Scottish Government

Dear Sir / Madam

Consultation on the Draft Guidance on Regional Transport Strategies

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on Scottish Ministers to create regional transport partnerships ( RTPs) covering the whole of Scotland. Ministers propose to create 7 RTPs and an order, the draft Regional Transport Partnerships (Establishment, Membership and Constitution) (Scotland) Order 2005, was laid before Parliament on 19 October 2005.

The Act also places a statutory duty on RTPs to prepare regional transport strategies and requires them to have regard to statutory guidance prepared by Scottish Ministers.

I am pleased to enclose a copy of the draft guidance on regional transport strategies on which I would welcome your comments. These should be sent to the above email address or to Jim Richardson at the above postal address.

In drawing up the draft guidance, we have worked closely with the existing voluntary RTPs, Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, CoSLA and the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation Scotland as part of the Transport Bill Reference Group and as part of a small working group set up to assist the drafting of the guidance to draw on their experience and knowledge in developing transport strategies.

Please find enclosed with this letter:

• Information on the Scottish Executive's consultation process
• Information on how to respond to this consultation
• The draft guidance on regional transport strategies.

The period of consultation is six weeks with a closing date of Tuesday 20 December 2005.

If you would like further copies of the consultation paper, please contact Jim Richardson at the above address.

Yours faithfully

IAN D KERNOHAN
Head of Local Authority and Partnership Liaison Team

Consultation on Draft Guidance on Regional Transport Strategies

List of Consultees

In addition to making the draft guidance publicly available via the Scottish Executive website, we are circulating it to:

• Bridge authorities
• Business organisations
• Clerk of the Local Government and Transport Committee
• COSLA
• Commission for Racial Equality
• Community Planning Partnerships
• Confederation of Passenger Transport
• Consultants
• Cycling and walking organisations
• Departmental Committee Liaison Officer
• Disability Rights Commission
• Enterprise Network
• Environmental groups
• Equal Opportunities Commission
• Freight / Road Haulage
• Health Boards
• Legal Deposit or "Copyright" libraries
• Local Authority Chief Executives and Heads of Transportation or Equivalents
• Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland
• National Parks
• Rail Passengers' Council
• Regional Transport Partnerships
• Scottish MEPs
• SE Library
• SPICE
• Strathclyde Passenger Transport
• Trade unions
• Transport academics in colleges/universities
• Transport lobby groups
• Transport operators
• Transport professional bodies
• Visit Scotland and Tourist Boards
• Voluntary sector umbrella groups

If you think anyone else or any other organisation should receive a copy, please let us know.

THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE CONSULTATION PROCESS

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide-ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many varied types of consultation. However, in general, Scottish Executive consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

The Scottish Executive encourages consultation that is thorough, effective and appropriate to the issue under consideration and the nature of the target audience. Consultation exercises take account of a wide range of factors, and no two exercises are likely to be the same.

Typically Scottish Executive consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the issue, and they are also placed on the Scottish Executive web site enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses. Consultation exercises may also involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as through public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises. Copies of all the written responses received to a consultation exercise (except those where the individual or organisation requested confidentiality) are placed in the Scottish Executive library at Saughton House, Edinburgh (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh, EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4565).

All Scottish Executive consultation papers and related publications (eg, analysis of response reports) can be accessed at: Scottish Executive consultations .

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

Final decisions on the issues under consideration will also take account of a range of other factors, including other available information and research evidence.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

CONSULTATION ON DRAFT GUIDANCE ON REGIONAL TRANSPORT STRATEGIES
Responding to this consultation paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 20 December 2005. Please send your response to:

transport@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or

If you have any queries contact Jim Richardson on 0131 244 5077.

We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which parts of the draft guidance you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Executive consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for consultations ( SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form which is attached to this letter as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Executive are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public (see the attached Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 23 January 2005 and on the Scottish Executive consultation web pages by 30 January 2005. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SE Library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next ?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us finalise the guidance on Regional Transport Strategies. We aim to publish the guidance in February 2006 and issue a report on this consultation process by spring 2006.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

transport@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or

RESPONDENT INFORMATION FORM:
DRAFT GUIDANCE ON REGIONAL TRANSPORT STRATEGIES