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: S4W-17708

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for the selling of land purchased for the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link project.

Question reference: S4W-17945

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the (a) Transport Scotland, (b) the Office of Rail Regulation, (c) Network Rail and (d) other stakeholders regarding the Office of Rail Regulation’s final determination on national rail output and funding requirements for 2014 to 2019.

The Office of Rail Regulation’s Final Determination is a key milestone in the Periodic Review process. The Scottish Government’s input to this process is managed by Transport Scotland. The Scottish Ministers’ High Level Output Specification (HLOS) was submitted to the ORR in June 2012 and set out the requirements from the railway in Scotland over control period 5 (2014-15 to 2018-19) and the resources being made available to support their achievement. The HLOS was informed by an extensive public consultation and a series of detailed engagements with rail industry stakeholders.

Throughout the Periodic Review process Transport Scotland has worked closely with the ORR, Network Rail and stakeholders across the wider industry to ensure that the requirements and expectations of the Scottish Ministers are fully reflected in the ORR’s determination for CP5. A draft determination was published in June 2013 for consultation and Transport Scotland formally responded to this in September, focussing on a number of key strategic issues relating to the Scottish Ministers’ HLOS and broader policy objectives for rail. This was followed by a number of bilateral discussions between Transport Scotland and the ORR over the detail of the final determination. In advance of publication the ORR Chair, Anna Walker, provided a formal briefing to advise the Scottish Ministers on the final decisions taken, including those relevant to a number of key issues and opportunities identified by Transport Scotland for further consideration.

Question reference: S4W-17747

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much Infratil owes to HM Revenue and Customs for (a) value added tax, (b) airport passenger duty and (c) national insurance in relation to Glasgow Prestwick Airport and whether this will be written off if the airport is taken into public ownership.

Question reference: S4W-17697

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17218 by Keith Brown on 30 September 2013, who authorised the decision to sell the land at public auction.

Question reference: S4W-17705

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what compensation it paid for plots of land bought for the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link project, and to whom.

Question reference: S4W-17944

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the punctuality rates for the (a) west coast rail service between Glasgow and London Euston and (b) east coast rail service between Edinburgh and King's Cross.

Cross Border train operating companies have no requirement to submit information on train punctuality rates to the Scottish Government. They operate under franchises specified and managed by the Department for Transport.

However, information on punctuality rates across all train operating companies is collated by the Office of Rail Regulation, and published in regular statistical releases. The most recent is available at:

http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/pass-freight-rail-perf-2013-14-q1.pdf.

Question reference: S4O-02516

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much trade Scotland's farmers have with the rest of the UK and with the rest of the world.

Question reference: S4W-17218

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it decided to sell the land at 57 Clark Street in Paisley at auction.

Question reference: S4W-17210

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government who (a) approved and (b) was informed of the offer to buy the land at 57 Clark Street in Paisley after the public auction.

The disposal of 57 Clark Street was undertaken by the relevant officials in compliance with the requirements of the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

I refer the member to the answers to the following parliamentary questions, which notified the Scottish Parliament of the intention to dispose of surplus land and the processes which would guide the disposal: S3W-31078, answered on 4 February 2010; S3W-32289, answered on 19 March 2010; S3W-32290, answered on 19 March 2010; S3W-33248, answered on 23 April 2010; and S3W-36879, answered on 9 November 2010.

All answers to parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website. The search facility for written questions can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-17212

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what land it holds that was bought under compulsory purchase order or the threat of compulsion that is no longer required for the purpose for which it was bought.