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: S5W-20205

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is a legal requirement to keep navigable canals open.

Section 105 of the Transport Act 1968 sets out the duty of the British Waterways Board, now operating as Scottish Canals, regarding maintenance of the waterways. This provision states that, with a view to securing their availability for public use, Scottish Canals has a duty to maintain the commercial waterways in a suitable condition for use by commercial freight-carrying vessels and to maintain the cruising waterways in a suitable condition for use by cruising craft, that is to say, vessels constructed or adapted for the carriage of passengers and driven by mechanical power. The Caledonian and Crinan Canals are classified as commercial waterways and the Union and Forth and Clyde Canals as cruising waterways.

Question reference: S5W-20204

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with local businesses, organisations and community groups that may be impacted by the current closure of part of the Forth and Clyde Canal, and what information it has received in response.

Transport Scotland officials have met with local organisations and community groups including Keep the Canals Alive to discuss these issues. Officials also met with representatives from local authorities including East Dunbartonshire, Glasgow, Falkirk and West Dunbartonshire. Discussions included the future of the Lowland Canals and the efforts to minimise impact on local businesses, organisations and communities by allocating additional funding to allow repairs to be undertaken.

Question reference: S5W-19759

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it took prior to concerns being reported on 29 October 2018 to reduce the amount of waste from on-board train toilets being dispersed onto rail tracks, and what further action it plans to take in response to these concerns.

The Scottish Government funded the fitment of retention tanks to 48 class 156 trains in 2016-17 and has specified that they are in place for all permanent train fleets as part of the ScotRail franchise contract. I challenged Wabtec, who are responsible for the delays to the refurbishment programme, and ScotRail to examine ways to install CET on the Classic HSTs as a temporary measure. Unfortunately it will not be possible to fit CET to the ten Classic HSTs due to supply chain issues and the impact on the original refurbishment programme due to lack of resources to do this extra work.

I completely understand the frustration of the trade unions who have raised this issue and like them I would far prefer to have our fully upgraded, modern refurbished units in service but the Classic HSTs will enable more jobs, more services and more capacity to be provided.

The Scottish Government will continue to hold Wabtec and ScotRail to account and continue to apply pressure to encourage each party to find a viable resolution. I will be speaking directly with the President & CEO of Wabtec in mid-December to find out from him how his company plans to address the failure to deliver to the agreed programme and push for measures to alleviate the problems this is causing.

Question reference: S5W-19763

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to end or significantly reduce the practice of on-board train toilets dispersing waste onto rail tracks and, if so, by (a) how much and (b) what date.

The Scottish Government has directly funded previous installation programmes to eradicate this practice across ScotRail fleets. We understand this interim measure is regrettable, but necessary to support more services and jobs across the country while retaining passenger services between our key seven cities. Wabtec must deliver their work as soon as possible, so passengers and staff can benefit from these improvements and the 26 fully upgraded trains can phase out the interim fleet of ten Classic HSTs during 2019-20.

I have recently met with ScotRail & Wabtec, and asked that they look at temporary solutions for non-refurbished trains which may avoid the issue. I have also told Wabtec the faster they can finalise the refurbishment programme the better for staff and passengers alike.

Question reference: S5W-19691

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) concrete supports at Dyce are being dug out and replaced.

Question reference: S5W-19743

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which minister (a) was responsible for producing and (b) signed-off the original contract for the construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).

Subject to the resolution of the legal challenges to the statutory processes for the scheme, Ministers indicated that the AWPR/B-T project would be progressed as a “non-profit distributing” (NPD) contract in the 2011 Infrastructure Investment Plan,.

Following the procurement process the contract was awarded to Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) in 2014 .

The contract is a standard form NPD model, developed under the governance of Scottish Futures Trust. Consequently, no further Ministerial approval of the documents was required.

Question reference: S5W-19760

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out studies on the impact on the (a) environment and (b) health and safety of staff of waste from on-board train toilets being dispersed onto rail tracks.

Question reference: S5W-19761

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what volume of waste it estimates is dispersed onto rail tracks from on-board train toilets each year.

Question reference: S5W-19762

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the level of training, protective gear and equipment given to staff to deal with waste that is dispersed onto rail tracks from on-board train toilets is adequate.

Question reference: S5W-19758

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) Network Rail and (b) ScotRail staff that work on or in the proximity of rail tracks are given training and protective gear and equipment to deal with waste from on-board toilets and, if so, (i) whether it will provide details of the training and equipment provided and (ii) what proportion of rail track staff receive training.

The Scottish Government do not hold this information. ScotRail and Network Rail has a statutory duty, overseen by the Railway Safety Regulator (the ORR), to ensure that their staff are given adequate information, training and equipment to mitigate risks to their health and safety; including those arising from dealing with waste from on-board train toilets. The Scottish Government expects ScotRail and Network Rail to fulfil their statutory duties and fully funds them to do so.