Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board - meeting minutes - 6 March 2025
Members
- Fiona Hyslop (Chair) - Cabinet Secretary for Transport
- Hugh Gillies (HG) - Transport Scotland (TS) - Director of Roads
- George Henry (GH) – TS – Head of Roads Policy and Safety
- Gary Ritchie (GR) – Police Scotland
- Hilary Sloan (HS) – Police Scotland
- Robert Nicol (RN) – Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
- Colin Park (CP) - The Scottish Collaboration of Transportation Specialists (SCOTS)
- Councillor Gail MacGregor (GM) – Spokesperson for Environment and Economy - COSLA
- Oliver Harding (OH) – National Health Service (NHS)
- Kenneth Barbour (KB) – Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS)
In Attendance
- Ed Gordon (EG) – COSLA
- Stewart Leggett (SL) – TS - Head of Operations
- Michelle Van der stighelen (MVds) – TS – Safety Camera Programme
- Katrina Caldwell (KC) – TS – Statistics
- Paul Sloan (PS) – TS – Statistics
- Ryan Gilbert (RG) – TS – Strategic Communications Manager (Roads)
- Ben McKenna – TS – Road Safety Policy
Apologies
- Graham Foster – NHS
Secretariat
- Hannah Wood (HW) – TS – Road Safety Policy
Welcome and Introductions
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and reaffirmed that road safety remains an absolute priority for the Scottish Government. There is still a concerning trend relating to the number of those being killed and seriously injured on Scotland’s roads and that action is required to address this. The 2025/26 budget has a record level of investment for road safety of £48m and it was noted that this would support delivery against key priorities.
The Board noted that work is underway to train over 500 road safety partners across Scotland on the Safe System and that this would conclude in May and that plans are in place to publish a world’s first Safe System Manual. The Chair also advised that the National Speed Management Review consultation had closed, a record number of responses had been received and the Board would be kept abreast of progress. Officials attended the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety which took place in Marrakech in February 2025.
Previous Minutes and Actions
The previous minutes were circulated and no comments received, these have since been published.
SPB Progress Report
2024 Provisional Road Casualty Statistics and 2025 Police Management Information Data
The latest management information data was provided, highlighting that Police Scotland is continuing to monitor the analytical data to identify trends in activity and investigate how casualties can be prevented. Police Scotland continue to work with operational partners on emerging trends and threats.
Communications Handling Plan
RG updated members on activity that had been delivered to promote road safety investment and efforts to enhance road safety in Scotland. Support from members to share road safety communications further would be welcomed, to ensure that opportunities are maximised to enhance comms around road safety campaigns and initiatives. The Board agreed for TS to create a Communications Stakeholder List and members agreed to support in the creation of this.
Partner Updates
Members provided an update on their road safety activity with the following points being highlighted:
Transport Scotland
Officials attended the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety; 20 mph Speed Limit implementation is expected to be completed in 2025 and was progressing well; a record level of road safety funding of £36m in 2024/25 has been invested with £14m allocated to local authorities; the National Speed Management Review consultation responses would now be analysed; Safe System training had commenced and been well received; 20 mph on the Trunk Road Network was progressing well and a full suite of road safety measures has been delivered at various locations; the Project PRIME installation toolkit had been welcomed by partners and a comprehensive road safety programme will be shared going forward.
CoSLA
Councillor Macgregor highlighted that the three main areas of work from the previous 12 months have been: active travel, 20% reduction in car use KMs and road safety including 20 mph speed limits implementation. All of which are progressing well and will continue into the next 12 months.
Police Scotland
Analytical information around Police Scotland campaigns is being shared with TS in order to inform future campaigns; the 2025 motorcycle safety campaign will be launched earlier than in previous years to tackle the increase in motorcycle fatalities; the Festive Drink and Drug Driving campaign has been analysed and shared with TS with the findings being used to inform the summer Drink and Drug campaign; work is continuing on the In-Depth Fatality Research Report which will be shared with members in the coming weeks. It was noted that Road Traffic Diversionary Courses and the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability will be key priorities to progress towards delivery and HS agreed that Police Scotland would provide a programme update on these items to the Chair. The Board also noted that as per the recommendations contained in His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS), a review of the Safety Camera Programme will be undertaken. HS acknowledged issues with Safety Camera Programme performance indicators and work is underway to address this. The review will consider the structure and aim to enhance the performance level of the Programme. HS also advised that Police Scotland would develop a program around ways to enhance how Scotland’s roads are policed throughout the next 18 months.
The Board also noted the importance of the In-Depth Fatality Research Report and it was agreed to prioritise this work and prepare a report on the period 2021-24.
SCOTS
CP advised the Board that road safety training and publicity had been a focus for all local authorities in particular, promoting the messages to young people; Junior Road Safety Officer campaigns and bikeability have been utilised ensuring a consistent and impactful educational message for road safety. CP advised that these initiatives will be continued into 2025/26 with a particular focus on local authorities attending Safe System training; The Board noted that the Road Safety Improvement Fund had been welcomed and local authorities had been investing in targeted measures aligned with the Safe System; continuing the roll out of 20 mph implementation; SCOTS will explore the idea of developing a toolkit to support smaller local authorities with delivery of road safety initiatives; road safety network improvements will continue over the next 12 months and; State of the Nation report which focuses on local roads will be progressed.
NHS
The Board noted that NHS public health group had continued to meet regularly and provided a network function across Scotland; A framework for review of evidence has been set up and had fed in to the National Speed Management Review consultation; A wider umbrella review on evidence in relation to road safety and road use is planned for 2025/26 as well as a review of wider philosophical and other frameworks; Engagement with the Scottish Directors of Public Health group would also be progressed.
Scottish Fire and Rescue
Initiatives for the preceding 12 months focused on educating younger road users through the FireSkills project and various engagement sessions at schools using VR headsets; a Multi Agency training exercise which tested the collective response to an emergency incident, took place in Glasgow. It had been extremely successful and valuable; KB agreed with views that collaboration is key to making a difference and offered support to members.
Future Strategic Direction for Governance Groups
The Chair emphasised how it is imperative that road safety partners continue to work in collaboration and the SPB set the strategic direction and guide road safety delivery partners in best practice, and constructively challenge their delivery.
The board agreed that as we are now at the midpoint of the Road Safety Framework, a review of key performance indicators was required and it should continue to assess the successes of other high performing countries on road safety.
Conclusion
The next meeting will take place on the 11th June 2025.
Agreed Actions:
Action Point 115: Inform the board of progress made following the National Speed Management Review consultation.
Owner: Secretariat
Action Point 116: Transport Scotland to create a stakeholder list to have the comms contact for all key partners including: all 32 local authorities, Police Scotland, PHS and CoSLA, to encourage them to support with road safety communications and enhance key messaging. TS Comms to liaise with each Board member to formulate this list.
Owner: Ryan Gilbert
Action Point 117: Discuss Road Safety communications plan with Public Health Scotland, given Road Safety is a key Public Health matter.
Owner: Oliver Harding
Action Point 118: Police Scotland to provide an update on DESC and Road Traffic Diversionary Courses to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport.
Owner: Hilary Sloan
Action Point 119: COSLA to explore if further work can be conducted on road safety through community planning partnership board meetings.
Owner: Ed Gordon
Action Point 120: TS to consider a Comms Working Group.
Owner: Ryan Gilbert
Action Point 121: TS to engage with partners to progress a mid-term review into the RSF2030 - including our key performance indicators and assess the successes of other high performing countries on road safety
Owner: Goerge Henry