Image source, PA

ScotRail's performance level is at its lowest since the franchise began, according to new figures.

They showed 81.8% of services arrived within five minutes of scheduled time between 16 September and 13 October.

ScotRail's moving annual average for punctuality also hit a franchise low of 87.5% - below the agreed breach level of 88.22%.

ScotRail said there had been "significant disruption" as a result of Storm Ali in September.

Read more here.

Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles says this debate is an opportunity to "prod the Scottish government to act more appropriately" in relation to the franchise.

We are seeing the worst performance against agreed targets since the franchise began, he says, adding customer experience should be at the heart of delivery.

It seems the transport secretary would rather blame the failings of the franchise operator on Network Rail, Mr Rumbles argues.

Granting waivers over performance targets is not holding the franchisee to account, he tells the chamber.

The Lib Dem MSP says Abellio should be given notice that the Scottish government will be exercise the break clause at the earliest possible opportunity.

Green MSP John Finnie confirms the Scottish Greens will support Labour's motion.

He argues services like railways should be run exclusively in the interest of the public.

The franchise model is a "Tory reuse" to deliver public money to private companies, he suggests.

The Greens support the devolution of Network Rail, Mr Finnie says.

Mr Smyth intervenes to highlight that the UK government took over the east coast train line as operator of last resort.

Mr Greene says he is not confidence that the Scottish government could take over the running of Scotland's railways as operator of last resort.

The claim that the majority of delays are Network Rail's fault is "factually misleading" and simplistic, the Tory MSP says.

He explains that 37% of delays are due to issues with infrastructure and 23% are train operator avoidable issues, while weather delays, passengers taking ill and vandalism is "lumped in" with Network Rail's failures.

The devolution of Network Rail will not resolve these problems, he argues.

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Tory MSP Jamie Greene asks if the minister believes what he just read out and says "passengers will be wondering what planet the minister is living on".

I do believe in these statistics and the improvements in the trains, interjects Mr Wheelhouse.

Mr Greene says his party won't support the Labour motion today.

But he points to his amendment which he says calls for the Scottish government to outline its plan when the time of the break clause comes in 2020.

Image source, SP

Mr Wheelhouse accepts there is need for a robust and resilient plan to improve Scotland's railways.

But he highlights ScotRail is consistently the best performing rail service in the UK.

Skip-stopping is at the lowest level on record, the minister says.

Mr Wheelhouse insists 63% of delays are a result of issues under the purview of Network Rail, blaming the centralisation of timetabling and issues with vehicles left on tracks.

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Connectivity Minister Paul Wheelhouse accepts there are continuing challenges for ScotRail and Abellio in meeting the government's challenging targets.

However, Mr Wheelhouse highlights improvements ScotRail has already made and he praises them for how they dealt with the delay of the introduction of Hitachi trains.

Seating will be increased by 23% since ScotRail took over the franchise, he says.

The minister says: "While Colin Smyth and his colleagues may not recognise it, ScotRail is delivering its revolution in rail for passengers across the entire Scottish rail network."

Image source, Scottish Parliament

Mr Smyth says improving punctuality, capacity and reliability should be a key part of any service delivery.

But on each measure ScotRail is getting worse, he insists.

ScotRail has not hit over half of its targets since 2016, the Labour MSP states.

This government needs to wake up to fact that this is a failing franchise operating in a failing franchise model, he argues.

Mr Smyth urges to government to use to break clause and "end this franchise" in 2022.

Even those that do not support public ownership must see that the current franchise is not work, he adds.

Image source, TRANSPORT SCOTLAND

In October the Herald reported ScotRail has been given a year-long “licence to fail” despite record low performance, Labour, external ahave claimed, as new details emerged of a ministerial waiver on standards.

In a parliamentary answer, Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said the government had agreed not to enforce compliance breaches until June 2019.

Under the franchise agreement, Dutch-owned operator Abellio must hit a series of targets on punctuality and reliability.

Failure requires it to produce an improvement plans and can lead to sanctions.

Read more of the Herald article here., external

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Labour MSP Colin Smyth says this debate will put Scotland's rail passengers before profit-making private rail companies.

Mr Smyth says the government should step into end Abellio's mismanagement of the current ScotRail franchise, after a case of "fail, fail, fail".

He adds ScotRail's latest performance is the worst error and would have breached the franchise if the cabinet secretary had not struck a backroom deal to give them a "licence to fail" until May next year.

Connectivity Minister Paul Wheelhouse says 63% of the faults have been due to Network Rail.

Mr Smyth accuses the minister of wanting to pass the buck and says it will be 2019 before ScotRail rises above its breach level and it won't reach its targets until 2022.

That's six years of failure on the government's watch, he says.

Image source, Scottish Parliament

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Labour will now lead a debate calling on the government to enforce the ScotRail break clause to bring the current franchise to an end in 2022.

The party says that under the terms of the Scottish government’s agreement with the train operator Abellio, the SNP can exercise an opportunity in 2020 to end the franchise by its first expiry date in 2022 .

The government has pledged to work up a public sector bid.

Labour supports re-nationalisation of the railways and said that if the SNP were serious about public ownership then it would have a bid ready to take over the franchise at the earliest opportunity.

Image source, bbc

The debate draws to a close with the health secretary telling the chamber that she is interested in the proposal from Tory MSP Miles Briggs about a social care internship.

However workforce discussions must be done within the context of Brexit and free movement is essential for the sector, she concludes.

Labour MSP David Stewart turns to unpaid care workers saying: "We have Scotland's most vulnerable people being cared for by Scotland's most vulnerable workers."

Mr Stewart calls for a significant shift of resources to achieve a sustainable financial model for social care.

Image source, Getty Images

The number of Scottish hospital beds being "blocked" by delayed discharges has fallen over the past year, according to the latest statistics.

A delayed discharge is where a patient continues to occupy a hospital bed despite being clinically able to be discharged.

The figures showed delayed discharges cost NHS Scotland a total of 494,123 bed days last year.

This was a 6% drop from the 527,099 bed days recorded the previous year.

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