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: S1W-20925

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 14 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20401 by Lewis MacDonald on 10 December 2001, why it did not give its reasons for preventing Amey Highways Ltd and BEAR (Scotland) Ltd from responding directly to enquiries from the media as requested and when it will do so.

The reason for precluding the Operating Companies from responding directly to enquiries from the media was confirmed in my answer to question S1W-20401. This condition was included in the contract to clearly define areas of responsibility between the Scottish Executive and the Operating Companies in respect of dealings with the media. However, the Operating Companies are now permitted to respond directly to the media on factual or operational matters, as indicated in my answer to question S1W-19992. The Executive remains responsible for responding to the media on matters of policy or finance.

Question reference: S1W-20603

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 14 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to paragraph 2.40 of Audit Scotland's The new trunk road contracts, whether any new working methods have been identified and proposed by (a) Amey Highways Ltd and (b) BEAR Scotland Ltd and what the timescale for implementation is in each case.

Question reference: S1W-21004

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 14 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20441 by Lewis MacDonald on 11 December 2001 and given that it is "not usual to provide details of discussions between Ministers and third parties", how many written parliamentary questions seeking answers relating to such discussions (a) have fallen into this category, (b) received answers to the information requested, (c) did not receive the information requested over the previous six month period, broken down by question number, subject of question and the Department providing the answers.

Question reference: S1W-20567

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 14 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to paragraph 2.37 of Audit Scotland's The new trunk road contracts, what routine work has not been done to the level or standard required by (a) Amey Highways Ltd and (b) BEAR (Scotland) Ltd and what remedial action has been taken by (i) it and (ii) the contractor in respect of each such occurrence.

Question reference: S1W-20268

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the population of (a) cormorants, (b) goosanders and (c) red breasted mergansers was in each year since 1994, also expressed as a percentage of the 1994 figures.

This information is not held directly by the Executive. The following estimates and commentary have been supplied by Scottish Natural Heritage. Data are available separately for breeding pairs and for the peak wintering population. Breeding Population:Figures for the breeding population of goosander are available only for the year 1987, when the estimated population in Scotland was about 1,443 breeding pairs. In 1997, when the survey was repeated on a sample selection of the river lengths surveyed in 1987, no significant change in the breeding population was estimated to have taken place.Red breasted mergansers breed in coastal areas and no reliable estimate of the breeding population has ever been obtained.Breeding cormorants have only been censused fully in the years 1985-87 and more recently for Seabird 2000, although figures for this latter survey are not yet compiled. Overall trends for cormorant populations, where detailed surveys of individual colonies are undertaken, show that declines in population have occurred.Wintering Population:Counts for wintering populations are available from Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) counts, though for all species these are not complete surveys, especially for red-breasted merganser and cormorant which are predominantly coastal dwelling birds. However, WeBS data showing peak counts for Scotland as a whole are provided for each species in the following tables. The proportional change from 1994 is also shown as well as the month in which the peak population was counted.The populations of red breasted merganser and goosander wintering in Scotland are thought to include birds from breeding grounds in Scandinavia and continental Europe. The proportion of birds from these areas has not been determined.Cormorant

Year	Peak count (during September to March period)	Percentage of 1994 figure	Month of peak count
1994-95	3,001	100%	January
1995-96	3,796	126%	November
1996-97	2,873	96%	December
1997-98	2,578	86%	October
1998-99	2,147	72%	September
1999-2000	2,826	94%	October

Goosander

Year	Peak count (during September to March period)	Percentage of 1994 figure	Month of peak count
1994-95	1,157	100%	February
1995-96	1,473	127%	December
1996-97	1,303	113%	January
1997-98	1,220	105%	November
1998-99	1,096	95%	December
1999-2000	993	86%	January

Red-breasted merganser

Year	Peak count (during September to March period)	Percentage of 1994 figure	Month of peak count
1994-95	2,981	100%	December
1995-96	1,813	61%	October
1996-97	2,045	69%	October
1997-98	1,520	51%	October
1998-99	1,663	56%	December
1999-2000	1,597	54%	February

Question reference: S1W-20902

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 11 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive why it has not yet given a substantive answer to question S1W-19800, lodged on 7 November 2001, and when it will do so.

Question reference: S1W-20740

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 11 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been consulted on, or is aware of, any plans by the Strategic Rail Authority to locate any personnel in Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-20708

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 11 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning stated at the announcement on 4 December 2001 of the Edinburgh Crossrail Project that Beauly Station had already opened and, if so, why, and when trains will be in a position to stop at the platform.

The Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning referred on 4 December to the originally scheduled date for the re-opening of the Beauly Station, 30 November 2001. Cancellation of this schedule was notified to the Executive only on the date in question, and the minister was informed on 5 December.The re-opening of Beauly Station is a matter for Railtrack and Health and Safety Executive.

Question reference: S1W-20440

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 11 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-19848 by Sarah Boyack on 23 November 2001, (a) on what dates since 1 March 2001 it has had meetings at which the subject of vertical integration of the rail network was discussed and (b) with which relevant bodies and individuals each such meeting was held, where and who instigated each such meeting.

Question reference: S1W-20195

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 9 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Amey Highways Ltd and BEAR (Scotland) Ltd have enough plant resource in place to meet the requirements of Section 5 of Schedule 7, Part 2 of the Term Contract for Management and Maintenance of the Scottish Trunk Road Network for each contract area, and, if not, how much plant resource to meet the requirements of Section 5 remains outstanding, broken down by contract area.