Chamber and committees

Data about injury road accidentsare collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the Stats19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidents in which oneor more people were injured and which become known to the police. The returns donot cover “damage only” accidents or accidents of which the police are unaware becausethey were not reported by the public.

The table below gives the totalnumber of reported injury road accidents which were identified in the Stats 19 returnsas occurring on the B758 between 2001 and 2005 and, of these, how many resultedin fatalities or serious injuries. All occurred within the area of South LanarkshireCouncil. Figures for 2006 should become available in June.

It should be noted that the statisticsgiven as follows are based upon the data which are held in the central statisticaldatabase and which were collected by the police at the time of the accident andsubsequently reported to the Executive. They may differ from any figures which thelocal authority would provide now, because they do not take account of any subsequentchanges or corrections that local authorities may have made to the statistical information,for use at local level, about the location of each accident, based upon their knowledgeof the roads and areas concerned.

Reported Injury RoadAccidents Occurring on the B758, by Severity

Accident Severity	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Fatal or serious	3	1	0	2	1
All severities	13	7	11	9	7

 

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-32663 on 29 March 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

No information is held currentlyon traffic flows on the B758.

The Accountant in Bankruptcymaintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of bankruptcies are compiled by financial year.The following table gives the number of bankruptcies for the financial years 1996-97to 2005-06.

Financial Year	Number of Bankruptcies in Scotland
1996-97	2,534
1997-98	2,701
1998-99	2,701
1999-2000	3,110
2000-01	3,185
2001-02	3,193
2002-03	3,228
2003-04	3,309
2004-05	3,521
2005-06	5,423

Source: Accountant in Bankruptcy.

I am pleased to inform youthat on 19 March 2007 Barrhead and Cupar stations were added to the listfor access for all improvements. The criteria used for selecting these stationsincluded footfall, areas where there are fewer alternative transport modesavailable, interchange facilities and location of alternative stations.

First ScotRail carried out asurvey of all of their stations within six months of taking over the franchisein October 2004. The resulting information about stations has been published aspart of the disabled Persons Protection Policy and can be found on the FirstScotRail website. This information is continually being revised to take accountof completed improvements.

Yes.

Access surveys are beingcarried out as part of the Network Rail works at the stations selected forAccess for All funding. Information from these surveys will be published. Anyother surveys of accessibility at railway stations carried out on behalf of the Scottish Executive will be published.

The Access for All fund isbeing used to tackle accessibility problems at stations so that people withdisabilities, the elderly and infirm as well as those with heavy luggage andpushchairs, have an unobstructed and obstacle free path from the stationentrance to the platform.

I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-32115 on 12 March 2007. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Young people are regularly involvedin policy development in a variety of ways. This includes consultation papersspecifically targeted at young people, as for example in the recent youth workstrategy consultation. Alternatively, it may involve focus groups with youngpeople either organised directly by the Scottish Executive or through otherorganisations. It may also involve young people’s direct involvement in workinggroups. In addition, the Scottish Executive provides funding to Young Scot toensure that young people are aware of opportunities to have their views heard andare encouraged to take part. We also fund the Scottish Youth Parliament toconsult with young people and to convey those views directly to ministers andofficials on issues of concern to them.