To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to deliver a safer speed limit of 20mph by 2025 on all appropriate roads in built-up areas. (S6O-03349)

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing 20mph speed limits on appropriate roads by the end of 2025. If someone is hit by a car in a built-up area at 20mph, they are seven times more likely to survive than if they were hit at 30mph.

In the 36-month period after the implementation of the limit, the City of Edinburgh Council has seen a 31 per cent reduction in casualty rates on the 20mph roads. All councils have now submitted their road assessments, identifying the appropriate roads for a speed limit of 20mph—and it is notable that councils are driving that work. A delivery sub-group that consists of officials from Transport Scotland, local authorities and wider road safety partners will oversee implementation and produce a detailed programme of delivery for meeting the 2025 deadline. The programme will contain the actual costs of completing this important road safety initiative.

I would also highlight Highland Council as a successful early adopter of the speed reductions, and communities that do not yet have 20mph speed limits have been asking for them.

I thank the Cabinet secretary for the constructive working that we have had on that and many other issues since she came back into Government last year.

From the Borders to the Highlands, communities have welcomed 20mph speed limits, which reduce dangerous speeds, make places feel safer and friendlier and, ultimately, as the cabinet secretary has said, save lives. I welcome the progress that every single council in Scotland is making on those 20mph plans. Is there funding for councils to deliver a co-ordinated national programme to ensure that no community is left behind and that no child in future has to live on a residential street with a dangerous speed limit?

The Scottish Government has allocated a record £36 million to road safety in order to reduce casualties and risks on our roads, and it is delivering against our priorities in the road safety framework. Local road authorities were asked to identify the number of roads that would be suitable for a 20mph speed limit and to provide the approximate costs of implementation in their respective areas. Highland Council, an early adopter of the strategy, is currently 62 per cent below the original estimated budget, but I would just say that any speculation based on rough estimates rather than detailed plans would be premature. Once we have obtained detailed costs from local authorities through the delivery sub-group, we will consider what proportion of the overall road safety budget is required this financial year to deliver a co-ordinated programme through to 2025.

I hope that Mark Ruskell gets better soon, because he is obviously not too well.

Can the Cabinet secretary confirm that this will be entirely a matter for local councils and that there will not be the same disastrous blanket roll-out of 20mph limits that we have seen in Wales and which has had economically disastrous consequences for that country? Has she done any economic analysis for Scotland in the event that such an approach were to be adopted?

If the Conservative member had kept up with developments—and having read some of his comments in the papers, I understand that he probably has not—he would know that the difference between us and Wales is that the Welsh Labour Government introduced a blanket 20mph reduction and is hastily introducing retrospective exemptions by council. The Scottish Government, on the other hand, has had up-front exemptions for councils, and those exemptions have been identified and led by councils, with a steady and agreed roll-out of 20mph speed reductions.

There have been positive studies from Wales on the impact of the speed limits. As for the economic development and business impact, high streets have felt the benefit of people being able to shop, walk and enjoy their town centres at leisure. That is certainly the feedback that we are receiving. The member might also want to visit some communities in the Highlands, including Rosemarkie, which campaigned for two decades to get the 20mph limit introduced.