Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-14101

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to statistics showing that just 37.7% of trains arriving on time at Girvan Station between 11 December 2022 and 7 January 2023.

Question reference: S6W-14100

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to reduce ScotRail's arrival and departure delays at (a) Ayr and (b) Girvan Station, in light of statistics showing the percentage of trains arriving on time in the period 11 December 2022 to 7 January 2023 was just 37.7% at Girvan and 67% at Ayr.

As the member is aware, ScotRail’s performance is measured using the industry standard Public Performance Measure (PPM) which combines reliability and punctuality into a single performance metric. To achieve PPM, a service must arrive/terminate at a station within 5 minutes of its booked arrival time.

PPM is a practical measurement of performance, which allows time for rail staff to assist passengers or hold trains for connections to be made when appropriate.

PPM figures at Ayr and Girvan in the latest reporting period (11 Dec 2022 – 7 Jan 2023) are 91.4% and 91.3% respectively, showing more than 9 out of 10 trains arriving at these stations met their performance target. Services at these stations showed better performance than the network as a whole.

Question reference: S6W-13903

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the amount of Chinese investment in Scotland.

Information on the value of Chinese inward investments into Scotland can be found in the publicly available report Businesses in Scotland, which shows that there are currently 15 Chinese owned businesses in Scotland, with an estimated employment of 1,770 and a turnover of £1.25 billion. The Scottish Government does not carry out further analysis on inward investment by specific countries on a sectoral basis.

The Scottish Government works with its enterprise agencies to ensure robust due diligence and proper consideration of human rights is undertaken on inward investments from China as well as from any other country. Additional safeguards are provided by the National Security and Investment Act 2021, which protects against acquisitions within sensitive areas of the economy that could cause harm to the UK’s national security.

Question reference: S6W-13905

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the amount of Chinese investment in the farming industry in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-13906

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the amount of Chinese investment in the whisky industry in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-13904

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the amount of Chinese investment in infrastructure in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-01828

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what road improvements are being carried out on the A77 and A70 to address any challenges faced by road users.

Question reference: S6W-13563

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its budget for the A77 over the next year has currently been set aside for extreme weather maintenance.

Transport Scotland do not have a specific extreme weather maintenance budget. The winter service budget for the South-West Unit was £5.69 m in 2022/23 and this covers all trunk roads in the Unit; including the A77.

Investment for A77 trunk road maintenance programmes currently indicate an allocation of £7.03m for this financial year as well as a provisional maintenance spend for 2023/24 and 2024/25 of £5.4m and £5.74m respectively.

Question reference: S6W-13564

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal accidents involving (i) HGVs and (ii) other vehicles on the A77 there were in 2022, and whether it will provide a breakdown of these figures by the section of the road that passes through South Ayrshire.

I replied to a similar question from the member on 15 June 2022 (S6W-08828) explaining that collision data for 2022 was not available at that time. Data on fatal and non-fatal road collisions for 2022 are still being collected and provisional figures will be available in May 2023. I will therefore be able to provide an update to the members’ question at that time.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-13250

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, of the wind farm applications submitted in the last five years that were refused, how many have been granted approval following a "material change" within the two years following the initial application.