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: S4W-28562

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 1 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many times there have been (a) delays, (b) cancellations and (c) other reductions in planned services on the Caledonian Sleeper rail service (i) in each of the last three years and (ii) since April 2015, and what information it has regarding how many passengers were affected.

(a) Delays

The following table shows Caledonian Sleeper performance described by two measures: Public Performance Measure (PPM, which for long distance services measures arrival within 10 minutes of the public timetable arrival) and Right Time measure which measures actual performance against the public timetable.

2012

2013

2014

2015

	PPM	Right Time	PPM	Right Time	PPM	Right Time	PPM	Right Time
Period	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
1	92.96%	82.59%	93.83%	81.07%	87.34%	78.60%	83.90%	72.00%
2	87.40%	79.13%	95.85%	81.33%	84.39%	73.00%	90.70%	82.60%
3	88.59%	79.09%	94.21%	82.64%	86.86%	76.69%	89.00%	78.70%
4	92.86%	86.47%	86.94%	75.23%	85.84%	72.96%	92.10%	76.20%
5	89.62%	78.08%	93.80%	82.64%	85.54%	73.14%	84.00%	72.70%
6	95.08%	77.05%	95.47%	82.30%	89.63%	78.01%	91.70%	80.30%
7	91.36%	73.25%	84.36%	70.78%	92.34%	73.56%	93.40%	72.90%
8	86.38%	65.53%	83.69%	68.67%	83.13%	67.50%	83.80%	68.30%
9	80.74%	62.30%	94.19%	76.76%	92.90%	81.55%
10	72.06%	54.90%	84.97%	72.02%	78.40%	69.60%
11	83.61%	65.16%	79.35%	61.54%	78.00%	64.02%
12	89.34%	74.18%	83.20%	66.39%	89.00%	72.79%
13	89.12%	78.66%	83.95%	68.72%	88.80%	80.22%

This information represents the operational records of First ScotRail and Serco Caledonian Sleepers Limited (SCSL) respectively.

(b) Train Cancellations

	Number of Trains Cancelled	% Cancelled of Planned Trains
2012-13	91	3%
2013-14	79	2%
2014-15	74	2%

This information is derived from Network Rail records of First ScotRail operations.

SCSL reports 32 cancellations to 14 November 2015.

We do not hold details of numbers of passengers affected by rail disruption. Even for the Caledonian Sleeper, where many bookings are made with berth or seat reservations there are still a large number of passengers travelling with ‘any operator’ inter-available tickets. SCSL has received 1,687 applications for compensation using the industry-wide delay repay scheme, which under its guest charter offers compensation for services which are delayed.

This represents 0.87% of all guests who travelled during the period.

Question reference: S4W-28563

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 1 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the planned investment of private and public sector money in new rolling stock for the Caledonian sleeper rail service.

The process of design and procurement of new rolling stock for the Caledonian Sleeper franchise is continuing against plan. Serco Caledonian Sleepers Limited (SCSL) and manufacturers Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles are working to complete new trains design, and 3D visualisations and renderings of the new train, by the end of January 2016, as specified in SCSL's franchise agreement.

The franchisee continues to satisfy the conditions of drawdown of grant.

Investment in sleeper rolling stock remains at £60 million. New trains will enter service in 2018.

Question reference: S4W-28559

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 1 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that faults with the Caledonian Sleeper rail service have caused delays, cancellations and have led to the RMT union balloting its members on strike action.

Question reference: S4W-28560

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 1 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) the RMT union and (b) Serco regarding the possibility of strike action on the Caledonian Sleeper rail service, and what action it is taking to avert such a situation.

Question reference: S4W-28561

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 1 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what reports it has received regarding electrical and mechanical faults on the Caledonian Sleeper rail service.

Under the terms of its franchise agreement with the Scottish Ministers, Serco Caledonian Sleepers Limited (SCSL) is required to provide periodic information regarding rolling stock availability, provide detailed records and certification relating to the condition and maintenance of that rolling stock, and provide information about the franchise’s performance.

This is required under Appendices 1, 2, and 3 of Schedule 13.2 of the franchise agreement:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/system/files/documents/tsc-basic-pages/Franchise%20Agreement%20EXECUTION%20COPY%2023%20May%202014_Redacted.pdf

The Scottish Government receives this information as part of a per-period (four weekly) franchise performance report, which is reviewed by Transport Scotland officials and discussed with SCSL directors at four-weekly franchise performance meetings.

