liberal Democrat

I am sorry, but I have very little time available.

The main point that many members, including the cabinet secretary, made was about poor communication. That is the key lesson that many need to learn. I welcome Mr Kerr and Ms Lamont's suggestion of a single phone number, which may greatly help. We would like to see the detail of how that could be rolled out so that people in all sorts of situations can get ready access to the assistance that they need. John Swinney said that there should be clear and consistent information, and I absolutely associate myself with those remarks. Jackson Carlaw, too, focused on communication; he said that people appreciate winter problems but need to be better informed. That is the circumstance that my constituents have told me about over the past week and more.

Iain Smith touched heavily on First ScotRail and its need to get something done about the problems. My view is that Network Rail needs to do something about the points. Frozen points all over the network mean that people do not have the flexibility to travel even where there is rolling stock available.

Andy Kerr touched on emergency response and the effect on the sick and elderly. He suggested that more than 200,000 people were trapped in their homes—I think that many people still are; their situation is difficult indeed. Earlier this week, I took the trouble of visiting the ambulance station in Dunfermline, where I spoke to staff and managers. They told me stories of ambulances getting stuck in back streets whereupon not only council workers but a dedicated army of people—a shovel army, if you like—got out there to ensure that those vehicles got back on the move.

Significant concerns remain about the Government's ability to ensure that Scotland keeps moving when bad weather hits us. I welcome the new minister to his role. He certainly has a big task and I sincerely hope that he does well. Scotland deserves nothing less.

Photo of Alex Johnstone Alex Johnstone Conservative 11:17, 16 December 2010

I join the many members who have paid tribute to the resigning Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, Mr Stewart Stevenson. Stewart has an excellent record across a range of policy areas. The circumstances that lead him to decide to tender his resignation were not entirely of his making, although later in my speech I will talk about some elements that were.

Those of us who come from parts of Scotland that experience some of the heaviest snowfalls in Britain on a regular basis—including the cabinet secretary—can find it entertaining to see how a few inches of snow or a little bit of frost stops the economy of some of the more intensively operating areas of the country. The weather conditions that we endured last Monday, however, were anything but entertaining. The weather in central Scotland on Monday 6 December was some of the worst that I have seen. The depth of snow that I saw on my journey down from the north-east was extraordinary. The circumstances were very demanding.

Photo of Ian McKee Ian McKee Scottish National Party

Will the member join me in congratulating NHS Lothian employees, 97 per cent of whom turned up for work during the inclement weather?

Photo of Alex Johnstone Alex Johnstone Conservative

I congratulate them, as I congratulate everyone who made strenuous efforts to get to work, particularly those whose work was essential to overcoming the difficult weather conditions that we experienced.

The difficult weather conditions are part of the argument that has been developed today. The truth is that they were unprecedented, but we in Scotland should be used to the idea that we must deal with such conditions.

Statistics have been used by many members in the debate. Bill Kidd gave us a complete science lesson on weather forecasting. I dispute nothing that he said. In fact, having made my living as a farmer for many years, the ability to read weather forecasts was crucial to my wellbeing during those years. However, statistics can be used to prove the strangest things. For example, we have been told that the last three winters have been the three worst winters that we have experienced in living memory. That has coincided with the first Scottish National Party Government that Scotland has ever had, but even I would not suggest that the two things are tied together.

Photo of Alex Johnstone Alex Johnstone Conservative

The problem that we had comes down to one simple thing—information and the failure to use it properly and to move it properly through Government and through people.

The problems that I experienced were with the rail service that runs north to Aberdeen. The north-east was lucky. We had a lot of snow, but there was nothing in particular that caused us unusual or exceptional problems. However, the first thing that happened when the snow hit the central belt was that the east coast main line and CrossCountry services that form the majority of the trains going north to Aberdeen were stopped at Edinburgh.

The next thing that happened was that trains that should have run north from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Inverness found themselves tied up in the bad weather conditions down here. Naturally, trains that could not get north could not get south again. The effect was that we lost 90 per cent of our rail system.

What could we do to get information? The websites appeared to tell us nothing. Trains were marked as being on time until the moment of departure, when they were marked as cancelled. A certain Liberal Democrat chief whip went all the way to Aberdeen on a bus to catch a train that did not make it so, unfortunately, he had to go all the way home on another bus.

