Chamber and committees

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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: S2W-25518

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on road safety improvements on each trunk road in each year since 1999.

The following table shows howmuch has been spent on accident remedial schemes on each trunk road in the financialyears 2001-02 to 2005-06. Expenditure prior to 2001-02 is not available on a roadby road basis.

Road safety improvements arealso delivered as part of larger improvement and maintenance schemes on the trunkroad network or by national education programmes. It is not possible to quantifythe proportion of the costs of these schemes which relate to road safety improvements.

Trunk Road	2001-02 (£)	2002-03 (£)	2003-04 (£)	2004-05 (£)	2005-06 (£)
A1	5,048.33	90,082.04	192,632.65	16,557.66	36,161.05
A68	409.21	70,267.32	227,300.25	277,766.28	40,339.96
A6091	1,024.15	526.28	24,941.76	40,098.89	770.27
A7	143.84	0.00	14,837.07	43,545.26	12,112.10
A701	0.00	0.00	19,164.53	5,719.97	5,235.09
A702	2,634.07	70,824.04	49,148.95	190,593.53	98,868.15
A720	968.73	325,325.78	63,404.71	5,157.25	0.00
A725	0.00	326,721.89	32,061.20	17,469.00	19,274.06
A726	0.00	25,760.39	2,313.66	11,724.52	6,622.22
A737	212.40	28,045.69	159,517.29	7,518.15	7,370.97
A738	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
A75	0.00	7,944.27	27,622.14	19,266.68	34,469.09
A76	1,318.43	73,339.53	29,489.67	22,416.13	31,435.12
A77	6,110.14	217,232.27	44,387.11	279,737.12	280,100.48
A78	0.00	21,521.25	123,423.04	98,599.52	40,125.21
A751	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
A8	940.38	41,192.53	109,998.47	4,846.52	118.25
A80	0.00	122,136.54	13,103.73	8,004.85	77,476.95
A82	105,328.60	63,446.08	63,548.08	235,209.97	46,708.15
A823(M)	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	326.63
A828	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
A83	0.00	2,160.00	7,107.89	37,703.34	25,610.25
A830	49,236.86	0.00	3,533.77	2,725.38	19,098.92
A835	0.00	0.00	10,086.21	9,298.74	4,206.06
A84	18,644.21	0.00	6,223.11	54,075.53	14,115.15
A85	9,521.01	4,894.72	11,671.57	188,858.83	178,208.85
A86	2,193.75	1,190.88	2,324.99	889.26	15,714.26
A87	589.55	1,584.00	2,179.88	14,029.95	86,031.54
A876	2,000.00	0.00	3,167.93	0.00	0.00
A887	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
A889	0.00	0.00	752.57	640.00	0.00
A893	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
A898	89,387.44	2,462.45	5,997.73	412.67	78.36
A9	73,339.93	346,210.19	130,454.79	212,546.40	167,246.02
A90	22,046.05	86,744.48	124,004.59	85,502.98	100,329.16
A92	4,687.50	10,156.51	3,979.42	91,247.22	141,957.57
A95	0.00	0.00	55,069.67	3,329.43	487.36
A96	0.00	142,008.77	200,952.96	94,543.48	263,892.92
A972	0.00	5,985.99	754.96	0.00	0.00
A977	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
A985	0.00	0.00	3,798.25	120,278.46	9,166.03
A99	0.00	0.00	3,933.81	5,960.07	2,393.82
M73	0.00	0.00	0.00	1,842.20	9,899.75
M77	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
M74/A74(M)	682.73	154,884.20	133.37	4,618.09	48,016.96
M898	0.00	2,403.91	6,809,81	231.18	15.82
M9	0.00	29,269.26	144,523.23	20,138.49	6,850.39
M90	0.00	9,418.92	10,887.99	0.00	10,198.71
M8	0.00	31,983.67	121,952.19	944.07	95,825.01
M80	0.00	0.00	2,799.45	996.74	13,871.34
M876	0.00	7,809.05	70,479.38	37,332.07	7,887.53

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.

Question reference: S2W-25516

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fatal accidents there have been on each trunk road in each year since 1999.

The number of fatal accidentson each trunk road in each year since 1999 (January 1999 to December 2005) is asfollows:

Trunk Road	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
A1	2	3	0	2	0	1	5
A68	2	3	1	2	2	2	1
A6091	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A7	0	2	0	0	0	0	1
A701	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
A702	0	5	1	2	1	3	0
A720	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
A725	0	0	1	2	1	0	1
A726	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A737	0	2	0	1	1	1	0
A738	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A75	3	1	3	6	3	1	3
A76	4	4	2	2	2	0	4
A77	2	3	1	3	4	4	1
A78	5	2	3	2	3	1	0
A751	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A8	0	0	0	3	2	1	1
A80	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
A82	8	8	5	11	7	6	7
A823(M)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
A828	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
A83	2	5	3	0	1	2	2
A830	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
A835	1	0	0	1	2	1	2
A84	0	1	2	0	3	0	1
A85	0	6	6	2	3	5	4
A86	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A87	0	2	2	0	0	3	0
A876	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
A887	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
A889	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
A893	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A898	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A9	14	13	14	6	14	14	3
A90	6	5	14	8	11	10	7
A92	1	2	3	2	3	3	2
A95	0	4	0	1	2	0	1
A96	1	5	2	5	8	6	3
A972	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A977	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A985	1	2	0	0	0	1	0
A99	2	2	0	0	0	1	1
M73	0	0	2	0	2	0	1
M77	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
M74/A74(M)	5	4	0	9	4	5	4
M898	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
M9	2	0	2	1	0	0	0
M90	0	0	2	3	0	0	2
M8	1	8	4	2	3	2	1
M80	0	0	1	2	1	1	1
M876	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

The figures quoted may differslightly from those published elsewhere because they were extracted on a differentdate and the database may have changed between the two dates, e.g. due to late returnsor corrections to earlier returns.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.

