- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 10 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27368 by Lewis Macdonald on 2 August 2002, whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government in support of legislative changes in order to allow a public sector operator to be considered for the passenger railway franchise.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including franchise issues.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 10 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has received from the Strategic Rail Authority about any proposed cuts in funding for the passenger railway franchise; whether it has taken over responsibility for direct payment of funding for the franchise and, if not, when it will do so, and what assessment it has made of any impact of any such cuts on service provision.
Answer
A contract with agreed levels of funding and an agreed Passenger Service Requirement is in place with ScotRail until April 2004 when the current franchise expires. Payment of the subsidy cost of the franchise is divided between the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT). The Executive has always funded SPT's share of this and has funded SRA's share since 2001-02 through transfer of funds from the Department for Transport. Under the terms of the devolution settlement the Executive will acquire full funding responsibility, via SPT and the SRA, for the next Scottish passenger rail franchise.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 6 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on (a) expenditure incurred by and (b) costs paid to First Engineering in respect of work on rail in Scotland in each year since 1997.
Answer
First Engineering is a private sector company. As such this information is commercial-in-confidence and is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) (i) reports to and (ii) proceedings taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years under section 23 of the Regulation of Railways Act 1924 as amended.
Answer
I am not aware of the Regulation of Railways Act 1924. However, there have been no reports to procurators fiscal under section 23 of the Regulation of Railways Act 1868.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) (i) reports to and (ii) proceedings taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years under section 16 of the Railway Regulation Act 1840 as amended.
Answer
This information is not held centrally at present, but action is currently being taken to improve how this type of information is recorded. It is hoped that it should be possible to complete the improvements to our record keeping systems within the next few months.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) (i) reports and (ii) proceedings taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years under section 56(1) of the British Transport Commission Act 1949 as amended.
Answer
This information is not held centrally at present, but action is currently being taken to improve how this type of information is recorded. It is hoped that it should be possible to complete the improvements to our record keeping systems within the next few months.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 19 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) (i) reports to and (ii) proceedings taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years under section 19(1) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995.
Answer
This information is not held centrally at present, but action is currently being taken to improve how this type of information is recorded. It is hoped that it should be possible to complete the improvements to our record keeping systems within the next few months.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 16 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish telecommunications provider industry was excluded from bidding for Phase II of the Scottish Enterprise telecommunications infrastructure programme Project ATLAS to connect communication networks between Edinburgh and regional business parks and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.
Answer
This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 16 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any application for European Commission state aid for Scottish Enterprise's telecommunications infrastructure programme Project ATLAS and, if so, whether it has received any formal approval from the Commission in response.
Answer
No application has been made.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 16 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions Scottish Enterprise has had with the telecommunications policy division of the Department of Trade and Industry regarding the telecommunications infrastructure programme Project ATLAS and whether the project is an element of the UK policy on telecommunications infrastructure.
Answer
Scottish Enterprise have analysed the Scottish telecoms market and identified a complex set of issues constraining market growth. Project ATLAS was developed to address this problem on the basis of Scottish Enterprise's economic development remit which is a devolved matter. However, both DTI and the telecoms regulator Oftel are aware of the project.
