- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has cost each year to rectify the reported problems with the IT system that it introduced to process common agricultural policy basic payments, broken down by type of expenditure.
Answer
Between the start of the CAP Futures Programme in 2012 and 31 March 2017 the Scottish Government invested £166 million (of the £178 million identified in the final business case) in the design and delivery of the Rural Payments and Services IT Platform. This investment also covered rectifying issues and problems as they came to light in the development of the system. The £178m for the functionality originally identified in the scope of the final business is being held to.
Following the closure of the CAP Futures Programme on 31 March 2017, to date, we have specifically invested £860K in addressing the sub-optimal code within the Rural Payments and Services IT Platform and re-testing, providing a measurable improvement in reliability. This work has been done alongside a much broader set of activities to put the CAP payment system on a stable footing and bring in new features (for example the new Land Parcel Information System) that increase the effectiveness of the system and improve services for customers.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government whether the IT system that it introduced to process common agricultural policy basic payments is (a) fully functional and (b) delivering all of the duties for which it was originally planned and, if not, by what date it will be.
Answer
The Rural Payments and Services IT platform has been operational for some time allowing compliant payments to be made. Nearly all of the key functionality identified in the final business case of the Futures Program has now been provided. Some remaining functionality is outstanding, most of which will be delivered in comparatively small releases over the next six months.
CAP 2015 is highly complex and replaced two former schemes with six new schemes under Pillar 1. In developing its IT system, Scotland faced a harder task than other parts of UK, because of the complex nature of our land and the implementation of our targeted policies under Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 that have been developed to meet the requirements of our agriculture industry. Under EU rules only claims which have been fully checked and validated can be paid, adding to the complexity of the IT system. EU conservative estimates are that, generally, CAP 2015 is 20 % more complex to administer.
The system is currently helping to process around 41,800 claims per year for approximately 20,000 customers; mapping 700,000 land parcels and 1.7 million internal features to an extremely high level of precision covering 4 million hectares of land; and helping to pay over £540 million annually to customers to the benefit of Scotland’s rural communities and our rural economy.
Of course, the system was built with the intention of continuing to meet the current CAP requirements and provide the core functionality for the next CAP implementation. This was prior to the UK Government’s decision to take us out of the EU.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-11317 and S5W-11477 by Humza Yousaf on 29 September and 4 October 2017 respectively, regarding a fire on a High Speed Train (HST) unit on 14 September 2017, what its response is to the incident on 17 April 2018, which involved a fire in a power car at Penzance station; whether it can confirm that this unit was scheduled to be transferred to ScotRail, and, if so, whether it will (a) publish a full report of the incident and (b) outline the implications of this for the timetable for the introduction of the refurbished rolling stock.
Answer
The High Speed Train (HST) power car involved in the incident is currently on lease to Great Western Railway, they are investigating the incident and are responsible for any repairs. Any lessons learned from the incident on 17 April will be taken on-board by the vehicle owner and current operator and shared with Abellio ScotRail. The power car involved will be leased by Abellio ScotRail later this year.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported delay in the rollout of ScotRail's planned (a) new and (b) refurbished rolling stock, whether it considers that an alternative action could have been taken by (i) Transport Scotland and (ii) Abellio to alleviate this, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
Abellio ScotRail is obliged to provide rolling stock to deliver its service provision and has already adjusted leases of existing rolling stock, postponed upgrades and maintenance to mitigate against project slippage. It has also agreed leases for more trains during this franchise term and will continue to keep other options for more rolling stock under review. Abellio ScotRail continues to focus on optimising capacity from their available fleet, and are working closely with Transport Scotland to ensure that all options are assessed to mitigate against the Hitachi fleet introduction delays including working on a plan to bring in a number of class 365 trains on a short term basis for the Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk route.
The First Minister and I have reiterated on many occasions to senior management from the global Hitachi organisation the importance of this new fleet to Scotland’s Railway and the wider Scottish Economy. I also visited the Hitachi factory at Newton Aycliffe last year to see progress with the new fleet and meet the staff there. I and officials at Transport Scotland continue to press representatives of Hitachi and Abellio ScotRail on this matter.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) new and (b) refurbished rolling stock items ScotRail plans to introduce, and by what date these will all be operational.
Answer
Over the next 15 months Abellio ScotRail will gradually introduce into Scotland the following additional fleets:
Seventy Class 385s electric trains for central belt routes, 26 HSTs onto Scottish inter-city routes, 5 more class 320/4 electric trains on the Strathclyde network to help provide a net increase of more than 200 extra carriages across the fleet compared to today. In addition ASR is working on a plan introduce additional 365 electric trains on a short term basis to run on the Edinburgh-Glasgow route ahead of the new class 385 introduction.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 27 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government at what stage is construction of the A90 grade separated junction at Laurencekirk; when construction of the road is expected to begin, and what the estimated completion date is.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-10132 on 27 July 2017. 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: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 27 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, prior to the announcement of City Region Deal funding, how it had planned to pay for the A90 grade separated junction at Laurencekirk, and where any funds have been reallocated.
Answer
In January 2016 the Scottish Government announced £24 million for the design and construction of a new grade-separated junction at Laurencekirk as part of a package of additional investment alongside the Aberdeen City Region Deal. This additional investment enabled Transport Scotland to commence the design and assessment process of the scheme.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, which of the refurbished class 43 units that are being introduced to the ScotRail fleet has the highest mileage, how many miles it has travelled, and in what year this train was first used.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15943 on 26 April 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what the expected lifetime mileage capacity is of a class 43 High Speed Train, and what the average mileage is of the refurbished class 43 units that are being introduced to the ScotRail fleet.
Answer
Scottish Government does not hold this information but all 54 of the class 43 power cars will undergo significant upgrades prior to being introduced into service on Scottish inter-city routes from this summer with the first few already here in Scotland. They will run between Scotland’s seven main cities, delivering 40% more seats than operate on those routes today and are faster, popular with passengers and will be upgraded to provide the latest standard of comfort, accessibility and catering provision.
Good, high quality refurbishment can deliver a passenger experience comparable with new rolling stock. HSTs’ key components have been changed many times over and the work that will be carried out before they enter passenger service will deliver a reliable, refurbished train with extended life.
- Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government when the roll-out of its R100 programme will reach homes in Aberdeenshire, and when they will all have access to at least 30mbps internet speeds.
Answer
Telecommunications, including investment in and supporting of broadband infrastructure, is a matter reserved to the UK Government. Despite this, the Scottish Government is the only UK administration to have committed to delivering 100% superfast broadband access.
Every home and business in Scotland will be able to access superfast broadband – at speeds of 30Mbps or more - by the end of 2021.
The Scottish Government is committing £600 million to the initial phase of the Reaching 100% (R100) programme and, with procurement now underway, we expect to announce initial deployment plans early in 2019, once contracts have been agreed.