Question reference: S4W-27985

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many fields are subject to reassessment under the common agricultural policy Basic Payment Scheme: revised provisional payment region scheme, broken down by Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate office area as at 30 September 2015.

According to our database records approximately 16,300 fields (land parcels) out of over 400,000 land parcels on our Land Parcels Identification System have been subject to a request for reassessment of the payment region. The breakdown by area offices is set out in the following table:

Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate area office	Holdings where review requested	Fields (land parcels) where review requested
Benbecula	128	281
Dumfries	439	894
Elgin	181	376
Galashiels	519	1023
Golspie	88	197
Hamilton	226	459
Inverness	361	638
Inverurie	711	1044
Kirkwall	229	531
Lerwick	469	1493
Oban	395	1712
Perth	662	1143
Portree	138	176
Stornoway	203	430
Thurso	174	429
Total	5726	16325

*Please note that figures for Ayr are not available.

Question reference: S4W-27986

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) formal appeals and (b) submissions of documentary evidence including photographs by individual applicants are being processed under the common agricultural policy Basic Payment Scheme: revised provisional payment region scheme, broken down by Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate office area as at 30 September 2015.

The answer to S4W-27985 on 20 November 2015 provides information on the requests for a review of the payment region that have been received. All customers submitting a request for a review were provided with an opportunity to provide supporting documentary information.

The following table gives detail of the outcome of the review process broken down by Rural Payment and Inspections Directorate (RPID) area office as requested:

RPID Office	Number of reviews resulting in no change	Number of reviews resulting in a change to region allocation	Number of reviews currently deferred*
Benbecula	181	86	10
Dumfries	251	462	27
Elgin	16	40	14
Galashiels	301	592	125
Golspie	75	103	0
Hamilton	100	236	31
Inverness	163	340	71
Inverurie	636	297	81
Kirkwall	63	396	55
Lerwick	523	774	116
Oban	974	431	274
Perth	472	489	81
Portree	29	91	45
Stornoway	260	133	0
Thurso	135	243	33
Grand Total	8,202	5,340	1,150

*Cases that are recorded as deferred are those requests which involve very complex map updates and are still being considered.

*Please note that the figures for Ayr are unavailable.

Additionally, there are a number of review requests still being processed at this time and outcome is still to be determined. These cases have not been included in the above figures but are included in the figures given in the count included with the answer to S4W-27985.

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.

Question reference: S4W-28261

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many people appointed by ministers in each of the last five years to (a) NHS boards and (b) other public bodies have declared political activity, also broken down by what information it has on their party affiliation.

The requested information is as follows:

a) NHS boards

Year	Political activity declared	Affiliation: Conservative	Affiliation: Labour	Affiliation: Liberal Democrat	Affiliation: SNP	Affiliation: Independent/other
2010	1	1	0	0	0	0
2011	4	0	0	0	2	2
2012	7	1	1	4	0	1
2013	4	0	0	0	3	1
2014	2	1	0	0	1	0
2015	1	0	0	0	1	0
Total	19	3	1	4	7	4

b) Other public bodies

Year	Political activity declared	Affiliation: Conservative	Affiliation: Labour	Affiliation: Liberal Democrat	Affiliation: SNP	Affiliation: Independent/other
2010	5	2	2	1	0	0
2011	1	0	0	0	1	0
2012	11	1	3	2	4	1
2013	8	0	3	2	2	1
2014	7	0	2	2	1	2
2015	2	0	0	1	1	0
Total	34	3	10	8	9	4

Question reference: S4W-28240

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to establish an overarching land-use agency similar to Natural Resources Wales.

Question reference: S4W-28239

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to maintain Forestry Commissioners' powers regarding the felling of trees.

Powers to regulate the felling of trees are held by the forestry commissioners under the UK Forestry Act 1967. The Scottish Government announced in June 2015 that it is time to complete the devolution of the arrangements for the management of forestry in Scotland, by working with the UK Government to agree a transfer of forestry commissioners’ powers and duties, as they relate to Scotland, to Scottish ministers. We are working jointly with the Department for Food and Rural Affairs to consider options for taking forward this work.