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: S1W-04516

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 31 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to promote double track lines and an upgrade on the rail network between Barrhead and Kilmarnock, whether it will provide details of the funding it intends to make available for this and what representations, if any, it has made to other authorities on this matter.

I understand that Railtrack have concluded a feasibility study on behalf of Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority to identify options for infrastructure improvements to increase the capacity of the line from Barrhead to Kilmarnock. The study is currently being considered by SPTA. No application has been received by either the Scottish Executive or the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority for public funding to assist with infrastructure costs.

Question reference: S1W-04876

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 31 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will specify (a) the number and extent of trunk roads in terms of distance and as a percentage of the road network, (b) the number of trunk roads built or roads reclassified as trunk roads over the last 10 years, (c) the roads and the mileage of those roads that have been reclassified as trunk roads over the last five years and the reason for the reclassification and (d) the criteria used for the classification of a highway as a trunk road both in the past and currently.

There are 41 routes in the statutory list of trunk roads. The length of trunk roads, including motorway slip roads, is 3439km (2,137 miles) which represents approximately 6.5% of the public road network. The number of trunk roads built or roads reclassified as trunk roads over the last 10 years would only be available at disproportionate cost. A number of roads were reclassified in 1996 under the "Shaping the Trunk Roads Network" initiative. This exercise involved both trunking and detrunking of existing trunk roads to create a network which would:

provide the road user with a coherent and continuous system of routes which serve destinations of importance to industry, commerce, agriculture and tourism;

define nationally important routes which will be developed in line with strategic national transport demands; and

ensure that those roads which are of a predominantly local importance are managed locally.

A list of roads which were trunked and their length in miles is given in the table below.

New Route Number	Former Route Number	Sections of Road	Length in Miles
A9	A895	Latheron to Roadside	19
A82	A82	A82 to A9 (Kenneth St/Friars Bridge/ Longman Road	2
A95	A95	Keith to the A9, North of Aviemore	49
A90	A952	Peterhead Bypass	2
A87	A850	Kyleakin to Borve	38
A87	A856	Borve to Uig	11
A887	A887	A87 to the A82	16
A86	A86	A82 to the A9, North of Kingussie	40
A889	A889	A86 to A9	9
A90	A92	Aberdeen Peripheral Route (Anderson Dr and the Parkway)	10
A83	A83	Lochgilphead to Kennacraig	22
A85	A85	Perth to Lochearnhead	35
A92	A972	A92 to the A90	1
A92	A92/A991	Tay Bridge to the A972	2
A92	A92	Tay Bridge to the Forgan Roundabout	1
A92	A914	A91 to Forgan Roundabout	13
A8/A78	A8/A78	Port Glasgow to Greenock	5
M8	M8	Glasgow Urban Motorway	15
M80	M80	M8 to Glasgow City Boundary	3
M77	M77	Ayr Road Route	8
A720	A720	Edinburgh City Bypass	14
A702	A702	Edinburgh City Boundary to Edinburgh City Bypass	-
A737/738	A737/738	St James Interchange to Kilwinning	21
A725	A725	Coatbridge to East Kilbride	11
A726	A726	East Kilbride to B766	5
A6091	A6091	A7 to Newton St Boswells	6
A751	A751	A77 to the A75, East of Stranraer	2
Total			360

The criteria to be taken into account to decide whether a road should become a trunk road is set out in section 5(2) of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984. A trunk road is a national road for through traffic and, in determining whether it is expedient for a road to be a trunk road, I require to take into account local and national planning including the requirements of agriculture and industry.

Question reference: S1W-04631

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether prospective or possible employment opportunities in Glasgow are being discouraged as a result of road congestion and if so, to detail them.

Road congestion imposes costs on business and the wider economy but as the SACTRA report Transport and the Economy states the linkages between transport and the economy are far from straightforward. The provisions on congestion charging and the workplace parking levy in the forthcoming Transport Bill provide new tools to tackle congestion. It is up to Glasgow to consider whether these powers will assist the economic development of the city.

Question reference: S1W-04879

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are or have been plans to extend the Edinburgh City Bypass to six lanes and, if so, whether it will detail them, and whether external consultants or other professionals have been approached regarding proposals to extend the number of lanes on the bypass and, if so, what are the details including dates and those involved.

A scheme for widening the Edinburgh City Bypass was safeguarded in the Lothian Structure Plan 1994, but detailed proposals have not been developed. Transportation consultants SIAS analysed the impact of widening the carriageway on the Colinton Bypass section of the road as part of the refurbishment works now underway. They concluded that the provision of a hard shoulder, which is now being provided on this section, gave an equivalent economic benefit under today's traffic conditions.

Question reference: S1W-05243

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive to provide details of any information it has received relating to the commercial viability of the City of Edinburgh Rapid Transport scheme.

Question reference: S1W-05240

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to establish a cross-sector working group to review and advise on strategic environmental assessment best practice and, if so, whether it will provide details of the proposed group.

Question reference: S1W-05237

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive to detail the result of any tests it has conducted in the waters off the Solway and Ayrshire coasts for the following pollutants: (a) alpha radiation, (b) beta radiation, (c) Carbon 14, (d) Cobalt 60, (e) Strontium 90, (f) Zirconium 95 and Niobium 95, (g) Technetium 99, (h) Iodine 129, (i) Caesium 134, (j) Caesium 137, (k) Plutonium alpha, (l) Plutonium 241, (m) Americium 241 and (n) Uranium.

Question reference: S1W-05239

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of and publish a timetable for the implementation of a programme of strategic environmental assessment.

Question reference: S1W-05236

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it undertakes testing for radioactive pollution on the foreshore of the Ayrshire and Solway coasts and, if so, to detail the materials tested for and the test results.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) carries out a comprehensive programme of monitoring of environmental radioactivity in Scotland. The programme includes monitoring of the Ayrshire coastline around the Hunterston A and Hunterston B nuclear licensed sites as well as monitoring the Solway coast to assess the impact of liquid radioactive waste from the Chapelcross nuclear licensed site. SEPA also carries out monitoring on the Solway coast to determine the impact of discharges from Sellafield on the Scottish environment.

The materials sampled on the Ayrshire and Solway coastlines include sediment, seaweed, and turf samples. In addition, SEPA takes measurements to assess dose rates.

Full details of the monitoring and assessment of radioactive pollution around the Scottish coast are published annually in the Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) report. A copy of the current report (RIFE-4) is in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Question reference: S1W-05276

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 24 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made, if any, to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food regarding the implementation in Scotland of the PETS Passport pilot scheme; whether any requests have been made for facilities and entry/exit points in Scotland, and whether it will provide details and a timescale for any plans to extend the scheme in full to Scotland.

Since Professor Kennedy submitted his recommendations for alternative arrangements to the existing system of quarantine in September 1998, the Scottish Executive has worked in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and other British Isles authorities, in putting together procedures to replace the existing six month quarantine arrangements, all on a UK basis. The pilot scheme introduced on 28 February this year will test the operational effectiveness of the proposed full scheme arrangements prior to these coming into force throughout the UK, this being planned for April 2001.

The entry points under the pilot scheme were chosen on the basis that they met the requirements of rigorous testing, while at the same time ensuring close supervision of practical operation. Under the full scheme arrangements, entry points are expected to be limited to the existing points of entry under the present six month quarantine legislation, this being in line with Professor Kennedy's recommendations. There are no restrictions on exit points from the UK either under the existing arrangements or under the proposed new arrangements.

Enquiries received about facilities for entry/exit points in Scotland have been answered on the above basis.