Plenary, 01 Oct 2009

Meeting date: Thursday, October 1, 2009

Official Report 672KB pdf

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Question Time

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SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

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General Questions

Question 1 is from Jim Hume, but it appears that he is not in the chamber. I will certainly deliver the necessary message to him.

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Public Access to Science <br />(Kilmarnock and Loudon)

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to make science more accessible to the public in Kilmarnock and Loudoun. (S3O-7980)

The member is aware from my letter of 25 August to him that the Scottish Government is supporting a number of initiatives that make science more accessible to the public in Kilmarnock and Loudon.

Extra funding of £78,000 over three years is being used to subsidise the transport costs of 15,000 people in schools and community groups across Ayrshire making a visit to the Glasgow Science Centre.

The member is also aware from the letter that I wrote to him that although no applications were received for science engagement grants from organisations headquartered in Ayrshire, several projects will be accessible to schools, community groups and the wider public in Kilmarnock and Loudon. I urge the member to encourage his constituents to take advantage of those opportunities to access science activities.

In the recent correspondence to which the cabinet secretary referred, I was advised that none of the £650,000 allocated this year was spent on widening access to science in Ayrshire because there were no bids, as she said. She will be pleased to hear that Kilmarnock College is working to widen access to science using its own resources. The college principal has endorsed my suggestion that a local summit to improve access to science be held in Ayrshire. Will the cabinet secretary support such an initiative to reconnect innovative Ayrshire to the world of science?

I certainly welcome any initiatives that promote Scotland's excellent science research base. The local initiative in Kilmarnock is to be welcomed, as is bringing together different organisations to participate. I know that Ayrshire has a proud history of innovation, which was reflected in the recent Ayrshire innovators homecoming exhibition at the Dick Institute. The exhibition highlighted the achievements of John Boyd Dunlop and Sir Alexander Fleming among many others. I will be interested in the outcome of that local summit and ask the member to keep me informed so that we can learn lessons for elsewhere in Scotland.

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Strategic Transport Projects Review

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in taking forward transport projects under the strategic transport projects review. (S3O-7970)

I have previously highlighted our priorities. First, the Forth replacement crossing, the tendering process for which is under way; the bill will be brought to Parliament in November. Secondly, the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvements programme is being taken forward for delivery. The first phase of the programme, new hourly fast services between Glasgow and Edinburgh, is to be introduced to the December 2009 timetable. In addition, the planning application is to be lodged later this month for the new railway station at Gogar. Finally, Network Rail is working hard on the development of our plans for the Highland main line and the Aberdeen to Inverness line.

As planned, we are continuing to work with partners and stakeholders to take forward the development and design of the other 25 recommendations. Alongside planning for the future under the STPR, Transport Scotland continues to drive forward the current programme, which will see over £2.5 billion invested in Scotland's strategic transport networks over the three years, supporting the economy through efficient movement of goods and people.

I thank the minister for his detailed answer, which was as I expected. However, although the First Minister and the SNP Government made specific pledges to voters in the north-east to dual the A96, the only project in Aberdeenshire listed in the STPR was the replacement of the Inveramsay bridge at Pitcaple. Will the minister tell me whether he expects a timescale for that work to be in place within the current parliamentary session?

We are also proceeding with work on the A90 between Balmedie and Tipperty, the Aberdeen western peripheral route and a wide range of important projects in the north-east.

The Inveramsay bridge project is part of a policy position that we took shortly after coming into office: we did not wish to have on our rural trunk roads traffic lights that impede traffic. We have done some preliminary work on possible routes that would be associated with the Inveramsay bridge. We are continuing to make the progress that is necessary and we are looking to secure the funding for that and for a range of other interventions in the next review period.

Some of the most expensive decisions that ministers have to take relate to large-scale capital infrastructure projects, such as those included in the STPR. I therefore ask the minister to explain how continuing with projects that are already projected to be dramatically over budget, even before they begin, such as the Glasgow airport rail link, would impact on delivering other projects, including those in the STPR. Will he detail the impact of continuing with the Glasgow airport rail link, the budget for which has grown from an initial estimate of £160 million in 2006 to an approximate £400 million to date?

The Scotsman reported that the

"tramway system was a standing joke in the country".

However, that was on 16 January 1929. Problems with Edinburgh's trams are not something with which we are entirely unfamiliar. However, that particular remark in The Scotsman was made as a precursor to celebrating the achievement of the trams manager, Stuart Pilcher, in rescuing Edinburgh from some disastrous decisions. I hope that Richard Jeffrey will do the same in Edinburgh today.

