{"id":7989,"date":"2020-09-15T12:30:42","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T11:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/?p=7989"},"modified":"2020-09-15T12:30:42","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T11:30:42","slug":"programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-21-PfG-cover.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7991\" src=\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-21-PfG-cover.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"421\" \/><\/a>Transform Director, Colin Howden, presented to the Transform members on the 2020-21 Scottish Government Programme for Government (PfG) on Thursday 10 September.<\/p>\n<p>Colin began by summarising the transport content in the PfG into eight categories:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Reducing the need to travel \/ Digital connectivity<\/li>\n<li>20-minute neighbourhoods<\/li>\n<li>Active Travel etc.<\/li>\n<li>Bus priority<\/li>\n<li>Low Emission Zones etc.<\/li>\n<li>Decarbonisation of public transport<\/li>\n<li>Decarbonisation of private transport<\/li>\n<li>Capital expenditure<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You can find detailed summaries of the transport content in <a href=\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-09-10-Presentation-on-SG-Programme-for-Government-Colin-Howden-version-for-website.key.pdf\">Colin&#8217;s presentation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Colin then shared Transform&#8217;s commentary on the PfG, which was summarised as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some <strong>helpful policy commitments<\/strong>: digital connectivity, 20 minute neighbourhoods, active travel spending commitment, bus fleet decarbonisation \u2014 although these are generally not accompanied by spending commitments.<\/li>\n<li>Pleased at <strong>retention of some previous PfG commitments<\/strong> (e.g. bus priority, LEZs, fossil fuel phase-out) \u2014 but the excuses presented regarding lack of progress on these are generally not very credible.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate framing has been lost<\/strong>: Last year\u2019s PfG took the Climate Emergency as its theme; this year, the phrase gets mentioned only ten times, and none in the context of transport, despite transport being the largest source of emissions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spectacularly vague on spending commitments<\/strong>: We can see c. \u00a3105m committed funds for 2020-21, but Transport Scotland budget is over \u00a32,500m per annum.<\/li>\n<li>Strange that <strong>railways &amp; ferries<\/strong> get almost no attention \u2014 especially given their prominence in Transport Scotland\u2019s budget.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No reference to existing high-carbon spending commitments<\/strong> \u2014 and no information on whether IIP, STPR2, etc. outputs will follow climate priorities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The presentation was followed by a Q&amp;A and discussion. One member pointed out that the \u00a3500 million spending commitment on active travel represents a real-terms reduction in value across the five years. An interesting discussion then followed on the long-term equalities impact of the increase in working from home. Attendees raised concerns over access to the digital infrastructure required to work from home and it was agreed that Transform would revisit this issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transform Director, Colin Howden, presented to the Transform members on the 2020-21 Scottish Government Programme for Government (PfG) on Thursday 10 September. Colin began by summarising the transport content in the PfG into eight categories: Reducing the need to travel \/ Digital connectivity 20-minute neighbourhoods Active Travel etc. Bus priority Low Emission Zones etc. Decarbonisation&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[70,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending - Transform Scotland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending - Transform Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Transform Director, Colin Howden, presented to the Transform members on the 2020-21 Scottish Government Programme for Government (PfG) on Thursday 10 September. Colin began by summarising the transport content in the PfG into eight categories: Reducing the need to travel \/ Digital connectivity 20-minute neighbourhoods Active Travel etc. Bus priority Low Emission Zones etc. Decarbonisation...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Transform Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/transformscotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-21-PfG-cover.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TransformScot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TransformScot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/\"},\"wordCount\":327,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/\",\"name\":\"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending - Transform Scotland\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/\",\"name\":\"Transform Scotland\",\"description\":\"For Sustainable Transport\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Transform Scotland\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/2473148\/admin\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/transformscot\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Transform_Scotland\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/transformscotland\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TransformScot\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/TransformScotland_RGB-arrow-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/TransformScotland_RGB-arrow-1.png\",\"width\":3543,\"height\":3531,\"caption\":\"Transform Scotland\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending - Transform Scotland","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending - Transform Scotland","og_description":"Transform Director, Colin Howden, presented to the Transform members on the 2020-21 Scottish Government Programme for Government (PfG) on Thursday 10 September. Colin began by summarising the transport content in the PfG into eight categories: Reducing the need to travel \/ Digital connectivity 20-minute neighbourhoods Active Travel etc. Bus priority Low Emission Zones etc. Decarbonisation...","og_url":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/","og_site_name":"Transform Scotland","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/transformscotland","article_published_time":"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-21-PfG-cover.png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TransformScot","twitter_site":"@TransformScot","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending","datePublished":"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/"},"wordCount":327,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Featured","News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/","url":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/","name":"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending - Transform Scotland","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-15T11:30:42+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/2020\/09\/15\/programme-for-government-helpful-policy-commitments-but-spectacularly-vague-on-spending\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Programme for Government: helpful policy commitments, but spectacularly vague on spending"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#website","url":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/","name":"Transform Scotland","description":"For Sustainable Transport","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#organization","name":"Transform Scotland","url":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/2473148\/admin\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/transformscot","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Transform_Scotland","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/transformscotland","https:\/\/twitter.com\/TransformScot"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/TransformScotland_RGB-arrow-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/TransformScotland_RGB-arrow-1.png","width":3543,"height":3531,"caption":"Transform Scotland"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/blog\/author\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7989"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7999,"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions\/7999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transform.scot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}