- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response will be to the consultation on Review of Distribution of Payments for Higher Education Student Support.
Answer
I am pleased to announce our intention that higher education students ordinarily resident in Scotland and studying in Scotland will be paid on a monthly basis (with some frontloading of support) from academic year 2007-08 onwards. This is subject to my being satisfied that all the necessary IT requirements are in place and have been fully tested.
The Executive’s response to the consultation report will be published on our website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent immediately and sent to interested stakeholders. Copies will also be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38434).
- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it inspects the cutting of road verges’ vegetation, including grass, on the A68, A7 and A1 and, if so, when such inspection has taken place on each road in the last six months.
Answer
The Performance Audit Group inspects the cutting of road verges’ vegetation, including grass, on the A68, A7 and A1 trunk roads on behalf of the Scottish Executive.
The following table shows the dates when inspections were carried out on each road in the last six months.
| Route/Month | May | June | July | August | September | October |
| A1 | 16,23,30 | 8,16,23 | 1,7,14,21 | 9,24,30 | 8,21,28 | 26 |
| A68 | 5,18,19,24,31 | 2,6,7,14,17,27,28 | 4,5,13,19,27 | 1,29,31 | 6,13,22,27 | 5,10,13 |
| A7 | 18 | 7,17,27 | 4,13,19 | 31 | 22 | 5,13 |
Note: It should be noted that a road inspection may not cover the length of an entire route.
- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 15 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions there have been in the last five years for contraventions of Scottish building regulations, the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations or other relevant regulations or codes of practice in which the safety of the occupants of given premises were potentially or actually threatened by emissions of carbon monoxide.
Answer
Information is not available at the level of detail requested.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database records details of the charges against each accused in terms of the specific common law or statutory offence that is alleged to have been committed. It is not possible to identify on the database cases involving a threat to the safety of occupants of premises caused by emissions of carbon monoxide as this does not constitute a specific offence and the database does not contain searchable information relating to the circumstances that gave rise to other relevant charges.
The table below shows the total number of charges prosecuted by procurators fiscal where the charge involved any offence under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
Charges Prosecuted under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 19981
| Charge | 2002-032 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 |
| Regulation 12 - Not have competent workers | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Regulation 35 - Work not safely maintained | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Regulation 36(3)(b) - Fail to ensure safety check | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Regulation 36(3)(c) - Fail to check safety record | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Regulation 36(6)(b)(i) - Fail to display copy record | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
1. The information in this table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.
2. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service completed an upgrade of its electronic case management system in April 2002. Only case records created after that date contain complete data which is capable of electronic analysis.
- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 14 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to improve the A7 trunk road at Scatterpenny corner to the south west of Hawick and, if so, what such improvements will involve and when they are likely to commence.
Answer
Following improvements made and completed in spring 2004, the area is being monitored through the annual review of the safety record of the A7.
- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria exist for determining whether lighting is installed at junctions of single carriageway trunk roads with B, C and unclassified local authority-maintained roads.
Answer
Lighting is provided for safety reasons and is generally only provided through urban or built up areas, busy junctions or roundabouts. Lighting is not provided at isolated rural locations on trunk roads except where there is a high incidence of night time accidents.
- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are employed to determine whether pedestrian crossings can be installed on single carriageway trunk roads in centres of population.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-16499 on 26 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: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the commencement and completion dates are of the installation of replacement lighting columns on the A68 in Jedburgh and whether it is satisfied with the period of time taken.
Answer
The work to renew the street lighting system on the A68 through Jedburgh commenced on 29 November 2004 and was completed on 29 May 2005.
The Scottish Executive acknowledges that the duration of this work was unduly protracted due to a number of factors. These included adverse weather and the lack of accurate records on the location of underground public utilities which required an extensive amount of hand digging to be carried out.
- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it monitors the performance of the trunk road agents in repairing street lights on the A68 and A7 in the Scottish Borders.
Answer
The performance of the trunk road agents in repairing street lights on the A68 and A7 is monitored by the independent Performance Audit Group which comprises Halcrow working in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Scott Wilson.
- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how long lighting in Buccleuch Street on the A7 in Hawick has been left unrepaired or has been the subject of temporary repairs; whether it is satisfied with the level of performance by those responsible for this work, and whether it will investigate any cause for complaint.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is not aware of any unrepaired lighting defects in Buccleuch Street on the A7 in Hawick. Random bulb failures are addressed by Amey Infrastructure Services as part of routine maintenance. A temporary power supply was installed in October 2004 to address a long-standing fault and this has operated satisfactorily since that date. Work has now started to completely renew the lighting system on the A7 in Hawick.
The Performance Audit Group has reported that Amey’s performance in responding to lighting defects on the A7 is in accordance with the timescales required in the trunk road maintenance contract. However, officials in the Scottish Executive’s Trunk Roads Network Management Division will be happy to investigate any specific complaints.
- Asked by: Euan Robson, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 9 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review Scottish building regulations and associated codes of practice to improve installation and maintenance standards to reduce the risk of appliances emitting carbon monoxide.
Answer
I have asked Dr Paul Stollard,Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. Hisresponse is as follows:
The SBSA has no plans to reviewthe standards and related guidance to improve installation of combustion appliancesto reduce the risk of carbon monoxide emissions since the building regulations callup the latest relevant British and European standards. The Gas Appliance (Safety)Regulations 1995 require virtually all gas appliances for sale in the UK to be fittedwith a shut-off device to prevent the escape of dangerous gases and this safetyrequirement will have a significant affect on the reduction of accidental releaseof dangerous gases.
Building regulations apply atthe time of installation, but cannot control maintenance.
