- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 18 October 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18594 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, what action it will take to alleviate pressure on the Forth Road Bridge.
Answer
Responsibility for the operation of the Forth Road Bridge is a matter for the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) in the first instance. The Executive is working closely with FETA and other stakeholders to address access and congestion issues associated with the bridge. The Executive has made contributions to initiatives such as the expansion of Ferry Toll Park and Ride and the improvement of rail services across the Forth, and is underwriting the upgrading of the A8000.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 18 October 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18594 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, when it envisages that a replacement for the Forth Road Bridge will be required.
Answer
The operation and management of the Forth Road Bridge, including any assessment of when, or whether a replacement crossing would be required, is a matter for the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) in the first instance. Ministers have previously made it clear that we will consider any proposals brought forward.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 6 October 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to encourage tourists to visit locations outwith the central belt.
Answer
VisitScotland’smarketing programmes are aimed at increasing the volume and value of tourismright across Scotland. Each area has its own distinctiveattributes and attractions, which VisitScotland will continue to marketstrongly as part of its product portfolio, at both a local and national level.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 6 October 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what income was generated from speed cameras in each police force area in the last five years.
Answer
The information available relates to cameras operating within the Scottish Safety Camera Programme as given in the following table.
Revenue (£) Generated from Speed Cameras Operating within the Scottish Safety Camera Programme
| Partnership | 2000-011 | 2001-021 | 2002-032 | 2003-043 |
| Strathclyde | 449,680 | 860,960 | 1,464,720 | 3,453,524 |
| Fife | - | - | 421,740 | 618,540 |
| North East | - | - | 278,160 | 1,012,860 |
| Lothian and Borders | - | - | - | 1,616,564 |
| Tayside | - | - | - | 388,200 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | - | - | - | 545,400 |
Notes:
1. Pilot project involving Strathclyde – area covered by Glasgow City Council only.
2. Strathclyde partnership expands to cover four local authorities, Fife joins programme April 2002, North East Partnership joins October 2002.
3. Strathclyde Partnership expands to cover 12 local authorities, Dumfries and Galloway joins July 2003, Lothian and Borders joins July 2003, Tayside joins July 2003.
Income generated from other speed cameras operating outside of the programme in any year cannot be identified separately in the statistics held centrally.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 October 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many accidents involving injury were attributed to weather conditions including snow and ice on each trunk road in each of the last five years.
Answer
Prior to 2005 there was no requirement for police authorities to supply accident contributory factors as part of the Stats 19 returns which form the national database. The figures supplied represent those injury accidents which were recorded with weather factors of snow or ice present on each trunk road in each of the last five years (January 2000 to December 2004).
| Trunk Road | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| M73 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| M74 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| M77 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M8 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 |
| M80 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| M823 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| M876 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| M898 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| M90 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| A1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| A6091 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A68 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| A7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| A701 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| A702 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| A720 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| A725 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| A726 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A737 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| A738 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A75 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| A751 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A76 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| A77 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| A78 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 |
| A8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| A80 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| A82 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| A828 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| A83 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| A830 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| A835 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| A84 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| A85 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
| A86 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| A87 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| A876 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A887 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| A889 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A893 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A898 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A9 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 17 | 13 |
| A90 | 9 | 19 | 5 | 22 | 13 |
| A92 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| A95 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| A96 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| A972 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A977 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A985 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A99 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 108 | 139 | 84 | 122 | 134 |
The figures quoted may differ slightly from those published elsewhere because they were extracted on a different date and the database may have changed between the two dates, eg due to late returns or corrections to earlier returns.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 October 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it can take to mitigate the effects of high fuel prices on disabled people.
Answer
The Scottish Executive’s central heating programme aims to ensure that everyone of pension age, whether or not they are disabled, has central heating and adequate home insulation. In addition, the Warm Deal scheme offers a package of home insulation measures to people on a range of benefits including a number of disability benefits. I would encourage everyone in receipt of the Winter Fuel Payment and the Cold Weather Payment to ensure that they use these payments to heat their home.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 30 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in place to deal with any winter weather problems on each trunk road.
Answer
Comprehensive requirements for dealing with winter weather problems on trunk roads are contained in the contracts with the four trunk road Operating Companies. Each year the Operating Companies are required to translate these into Winter Maintenance Plans (WMPs) which are scrutinised by the Performance Audit Group (PAG) and approved by the Scottish Executive. Copies of the WMPs for 2004-05 are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 34250, 34251, 34252 and 34254).
The Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) contracts for the A74(M) between Millbank (Junction 12) and the Scottish Border and the M77 between Malletsheugh (Junction 5) and Meiklewood Interchange, operated by Autolink and Connect, respectively, contain similar requirements for dealing with winter weather which are also translated into WMPs. The WMPs are scrutinised by PAG for the Autolink contract and Renfrewshire Council for the Connect contract.
The WMPs for 2005-06 have recently been approved and copies will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37611) in the near future.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 30 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive which contractors are responsible for snow and ice treatment on each trunk road.
Answer
The trunk road network is divided into four geographical units, north east, north west, south east and south west. Winter maintenance on trunk roads in the north east and north west units is the responsibility of BEAR Scotland Ltd and winter maintenance on trunk roads in the south east and south west units is the responsibility of Amey Infrastructure Services.
Winter maintenance on the A74(M) between Millbank (Junction 12) and the Scottish Border and on the M77 between Malletsheugh (Junction 5) and Meiklewood Interchange is undertaken by Autolink and Connect, respectively, as part of the Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) contractual arrangements.
A copy of the Trunk Road Units Map showing the trunk roads within each unit area is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37527).
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 30 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it is having, and with which operators, in respect of developing coastal shipping services linking east coast ports with (a) Orkney, (b) Shetland, (c) Iceland, (d) the Faroe Islands and (e) continental Europe.
Answer
In general, the development of such coastal shipping services is a commercial matter for shipping operators to consider. We do, however, have a role in circumstances where financial support is necessary to maintain essential lifeline services to island communities, which is why we are currently re-tendering the Northern Isles ferry contract and tendering for a new Northern Isles lift-on lift-off freight contract.
We have had no discussions with any shipping operators about shipping services from Scotland to Iceland or the Faroes.
New and improved ferry links to Europe have the potential to increase trade and tourism and take lorry traffic off busy Scottish routes. However, such services must prove commercially viable if they are to succeed as our ability to offer financial support is limited. We shall be considering all possible means of encouraging new developments, in line with our Partnership Agreement commitment to improve ferry links to Europe, including the possibility of Freight Facilities Grant or the Waterborne Freight Grant, where a new service would reduce lorry miles.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 30 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to develop dedicated and affordable livestock sea transport from Orkney and Shetland to mainland Scotland.
Answer
The Executive has set out its plans for the transportation of livestock from the Northern Isles to the Scottish mainland in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the next Northern Isles Ferry Services contract issued to short listed bidders. The detail of the plans is given in sections 3.10 and 3.13 of the ITT which was published by the Executive in July 2005. A copy of this is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37566).
