- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) total and (b) final monthly unitary charge payment will be to Aberdeen Roads Ltd for the entire length of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) after it has been handed over in its entirety to Transport Scotland.
Answer
Payments for phases of this project are subject to a number of factors and therefore payment amounts can vary. Once a payment has been certified, as part of the governance arrangement for the AWPR/B-T contract, Aberdeen City Council administers payments to Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) each month. The payments Transport Scotland makes to Aberdeen City Council are published in monthly expenditure reports and are available at:
https://www.transport.gov.scot/about/expenditure/ .
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail to improve its service preparations for major sporting events.
Answer
The ScotRail franchise contains a number of obligations and commitments to plan for special events including staffing requirements and rolling stock to operate adequate passenger services to or from any special events.
In the case of the Betfred Cup final on Sunday 2nd December, ScotRail operated 5 and 6 coach formations instead of the usual 3 car, as well as providing travel advice to passengers via a press release on their website urging Aberdeen supporters to consider their travel options. This was because the three services arriving before kickoff, and three more leaving after the match were expected to be extremely busy.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how much unitary charge has been paid each month to Aberdeen Roads Ltd for (a) phase 1, (b) phase 2 and (c) phase 2a of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), since the phase was handed over to Transport Scotland.
Answer
As part of the governance arrangement for the AWPR/B-T contract, Aberdeen City Council administers payments to Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) each month. The payments Transport Scotland makes to Aberdeen City Council are published in monthly expenditure reports and are available at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/about/expenditure/
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) total and (b) final monthly unitary charge payment will be to Aberdeen Roads Ltd for the final phase of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), including the new Don Bridge, after it has been handed over to Transport Scotland.
Answer
Payments for phases of this project are subject to a number of factors and therefore payment amounts can vary. Once a payment has been certified, as part of the governance arrangement for the AWPR/B-T contract, Aberdeen City Council administers payments to Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) each month. The payments Transport Scotland makes to Aberdeen City Council are published in monthly expenditure reports and are available at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/about/expenditure/
The final payment will be after the concession period which runs until 13 November 2047.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how many trains were (a) cancelled and (b) delayed on the Aberdeen- (i) Glasgow and (ii) Edinburgh route on 2 December 2018, which was the day that ScotRail's new timetable came into force, also broken down by the reason for the disruption; whether ScotRail's performance target for the service that day was met, and what discussions it has had with the operator regarding the disruption.
Answer
The new timetable came into force on 9 December 2018.
On that day, there were 19 services between Glasgow & Aberdeen and 11 between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, with no cancellations on either service group. The PPM on that day for these services was 56.7%.
The largest cause of delay was due to congestion at Glasgow and Edinburgh due to late running cross border services impacting on ScotRail services as they entered to Scottish network and a signalling fault at Dyce.
My officials at Transport Scotland have been in daily contact with ScotRail over the operation and performance of the new timetable.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 20 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the application of the national minimum wage for seafarers working on merchant vessels operating from Scotland's ports.
Answer
Scottish Ministers last wrote to the UK Government on 27 September 2018 following the UK Government’s publication of corresponding revised guidance; " Guide to the application of the Equality Act 2010 and National Minimum Wage for seafarers". Scottish Ministers urged the UK Government to go further and consider the introduction of legislation for seafarers working solely in UK waters, thus ensuring that protection is afforded to all seafarers who operate on our shores.
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 20 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with UK Government regarding employment levels for Scotland's seafarers in the (a) passenger and (b) freight ferry sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not had any discussions with the UK Government regarding the number of seafarers who are resident in Scotland and employed on passenger or freight ferries. Please see the reply to S5W-20563 on 20 December 2018 for details of correspondence with UK Government regarding the National Minimum Wage implications for seafarers working in UK waters.
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what general revenue funding it plans to provide to Aberdeen City Council in 2019-20.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2019
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what part it believes housing policy should play in tackling social isolation.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2018
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 November 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-02586 by Michael Matheson on 21 November 2018, in what month it (a) was originally estimated that the Haudagain improvement project would be open to traffic and (b) is now expected to open to traffic.
Answer
Prior to one of the bidders withdrawing from the competition, it was estimated that the A90/A96 Haudagain Improvement Project would be open to traffic in December 2020. Due to the requirement for a revised procurement process, and difficulties encountered during the ground investigation work, which is essential to allow contractor to price and programme the job correctly, the project is now expected to open in March 2021, subject to receiving the successful contractor’s programme.