Transport Scotland’s Road Asset Management Plan (RAMP) sets out how our trunk road network is maintained safely, strategically and efficiently to protect our assets and ensure maximum value for money from our road maintenance activities. The RAMP can be accessed at: http://www.transport.gov.scot/road/maintenance/road-asset-management-plan

Trunk road defects are repaired in accordance with the timescales specified in the Operating Company contracts. These can be accessed at: http://www.transport.gov.scot/road/maintenance/operating-companies .

The Scottish Government is continuing to co-fund the Road Collaboration Programme. The Programme was established in December 2013 to explore opportunities for road authorities to share services and is overseen by a Board comprising Transport Scotland, members of the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS), SOLACE, COSLA and the Improvement Service. The Programme's aims include encouraging and supporting authorities to share best practice, innovation and expertise.

Furthermore, the Scottish Road Research board meet quarterly to commission and co-ordinate research projects.

to deliver improvements in safety, construction, operation and maintenance to both the trunk and local road network. The Board's objectives include promoting and delivering innovation, sharing new products, techniques and knowledge across Scotland’s road sector.

Total expenditure on transport infrastructure, as reported within The National Transport Statistics 2015 edition and within the Transport Scotland Annual Report and Accounts, totals £18billion since 2007. The totals for each year are shown in the following table. A breakdown of transport infrastructure expenditure by local authority area is not available.

Source: Years 2007-08-2014-15 = Scottish National Statistics 2015 edition, Years 2015-16 and 2016-17 = Transport Scotland Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16 and published Scottish Budget.

Whilst total expenditure on transport infrastructure, as reported above, totals £18 billion since 2007 to date, a breakdown by local authority area is not possible. This is in part because some investments are of a national nature (Forth Replacement Crossing) and others span a number of local authority areas, such as the M80, the M74 and the M77 construction projects.

Transport Scotland has two main office locations, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh, with additional staff on site at the Forth Replacement Crossing, Fife. Both the main Glasgow and Edinburgh locations are where the bulk of Transport Scotland staff are permanently based. Transport Scotland staff travel across Scotland to fulfil their duties in the planning and delivery of infrastructure projects, engaging with communities as well as providing oversight to the performance and operation of service contracts including those for rail and ferries services.

The following table details the staff numbers by year and local authority area.

The area of land adjacent to the M74 between Moffat and Gretna which the Scottish Government owns is approximately 3.01 million square metres, that includes any area of land which, if found to be surplus to Scottish Government requirements, will be subject to disposal in accordance with appropriate procedures.

Transport Scotland has regular programming meetings with its Operating Companies to ensure all safety-critical work is prioritised, so that risks to delivery and public safety are effectively mitigated and managed. The criteria for inspection and repairs on the trunk road network are set out in the Operating Company contracts, which can be accessed at: http://www.transport.gov.scot/road/maintenance/operating-companies.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02824 on 27 September 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government has regular ongoing engagement with local authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) through a range of fora, including the Association of Transport Coordinating Officers (ATCO), RTP lead officer and chairs meetings and the Bus Stakeholder Group.

Local authorities work together on bus services informally and through formal channels such as ATCO and their RTP's.

The RTPs work together and with key stakeholders in the bus industry on issues of mutual interest. In particular, these RTPs with public transport responsibilities share good practice, for example, in the procurement of bus services; and the RTPs played a key role in the development of smart, multi-operator ticketing in Aberdeen (Grasshopper), Dundee (ABC), Strathclyde (Zone-card) and Sestran (One-ticket).