Members:

Aw.

Photo of Alex Johnstone Alex Johnstone Conservative

I think that that sympathy was feigned.

Lack of information was the key driver of many of the problems. It was a problem for train passengers and for road users, and—to return to the point that I made earlier—I think that it was a problem for the transport minister, too. Ultimately, the real reason why Stewart Stevenson was put in such a difficult position was that when he appeared on "Newsnight" on Monday 6 December, he made it clear that he believed that the Government's response had been exemplary and that it had done everything that was required of it and everything that was necessary. I believe that Stewart Stevenson had been misinformed. That lack of information, which started at the grass roots, went right to the very top; Stewart was, I believe, misled.

That is why the new minister, Keith Brown, starts with a massive challenge on his hands. We know that we will experience bad weather. Those in the central belt are getting used to the idea that it may happen more often, but if we are to deal with such problems in future, we need information. Road users must be told clearly when there is a problem, train users must be told when there is a service and ministers must be told what is going on out there in the country and on our roads.

The suggestion by my colleague Jackson Carlaw that we adopt a simple system—not a helpline, which could simply get jammed up if demand increased—that would feed information out through the commonly used media on an hourly basis so that people who were trapped in cars or who were standing in waiting rooms in stations could hear what was going on and use that information effectively is the solution to the problem, and I commend it to members, but the minister needs to look very hard at the information that was supplied to Stewart Stevenson and how he came to receive it.

Photo of Keith Brown Keith Brown Scottish National Party 11:24, 16 December 2010

It is right that we have such a debate when everyone in Scotland is talking about the weather and its effects. An issue that is important to the people of Scotland should be important to us.

I start by thanking the various groups of people that some members have mentioned and which form the focus of John Swinney's amendment. Last night, I had the chance to see some of their efforts up close. I am referring especially to night gritters, who sat for many hours waiting to go out at the appropriate time, police officers and the many people behind desks who do a tremendous job. It was apparent that genuine effort was being made across a number of agencies and communities, whose role has been mentioned. I think that it was a Labour member who made the point that the issue should be about people. That is true, and that idea informs our amendment.

I will try to deal with as many of the points that have been made as possible. I do not think that I will get through them all, but I will be happy to talk to any individual member who wants to pursue a point that I cannot mention.

First, I highlight the fact that some members have taken a fundamental view of some of the issues that have affected us, and I have tried to take those issues into account. I enjoyed Bill Kidd's speech, although some members did not seem to. It was an interesting exposition of long-term and profound changes in weather conditions. I, like many other members, was not aware of the term "Arctic oscillation". He made important points about Paris, Poland, Canada and Finland experiencing dramatically different conditions in recent days. Charles de Gaulle airport and the Eiffel tower were closed, which raises the question whether France's reputation should be damaged. Some people think that we in Scotland like to beat ourselves up; there is no need for us to do that when we have Jeremy Purvis around.

We have tried to take immediate measures. Improved communications are at the heart of the six-point plan that we mentioned. Andy Kerr talked about the involvement of local government in that six-point plan—it was discussed in the presence of representatives from COSLA, SCOTS and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers. Andy Kerr was right that there was not a great deal of time to consult, and action had to be taken quickly, but the plan was discussed with those bodies, and we can have further discussions as necessary.

Some of the measures that have been mentioned by individual members are, as the cabinet secretary made clear, being considered, and others that have been mentioned will be examined. One of those is the point that is made in the Labour motion about planning exercises. Charlie Gordon mentioned that when we met on Monday morning. I do not know whether we are thinking about the same thing, but I envisage local authorities and all the agencies undertaking contingency planning from time to time when they are not under stress. We should look at doing that on a Scotland-wide basis or in an appropriate location in Scotland.

Johann Lamont said that Nicola Sturgeon was not involved. I have attended four daily meetings since I got this job and Nicola Sturgeon has been at every single one to report on the efforts of the health service, which have been tremendous. Some of the figures that could be given out show how it has continued, almost without interruption in many cases. It has done a tremendous job and Nicola Sturgeon has been involved right the way through the process.