Question reference: S2W-25520

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on road safety campaign advertising in each year since 1999.

Spending on road safety campaignadvertising is given in the following table:

Year	Spending
1999-2000	£663,536
2000-01	£1,060,366
2001-02	£1,340,164
2002-03	£1,565,607
2003-04	£1,002,583
2004-05	£1,019,016
2005-06	£605,925

Note: The figure for 2005-06is provisional.

Question reference: S2W-25517

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on upgrading each trunk road in each year since 1999.

Details of expenditure on upgradingeach trunk road in each year since 1999 are shown in the following table.

Route	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06* (£ Million)
A1	1.34	25.83	5.50	7.11	1.26
A6091	0.10	0.02		0.01
A68	1.40	0.14	0.12	0.19	0.24
A7	0.01	0.36	0.05	0.21	0.23
A701	0.01	0.02
A702		0.01	0.30	1.09	1.74
A720	0.10	0.19	0.12	0.12	0.02
A74(M)	0.07	0.03	0.01	0.05	0.08
A75	0.06	0.12		0.06	0.02
A76	1.01	0.64	1.21	0.66	0.73
A77	1.22	4.24	2.44	0.46	2.32
A78	0.63	1.03	17.41	10.07	2.13
A8	0.35	7.71	15.99		0.24
A80		2.12	6.07	8.08	9.19
A82	0.36	0.36	0.41	0.13	0.16
A828	0.25	0.08	0.09	0.08	0.12
A83		0.13	0.28	0.13	0.27
A830	3.15	6.04			0.06
A835	0.02		0.02	0.33	0.04
A84		0.47	0.11		0.16
A85	0.05	0.06	0.01	0.02	0.08
A86		0.01	0.57	0.02	0.01
A87		0.01	0.34	0.12
A898	0.13
A9	0.01	0.64	0.68	2.44	2.34
A90	4.90	11.34	1.80	0.92	2.31
A92	0.02	0.83	2.26	0.36	0.20
A95	0.38	0.69	0.77	0.55	0.58
A96	0.67	2.24	4.65	0.15	0.50
A977		0.25	0.01	0.06
A985		0.41	9.05	6.51
M73					0.72
M74	0.02			0.19
M77	1.76	1.53	3.15	3.14	6.08
M8	0.85	1.78	0.09	0.66	1.14
M9		0.03		0.52
M90		0.10	0.12	0.17

The figures shown above are rounded to the nearest£0.01 million and are adjusted to take account of accruals. They are for new constructionand minor improvement schemes that have been completed, and do not include maintenancecosts. They exclude preparation costs on schemes where construction has not yetbegun. The figures do not include expenditure on the M74 and M77 PPP schemes.

Complete figures for 1999-2000and 2000-01 are not available. The figures for 2005-06 show the estimated outturnbut some minor adjustments may still be made until the accounts for the year areclosed.

Question reference: S2W-25519

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on pedestrian safety improvements on each trunk road in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-25524

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what support or encouragement it has given to VisitScotland or other tourist bodies to promote Doric or Lallan Scots language tourism.

The Scottish Executive considersScots and its regional forms to be an important part of Scotland’s distinctive linguisticand cultural heritage. VisitScotland is therefore encouraged to promote Scots languagetourism where it is appropriate to do so. For example, VisitScotland supports theDoric Festival which takes place in and around Aberdeen every autumn, and EventScotlandsupports a number of events celebrating the work of Robert Burns. Celebrating thelife and work of Burns will also be one of the themes of Year of Homecoming in 2009.

Question reference: S2W-25521

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a strategy in place to target road safety campaign advertising on areas that suffer from high levels of fatal accidents.

No. The Scottish Executive provides funding to Road SafetyScotland (RSS) for the development of key road safety education initiatives andpublicity messages. Campaigns by RSS aremainly undertaken on a national basis and focus on the main causes of casualties.These include issues such as speeding, drink and drug driving, seatbelt wearingand young drivers. RSS is also looking at the development of campaigns addressingmotorcyclist safety and rural road safety.

Local authorities have a statutoryduty to take appropriate measures to prevent accidents on roads for which they areresponsible. This includes the dissemination of information and advice relatingto the use of roads.

Question reference: S2W-25522

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the number of fatal and serious road accidents is taken into account when decisions are taken about whether to upgrade trunk roads.

Question reference: S2W-25540

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to reduce ambulance cover in rural towns and villages in Aberdeenshire and Moray and which communities will be affected by any such plans.

The Scottish AmbulanceService constantly monitors its performance to ensure that resources meetdemand. There are no plans to reduce ambulance cover. The North East Divisionof the Scottish Ambulance Service, which covers Aberdeenshire and Moray, is tryingto reduce on-call working by providing full-time resources which will enable itto meet demand and to respond faster to life threatening calls. In the lastyear, the ambulance service has introduced 24 hour working in Inverurie, Banff andPeterhead.