- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 3 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13106 by Nicol Stephen on 26 January 2005, what exact role it envisages for Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT), in light of the commitment made to the Parliament by the Minister for Transport on 16 June 2004 that "I still expect SPT to have a direct role in the management and development of rail services in the west of Scotland." (Official Report c. 9099).
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-15923 on 5 May 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 3 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, following the decision to allow Dumfries and Galloway to form a transport partnership in its own right, it will consider allowing any other local authorities to be exempt from the proposed regional transport partnerships if they so wish.
Answer
The current Transport (Scotland) Bill 2004 places a duty on the Scottish ministers to create regional transport partnerships covering the whole of Scotland. This duty would not allow exemptions.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will fund any shortfall in the final costs of the Waverley Line, over and above the £151 million already identified.
Answer
Responsibility for identifying and securing any additional funding required for the project rests with the bill promoters.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what funds have been committed towards the costs of the Waverley Line by (a) it, (b) the City of Edinburgh Council, (c) Midlothian Council, (d) Scottish Borders Council and (e) any other sources.
Answer
I shall reply to the member as soon as possible.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of the total funds invested in the previous ScotRail franchise by (a) it and the Scottish Office, (b) National Express Group and (c) any other sources over the entire period of the franchise.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
The franchise payments received by ScotRail since 1998-1999 are detailed in the table below.
| | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 |
| ScotRail Franchise Payments (£ Milllion) | 280.18 | 270.00 | 248.57 | 214.26 | 230.08 | 251.67 |
This information was collated from the Strategic Rail Authority Annual Report 2003-2004.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of the total funds invested in the First ScotRail franchise by (a) it, (b) First Group plc and (c) any other sources since the inception of the franchise.
Answer
The total subsidy provided to First ScotRail since the start of the franchise is £102.7 millions.
On agreeing to the terms of the Franchise for operating the Rail services in Scotland, First Group plc committed to spending £40 million of Capital Expenditure over the 7 years of the franchise. £17 million is due to be spent in the first 18 months of the Franchise, of which £2.5 million has been spent to date.
A significant investment is being made in staff numbers and staff development. Over 150 additional staff have been employed in the Franchise to date, with more planned. First ScotRail are investing at least £1 million per annum in staff training and development.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 22 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of total transport expenditure it expects to invest in (a) roads, (b) railways, (c) bus services and (d) other transport schemes in each of the next three years.
Answer
The funding allocated to Transport Portfolio was published in the Draft Budget 2005-06, a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34133)
The following table represents the percentage funding allocated to specific modes of Transport from the Total Transport expenditure over the next three spending years 2005-06 to 2007-08 at Level 2 spending plans.
| | % | Footnotes | 2005-06 Plans | 2006-07 Plans | 2007-08 Plans |
| A | Motorways and trunk roads | | 30% | 29% | 27% |
| B | Rail Services in Scotland | 1 | 25% | 20% | 20% |
| C | Bus Services and Concessionary Fares in Scotland | | 8% | 14% | 13% |
| D | Other Transport (including major rail projects) | 2 | 37% | 37% | 40% |
| | | | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Notes:
1. The published Draft Budget 2005-06 spending allocations and percentage share of Transport Programme Expenditure presented in the table above, does not reflect the recent announcement of the UK Rail Review. Additional funding will be transferred to Scottish Executive with responsibilities being transferred to Scottish ministers.
2. Funding for the Transport Major Rail projects is included within the Integrated Transport Fund [ITF] spending plans and this is reflected in the increase of Other Transport in the table above.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current position is in respect of a Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance appraisal report on a proposal for a link road between Dumfries and the M74.
Answer
It is understood that Dumfries and Galloway Council are currently preparing a Part 1 STAG appraisal entitled Dumfries Transport Links to Motorway Network.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 16 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, following the invitation to tender for the Gourock-Dunoon ferry route, whether a precedent will be set for other Clyde and Hebridean routes currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne to be offered for tender, if they are identified as being able to operate without subsidy.
Answer
Since 2003 the Gourock-Dunoonroute has been treated separately from the rest of the CalMac network in relationto the tendering proposals for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services. This reflects the presence of along-established unsubsidised commercial operator on an adjacent Gourock toDunoon route. A prior information notice was recently issued in relation to theopportunity for a commercial service with no operating or timetablerestrictions.
The prior information noticewas not the start of a tender process. Rather, it was the first step inascertaining if there might be operators interested in providing a service fromDunoon Pier to Gourock Pier on a non-subsidised basis. This option was proposedin response to local analysis suggestingthat the Gourock-Dunoon service could beoperated on a commercial basis (without subsidy) if the service were to be allowedto operate without the time and frequency restrictions that have been imposed onCalMac’s vehicle service for many years. These two factors – an unsubsidisedcommercial competitor and analysis suggesting the possibility of a commercialservice – are not present on other Clyde and Hebrides routes. The other CalMac routes which are within theundertaking have been assessed as being loss making and so there are no plansto apply the approach suggested for Gourock–Dunoon to other routes.
The Gourock–Dunoon proposalswill not be taken any further forward until there have been further discussionsbetween the Executive and the European Commission and I have reported back toParliament.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 16 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of each route currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne, specifying (a) the number of foot passengers carried, (b) the number of car passengers carried, (c) the amount of subsidy spent and (d) the profit or loss made, for each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not hold information which distinguishes between foot passengers andthose travelling with a vehicle on individual routes, with the exception ofGourock-Dunoon. However, details of total passenger and vehicle carryings areheld on a route-by-route basis on the company’s website at
www.calmac.co.uk/2003carryings-annualcalendartotals.pdfand passenger and vehicle carryings for earlier years are contained in theannual publication, Scottish Transport Statistics, the 2004 edition of which isavailable at:www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/360/360-00.asp.The subsidy is allocated on a network, rather than route-by-route basis.However, information on subsidy and operating loss by area of operation is shownin the company’s annual report and accounts which can be found at:www.calmac.co.uk/annualreports.html.The Executive has, sinceDecember 2004, been receiving information on a monthly basis from CalMac detailingthe number of foot passengers and the number of passengers travelling withvehicles on the Gourock-Dunoon route. The information is being gathered toassist the Executive with our plans for the route and is commerciallyconfidential.