Karen Whitefield mentioned the traffic Scotland website. As Alex Johnstone said, the pressure on some of those websites can be phenomenal. On 5 December, that website received 1.1 million hits. On 6 December, there were 21.6 million hits on it. It is not always possible to plan for that, although now that it has happened, we should do exactly that.

Heating fuel provision has been mentioned by several members. There is an extent to which we have to act: there is no question but that we must ensure that we can help with supplies. However, there is a question about the vehicles that some of the companies are using not being able to access some rural locations with large tankers. We have raised that issue. It is also true that the demand for heating oil increased during the cold spell. Fuel distributors are working well to resolve specific problems. The cabinet secretary mentioned the current extension to drivers' working hours and the rights and derogations that we have achieved. Grangemouth is ramping up its operation, and I understand that it had a further delivery today. We are mindful of the points that members have made and we will take them to today's meeting of the Scottish Government resilience room.

Pauline McNeill and other members mentioned ScotRail. On the point that Pauline McNeill made about information getting to members, I will ask Transport Scotland to ensure that every member is given a briefing as far as possible about the various things that it is doing so that members are better informed. If something is not covered in that briefing, members can come back to me.

Mary Scanlon mentioned that there were temperatures of -19°C. In my area, which is a lot further south than hers, it was -15°C for a number of days. I have never seen that before. Temperatures below -10°C have a profound effect on ScotRail's rolling stock. It is not easy to remedy that quickly because of the money that would have to be spent. I mention that as just one of the reasons why some of the services have been disrupted.

I have tried to work constructively with members and I will continue to do so. For example, as the cabinet secretary said, we will accept Labour's motion. We have demonstrated that we are willing to listen, and to look at constructive suggestions, such as that about planning exercises. As the cabinet secretary said, Jackson Carlaw's suggestion has been discussed. It is not quite as straightforward as it may appear—I am sure that it will not surprise him to hear that—but it has been discussed because it seems attractive on the face of it. We will try to work through the problems, but the end result will be to have a much clearer definition and a more commonly accepted and understood set of warnings that people can know the integrity of.

Mary Scanlon mentioned HGVs. Let me say that the intention is to stack HGVs—to put them to one side—when we have to get a gritter or snowplough on to a trunk road to clear it. There was a concern that they would be disadvantaged compared with general traffic, which could just go on its way. That is not the intention. The intention is to stack the vehicles so that we can get in for a short time to grit or plough a road. That means that where we can do that—I appreciate that we cannot do it everywhere—there should not be the problem that she mentioned in relation to livestock.

Finally, despite my natural inclination to be constructive, I must mention Jeremy Purvis's amendment, which is a step too far. As is always the case, there 50 words when one will do and there is no group of words that includes anything like "suggest", "collaborate", "measured" or "balanced". It is merely a never-ending stream of verbose negativity—not so much a Jeremy as a Jeremiah. He misses the mood of today's debate and, when we come to decision time, I hope that the Labour motion is accepted along with the Conservative amendment and the amendment lodged by John Swinney, but that we reject Jeremy Purvis's amendment.

Photo of Charlie Gordon Charlie Gordon Labour 11:31, 16 December 2010

For the avoidance of doubt, I remind members that I placed on record yesterday my tribute to Stewart Stevenson and my welcome of Keith Brown to his new brief.

This has been an important debate that I have found very useful. Winter maintenance is not something that we debate often, but it is something that I think about a lot. That has been the case since the six years in the 1990s when I had political responsibility for winter maintenance in Strathclyde Regional Council, including the M8 motorway in Glasgow. Later, in my six years as leader of Glasgow City Council, I was ultimately responsible for winter maintenance, and I sometimes used to look over the roads convener's shoulder, just to ensure that all his ducks were in a row.

Last year—when there was also a severe winter—I made a point in the Parliament to the cabinet secretary about how the need to return nightly and daily to keep the main routes open meant that local authorities were perhaps not giving sufficient attention to side roads and footways. To his credit, he subsequently gave the local authorities additional resources.

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

Mr Gordon made a point about local authority resources, so I will use the opportunity to tell the Parliament that I have written to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities today to say that I will keep under review the financial implications of the winter weather on local authorities and take a considered position later in the winter.

