Chamber and committees

The creation of a double junction and new UP passenger loop at Stirling railway station will facilitate journey time savings of up to five minutes for a number of Alloa to Glasgow trains. The new facilities will increase the flexibility of the route, assisting in the punctual working of passenger and freight trains offering small, but widespread benefits, across a wide area of central Scotland.

The railway line speed is limited between Alloa and Kincardine due to the alignment of the railway, which was constructed within the limits of the existing dismantled railway to reduce land take, and mineworkings.

At Alloa, Clackmannan and Kincardine the line speed is restricted by curvature to 40 mph.

At Kilbachie the line speed was reduced to 30 mph as part of the mitigation due to mining impacts.

As the section of line between Alloa and Kincardine is only used by freight it is not practicable to give short sections of higher speed between these locations hence a constant 30 mph line speed has been adopted.

As there is currently no test available, the risk of transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease from Scottish blood products remains. In the absence of a test, a range of precautionary measures to minimise the risk of vCJD transmission have been put in place since 1997. Decisions on blood safety are taken by health ministers acting on advice from the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO). The committee is currently considering a range of options in order to protect the blood supply and further reduce the risk of variant CJD. Research to develop an appropriate test continues.

The decision on what drugs to prescribe for opiate addiction is taken by clinicians in consultation with their patient.

 

I will shortly publish the government''s response to the Scottish Advisory Committee (SACDM) Project Group Report on psychostimulants. This will set out a package of action to address psychostimulant use, including the rise in use of cocaine and GHB. The Home Office launched a consultation on 21 May, for 12 weeks, on options to control GBL, including full control as a Class C drug. We will submit a response to the consultation and will actively encourage our stakeholders to do likewise. Finally, a working group of UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is considering the harmfulness of anabolic steroids among the general population and will make recommendations on how to reduce harm and use. We will carefully consider their findings when they report later this year.

The national data standards referred to in the answer to question S3W-21973 are being developed specifically in relation to children and families under the Getting It Right for Every Child programme. As the Drugs Strategy says, through developing these data standards we will determine what information is collected, how it can be shared and how it is recorded so that it can be brought together as required for those who need to see it. We will actively consider how these standards will relate to the SMR25 forms and the National Drugs Treatment Waiting Times Framework.

Ministers will make a statement on policy for historic battlefields later in the summer. It is not possible to speculate on the application of as yet unpublished policy to specific cases.

Transport Scotland first became aware that agreement had been reached through the normal rail industry timetable setting process to accommodate 24 hour, six days a week pathing of coal trains along the Alloa route in July 2008.

Scottish ministers have no powers to control the time of the operation of freight trains whose operators have secured rights to track access through normal rail industry processes.

The weight used in the Scott Wilson Report was based on the use of 20 x HTA wagons each weighing 100 tonnes, therefore the Environmental Statement assumed a trailing weight of 2,000 tonnes.

There is no proposal to increase the trailing weight of Hunterston “ Longannet trains on the completion of the lengthening of Elderslie loop

The objective of the Elderslie loop lengthening project is to replace Arkleston up loop, which will be incorporated into the new four track layout east of Paisley. It will increase operational flexibility and allow freight trains to be recessed clear of the main line during perturbations.

It will not facilitate increases in the trailing weights of Hunterston “ Longannet trains as these trains are limited to 23 x HTA wagons due to constraints on the track and signalling within the Longannet Power station site.

Currently the Hunterston - Longannet trains are unable to be recessed in Elderslie loop and the timetable is constructed on that basis. Thus whilst the lengthening of Elderslie loop will allow longer, hence, heavier trains to use the loop, it will not impact on the trailing weight of the Hunterston “ Longannet trains.