GARL is one of the projects that we had to look at very carefully indeed and we concluded that, in the present economic climate, we could not proceed with it. That is disappointing. It is always disappointing to have to withdraw a project from our programme, but it is an inevitable consequence of the Labour Westminster Government's cuts.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Shirley-Anne Somerville made a misleading remark in her question by saying that the price of the GARL project was of the order of £400 million. The minister clarified that position in a recent answer to my colleague Charlie Gordon. Could he perhaps respond to Ms Somerville, putting her right on the actual cost of the GARL project?

Mr McNulty now has his point on the record. I think that he well knows that it is not a point of order.

I will take a supplementary question from Malcolm Chisholm. If the minister wants to respond to Des McNulty's point in his answer he can do so.

I know that the minister is a supporter of trams, so will he give full support to the City of Edinburgh Council in its difficult negotiations with Bilfinger Berger to secure the lowest possible price for the tram project? Will he try to restrain his party colleagues on the council and in this chamber, whose wild speculations encourage that company to inflate its demands by the day?

It may be as well to remind members of the decision that was taken in the Parliament at the end of June 2007, when only the 47 members of the Scottish National Party opposed continuing with the Edinburgh trams. Where we are today is an inevitable consequence of that particular decision. I do, of course, now wish the project every possible success and I personally look forward to travelling on the first tram, if that is possible and if I am invited.

On GARL pricing, it is as well to remember that we have removed from our future plans only the branch line to the airport. The other improvements to Paisley, which make up the bulk of the expenditure improvements from Glasgow Central to the west, remain in the programme, are being actively progressed and will deliver significant benefits to people to the west of Glasgow.

Question 4 has been withdrawn.

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National Health Service Physiotherapy <br />(Waiting Lists)

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are known to be on a waiting list for physiotherapy treatment in the NHS. (S3O-7964)

Information on numbers of patients and waiting times for physiotherapy treatment is not routinely collected on a national basis. The Scottish Government is committed to reducing waiting times for all patients within NHS Scotland. Physiotherapists are involved in delivering patient care and treatment, which has helped to cut waiting times for patients across Scotland, as has the introduction of self-referral, which means that patients can now bypass their general practitioner and refer themselves directly to a community clinic, thereby improving access to treatment and speeding up recovery.

I am aware that that information is not collected centrally. That is why I sent a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to all health boards in Scotland. I can confirm that the number of patients known to be on a waiting list for physiotherapy in Scotland is currently well in excess of 20,000. The Scottish National Party manifesto promised to reduce waiting times for physiotherapy by increasing the number of national health service physiotherapists. Is that another broken promise?

I say to Mary Scanlon that the fact that waiting times in general are coming down shows, and should show her, that physiotherapy is an important part of the patient journey. Waiting times in general could have come down only if the waiting times for physiotherapy had also come down. I ask Mary Scanlon to reflect on that.

We are aware that waiting times for physiotherapy vary in different parts of the country, but work is on-going in NHS boards to standardise processes, resources and practice. We are currently funding a two-year project to capture allied health professions data on workforce and workload activity, including data on physiotherapists, which will establish a national data set that includes physiotherapy and will address that data gap. We are working very hard through the chief health professions officer and the allied health professions directors to support new ways of working and service redesign that will improve patient care and waiting times.

Briefly please, minister.

Finally, I say to Mary Scanlon—[Interruption.] I hope that Labour members will also agree that physiotherapy is important. There has been a 4 per cent increase in physiotherapists—the number is up. I thought that the member would welcome that.

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Abnormal Loads

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on the transportation of abnormal loads. (S3O-7975)

The movement of abnormal loads across the United Kingdom is a matter reserved to the UK Government. Responsibility for authorising the movement of abnormal loads rests with the UK Department for Transport, and the Highways Agency acts on its behalf.

Transport Scotland co-ordinates the movement of abnormal loads within Scotland in liaison with local road and bridge authorities and the police, taking into account any potential for damage and disruption to the network. Thereafter, Transport Scotland advises the Highways Agency, which approves or rejects any proposed movement.

