- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14183 by Stewart Stevenson on 25 June 2008, which indicated that no statutory quality partnerships have been introduced, why the Media Calling Notice of 31 August 2005 stated that during a visit to Dundee City Chambers the then Minister for Transport and Telecommunications would witness the signing of a quality partnership between Dundee City Council and Travel Dundee and that this would be the first statutory quality partnership to be introduced.
Answer
On 1 September 2005 the then Minister for Transport and Telecommunications witnessed the signing of a commitment between Dundee City Council and Travel Dundee to work with the Traffic Commissioner to deliver a statutory quality partnership on 1 April 2006. Although no statutory Quality Partnership was subsequently established under the terms of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001, a voluntary agreement between Dundee City Council, Travel Dundee, Strathtay Scottish (now Stagecoach) and Tayside Police has been in place since 25 May 2004. Dundee City Council is currently working on introducing a statutory quality partnership scheme in Dundee.
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a statutory quality partnership for bus services (a) exists or (b) has ever existed anywhere in Scotland and, if so, (i) where and (ii) between what dates.
Answer
To date no statutory quality partnership has been introduced in Scotland.
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 27 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what its targets are for improving (a) end-to-end journey times and (b) capacity on the Aberdeen to Edinburgh rail line.
Answer
We have asked Network Rail to develop a credible plan for providing further journey time improvements between the central belt and Aberdeen, through infrastructure enhancements, under the tier 3 outputs of the high-level output specification. Investment for this project will be determined by affordability and the availability of further financial resources.
The extension to the First ScotRail franchise provides an opportunity for improving services between Edinburgh, Fife and Aberdeen through revised service patterns and additional services. We will work with our industry partners to implement these service enhancements in the most cost effective way. Full details on the information requested is given in the ScotRail Franchise Amendment Agreement, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45544).
The longer term needs of Scotland''s nationally strategic transport corridors are being considered through the strategic transport projects review.
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 21 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to access additional rolling stock potentially available elsewhere on the UK rail network to meet short-term capacity issues on the Scotrail network
Answer
Transport Scotland is committed to considering any opportunities which may arise that will support the delivery of enhanced, value for money rail services.
It plans to access the existing UK rolling stock market to support the delivery of the short-term service enhancement proposals as outlined in the Franchise Extension Amendment Agreement.
This agreement is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45544).
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 21 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to upgrade the infrastructure on the Aberdeen to Edinburgh rail line.
Answer
The High Level Output Specification (HLOS) asks Network Rail to develop a credible plan for providing further journey time improvements between the Central Belt and Aberdeen, through infrastructure enhancements, under the Tier 3 outputs. Investment for this project will be determined by affordability and the availability of further financial resources.
The longer term needs of Scotland''s nationally strategic transport corridors are being considered through the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR).
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many security operators in licensed premises have been charged with non-compliance with Security Industry Authority regulations since licensing was introduced in Scotland.
Answer
None.
The SIA has a range of sanctions available other than criminal proceedings which can be used to help secure compliance. These include issuing written warnings and improvement notices for non-compliance.
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Security Industry Authority investigators are employed in Scotland.
Answer
The Security Industry Authority employs a Head of Investigation and four investigators in Scotland.
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 20 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being put in place to ensure that NHS patients’ health records are not at risk of being lost or stolen.
Answer
The NHS treats the confidentiality of patient records very seriously.
A comprehensive set of policies and guidance for NHS boards on IT security was issued in 2006. This includes risks relating to patient''s health records. Progress on this was recently reviewed following the loss of child benefit data by HM Revenue and Customs across the NHS in Scotland. One of the key findings of this review was the importance of staff training and awareness. NHS Education for Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland recently consulted on a staff training and educational framework to support NHS staff in this important area, and it will be launched later this year.
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities are undertaking pilot schemes in relation to introducing alternate weekly collections of household rubbish, according to the records of the Waste Resources Action Plan.
Answer
The Waste Resources Action Programme does not hold information on Scottish local authorities that are undertaking pilot schemes in relation to alternating weekly collections of household residual waste and recyclate. However, the Scottish Waste Awareness Group is aware of such pilot schemes being undertaken in Aberdeen City and Perth and Kinross Councils.
- Asked by: Alex Johnstone, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have ceased weekly collections of residual household rubbish, according to records held by (a) it, (b) its agencies and (c) the Waste Resource Action Programme.
Answer
The 13 Scottish local authorities that have ceased weekly collections of household residual waste are listed in the table below.
| Local Authority | Weekly Collections Ceased |
| Aberdeenshire | Yes |
| Angus | Yes |
| Clackmannanshire | Yes |
| East Ayrshire | Yes |
| Falkirk | Yes |
| Inverclyde | Yes |
| Midlothian | Yes |
| Moray | Yes |
| South Ayrshire | Yes |
| South Lanarkshire | Yes |
| Stirling | Yes |
| West Lothian | Yes |
| Western Isles | Yes |
This information is from Scottish Waste Awareness Group and Remade Scotland, both of which are funded by Scottish Government. Neither the Scottish Government nor the Waste Resources Action Programme collects such information.