Photo of Charlie Gordon Charlie Gordon Labour

That is a welcome intervention. Any budget for winter maintenance is an estimate at best, but we do not stop when we run out of money—we carry on to help people and sort out the financial implications later. That is in the nature of this area of public policy implementation, so I welcome the intervention.

With this year's derogation from driver hours regulations for gritter drivers and those delivering animal feedstuff, the Scottish Government quickly took on board suggestions from ourselves and others that we look in some cases at driver hours where food and fuel is locally in short supply.

Around 1 or 2 December, I approached the convener of the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee to suggest that we look at winter resilience options for the future. Why did I do that? I was worried after hearing members of the public with unrealistic expectations. Some people think that they can go to sleep and, no matter what nature throws at us during the night, drive on black tarmac in the morning. I also hear loose talk about Canadian or Scandinavian-style responses. We would need to cost those responses and to realise that they would not be used every year.

We do not take any pleasure in the difficulties that we have witnessed. We want the best for Scotland, and we do not want Scotland to be hurt. That is why we wanted a constructive debate and why we welcome the fact that it has mainly been that.

Andy Kerr set the right tone in highlighting a case involving kidney dialysis, and Johann Lamont underlined the point that people are involved in this. We techies must not forget that.

In severe weather, the response must be about minimising inconvenience—it is not possible to eradicate it completely. I hope that the Scottish Government will consider seriously our consistent proposal for a single freephone helpline and look into the establishment of a radio channel. I welcome the fact that it is considering a national dry run for all the agencies, and I hope that we can make further progress with the salt group recommendations. I hope that, before the close of this winter, we will not face the issue with the supply of salt that bedevilled us last winter. Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go.

Mr Swinney made a specific point about the amount of snow that was predicted on Monday 6 December. Even if one based one's response on the lower level that was forecast, of between 2cm and 5cm of snow, the winter maintenance plan provides for the operation of snow ploughs when 3cm of snow is predicted—that is a fact. From experience, I know that it is difficult to operate snow ploughs in heavy traffic and that it is preferable to have roads closed in advance. The snow ploughs cannot plough until the snow falls, and it is true that snowfall during the morning rush hour is the worst-case scenario. I know from experience, however, that it is also true that the police are capable of closing roads quickly in the event of a major crime, accident or emergency.

Last week, the cabinet secretary paid particular tribute to West Lothian Council and North Lanarkshire Council for helping out with the problems on the M8. Local authorities should be involved in the co-ordinating arrangements, and I think that Keith Brown accepts that.

Jackson Carlaw was at variance with his party leader. At First Minister's question time on 16 December, Annabel Goldie said:

"Scotland is losing patience and losing confidence in the transport minister, who has been complacent, negligent and belligerent."—[Official Report, 16 December 2010; c 31422.]

Jackson Carlaw seems to think that that was petty politicking—perhaps he will receive counsel later.

Jeremy Purvis made an important point when he said that we need to gross up the opportunity cost to the whole Scottish economy of what we have just been through.

My fellow Glaswegian, Bill Kidd, explained the Arctic oscillation, which I found useful because I was off school on that day. Apparently, it is nothing to do with the arc of prosperity, but it explains to us Glaswegians why it is pure dead Baltic. Lloyd Quinan, eat your heart out.

Karen Whitefield made an interesting point about the Shotts line. It was a judgment call to keep the west coast mainline trains running, but we subsidise the Scottish franchise and there is a legitimate debate to be had about that judgment.

Dr Ian McKee was his usual self—enough said.

Elizabeth Smith made a thoughtful speech about schools in severe weather.

Another fellow Glaswegian, Rob Gibson—I am outing him—castigated us central belt members. I will return good for evil and place on record my thanks to him for letting me share his taxi 10 days ago, which allowed me to catch my train back to civilisation.

Alex Johnstone made an interesting speech, as usual. I pity him for having exchanged the three-hour meetings of the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee for the five-minute meetings of the Subordinate Legislation Committee.

Finally, I welcome the minister's responses about the planning exercise and, crucially, the resilience of the website. As the saying goes, we are all in this together, but some bear a heavier burden of responsibility than others.