I thank the minister for that response and note what he says, but I wonder whether he is aware of recent concerns expressed by hauliers about the variation in charging policy adopted by Scottish police forces for escorting abnormal loads, with charges of up to £600 reported for police escorting one load. Clearly, such costs impact adversely on hauliers, contractors and projects such as the extension of the M74. As such, will the minister look into this situation and attempt to restore the common sense approach that was adopted by all the parties involved following a Scottish Parliament members' business debate on the subject in 2003?

I will certainly look further at the issue that Mrs Mitchell raises. We have some 250, or thereabouts, applications for escorting abnormal loads each year in Scotland. There is no particular sign from the figures for 2007, 2008 and 2009—so far—that there is either a reduction or an increase in the number of abnormal loads; the number seems to be fairly constant. I am certainly happy to look at the matter that the member raises, but I draw it to her attention that I may be limited in the response that I am ultimately able to formulate.

What consideration is given to the moving of abnormal loads from the roads to alternative modes of transport, such as rail? The minister will be aware of the serious problem that has been experienced in the Larbert area of my constituency. Does he agree that, where abnormal loads are being moved by rail, as they are in Larbert, the rail operators should be looking to use rolling stock that minimises the associated noise and vibration?

We are certainly very enthusiastic about maximising the transfer of goods from our roads to our railways. We have a limited supply of rolling stock that has a flat-bed base of 720mm, which allows bigger and taller pieces of equipment to travel by rail. There are moves to increase the amount of rolling stock that can carry larger loads. We strongly support such moves, which will be welcomed by Michael Matheson's constituents and road users across Scotland.

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Voluntary Organisations (Meetings)

To ask the Scottish Executive when ministers last met representatives of voluntary organisations and what issues were discussed. (S3O-8042)

On 9 June this year, third sector representatives met cabinet ministers to give a presentation on working together to ensure that Scotland is well equipped to deal with the current recession and to emerge from it strongly. The meeting built on and developed the discussion at the round-table meeting of 14 April between ministers and third sector representatives about the resilience of the sector in the economic downturn.

More generally, I frequently meet people from all parts of the third sector across the country. I have had several useful discussions with social enterprises and those involved in setting up third sector interfaces, which are an increasingly important way for the third sector to contribute to the success of Scotland.

The minister will be aware of the serious concerns that local councils for voluntary service have about the development of local interfaces. Many feel that merger is being forced, rather than encouraged. Will the minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth agree to meet those groups to discuss their concerns that the process is driven by funding issues? As a consequence, it is generating an atmosphere in which some people feel afraid to speak up or out.

I completely refute the suggestion that the process has anything to do with funding issues. The goal is to put the third sector at the heart of decision making. We remain keen to engage directly, to ensure that local issues are addressed openly, and to make progress in an informed way that improves service provision and allows people and organisations across Scotland to learn from one another. In that vein, I would be more than happy to engage as the member has suggested.

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Scottish-Islamic Foundation (Meetings)

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings have taken place between ministers or their special advisers and Mr Osama Saeed or representatives of the Scottish-Islamic Foundation since June 2008; which ministers or special advisers were present, and what matters were discussed at each meeting. (S3O-8052)

Ministers have met Scottish-Islamic Foundation representatives on five occasions since June 2008. The meetings covered a wide range of topics such as Islamfest, policing and the Show Racism the Red Card initiative. In addition, Osama Saeed, chief executive of the Scottish-Islamic Foundation, is a member of the Scotland without nuclear weapons working group. I will write to the member with full details of the meetings and place the information in the Scottish Parliament information centre.

I hope that the minister checked and checked again the information that he has just given to the chamber and that all the face-to-face contact between ministers, their special advisers and Mr Saeed will be disclosed. If, on reflection, the minister wishes to add anything to the answer that he has given, he has the opportunity to do so now.

For what reason was the etisal event, which is sponsored by the Scottish Government and run by the Scottish-Islamic Foundation, postponed from November 2009 until March 2010? When was the decision to postpone the event taken? How much money is the Scottish Government contributing to the costs of the event, including the costs of publicising it? What contribution is being made from either governmental or non-governmental sources in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference countries and the Gulf Co-operation Council states, which include Libya and Qatar?

If, once I have sent information about the five meetings to Mr McNulty, he knows of another meeting about which I do not know, I will be glad to hear the details. We have checked the records and there have been five meetings.

I understand that the etisal event, which was originally planned for November this year and has been postponed until March next year, is one of the victims of the current recession. The purpose of etisal was to act as a finance expo to bring investment, trade and technology to Scotland. I would have hoped that all members would support in principle any such event.