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ANNEX B: GLOSSARY
Biofuel - a less polluting alternative to conventional mineral fuels such as petrol and diesel, offering both air quality and carbon savings benefits. Biofuels are made from biomass materials of either vegetable or animal origin. There are currently three main types of biofuels: biodiesel, bioethanol and biogas. Biodiesel can be blended with diesel and bioethanol can be blended with petrol. Any petrol or diesel car can run on low level blends. High blends of biofuel require specially adapted vehicles. Biogas is an alternative to natural compressed gas for gas-powered vehicles.
Demand Responsive Transport ( DRT) - any form of transport where day to day service provision is influenced by the demands of users. All DRT operations can be defined in terms of the flexibility of the routes, the stopping points and service types. DRT can involve taxis/private hire vehicles, shared taxi/taxibus, community car schemes, non-emergency patient transport, 'joblink' services, ring-and ride, social services transport, education services transport, dial-a-ride, community buses, flexible public transport buses and many other related services.
Devolution - the process by which primary legislative and executive powers have passed from the UK Government to the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Ministers, under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998 and subsequent secondary legislation.
Devolved - refers to powers which transferred to the Scottish Ministers/Scottish Parliament under devolution. Every area not subject to an explicit reservation under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act is devolved - broadly speaking, all Scotland-only matters such as justice, education, much of transport and health.
Grant Aided Expenditure - financial support from the Scottish Executive to local authorities or other bodies.
Local road - all roads in Scotland which are not motorways or trunk roads. These are managed by local authorities.
Network Rail - GB owner and operator of rail infrastructure, which as a result of the Railways Act 2005 is now specified and funded in Scotland by the Scottish Executive.
Regional transport partnership - statutory body (under Transport (Scotland) Act 2005) covering a given region with responsibility for preparation of regional transport strategy and other powers as agreed with constituent local authorities.
Reserved - refers to powers which were explicitly not devolved because they were made the subject of a reservation under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998. International, cross-border and UK-wide issues are generally reserved.
Scottish Administration - the members of staff of the Scottish Executive, who form part of the UK civil service.
Scottish Executive - the devolved government for Scotland.
Scottish Parliament - the devolved legislature of Scotland.
Spending Review - high level review of Government spending, conducted separately for the UK (including reserved functions) and for Scotland (covering devolved functions). The UK review determines the total budget for Scotland, using a formula. The allocation of the Scottish total is a matter for Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament.
Strategic Projects Review - forthcoming Scottish Executive review of Scotland's future transport infrastructure and other major investment needs. The existing ten year investment plan will not be affected by the Strategic Projects Review.
Ten year investment plan - the Scottish Executive's plans for transport infrastructure to approximately 2012, as set out in Building a Better Scotland - Infrastructure Investment Plan: Investing in the Future of Scotland35.
Travel plan - a package of measures that aims to promote more sustainable travel behaviour within an organisation.
Trunk road - the motorway and trunk road network provides the most important long distance links between Scotland's cities and major towns, the English trunk road network and the Irish ferry ports as well as providing gateway links to coastal destinations. The network is 3,432km in length and, although this represents only 6% of Scottish roads, it carries almost 37% of the total traffic volume and 62% of heavy commercial vehicle traffic. The trunk road network is managed by Transport Scotland.
Voluntary organisation - A not-for-profit, third sector or campaigning body, driven by social purpose and distinct from the public and private sectors.
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