- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 31 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which railway stations it or its agencies have recommended for upgrade since 17 May 2007, under the Department for Transport’s Access for All programme.
Answer
When the Department for Transport launched the GB-wide Railways for All strategy in March 2006, six stations in Scotland were proposed for making step free under the first phase of the 10-year Access for All programme. These stations were Dalmuir, Kirkcaldy, Motherwell, Mount Florida, Rutherglen and Stirling. Following a review of the programme budget a further two stations were added to those given priority in the first phase, these were Barrhead and Cupar.
Transport Scotland has also recommended a further five stations to be improved under the second phase of the programme from April 2009. I accept these recommendations and approval is now being sought from the Secretary of State for Transport at Westminster. The stations recommended are Easterhouse, Hyndland, Linlithgow, Montrose and Perth.
In addition, 19 stations across Scotland have received a total investment of £1.23 million from the Access for All small schemes fund since 2006. This investment has delivered a range of improvements designed to increase access to the rail network for passengers with a wide range of sensory impairments.
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 23 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought information from Her Majesty’s Government on the amount and proportion of tax revenues raised in Scotland spent on the (a) military operation in Iraq, (b) Trident nuclear weapons system, (c) Ministry of Defence, (d) Department for International Development and (e) Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as part of its research for the Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland report.
Answer
The expenditure data provided in GERS is presented according to the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG), a United Nations based code for functional analysis of government expenditure. Consistent with this classification, the GERS analysis of UK defence expenditure does not provide estimates of expenditure on particular military operations or individual capital projects.
In GERS, in 2006-07, estimated UK Government expenditure for Scotland by:
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was £155 million, or 8.45% of the UK total of £1,841 million;
the Department for International Development was £364 million, or 8.46% of the UK Total of £4,304 million;
the Ministry of Defence was £2,833 million, or 8.44% of the UK total of £33,588 million.
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many miles there are of (a) used and (b) unused railway track, broken down by parliamentary region.
Answer
This information is not held centrally and no single body can provide it.
However, the Scottish Government published in December 2007 the Scottish Transport Statistics: No 26 - 2007 Edition which provides statistics on rail services amongst others. The total operational route length of the railway network in Scotland is 2,736 kilometres. This document is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/12/14120610/0.
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the review into data handling, initiated in November 2007.
Answer
The Data Handling Review has now produced a report. This shows that public bodies across Scotland take their responsibilities in this area seriously, are committed to further improvement, and recognise the importance attached by the public to effective data handling. The review has identified areas for improvement and work is already in hand on these.
A copy of the report has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 46005).
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13201 by Stewart Stevenson on 5 June 2008, what estimates it has made of the number of closed or unoperational train stations.
Answer
No estimates have been made by Transport Scotland of the number of closed or unoperational stations.
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 13 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13201 by Stewart Stevenson on 5 June 2008, what information it holds on closed or unoperational train stations.
Answer
Transport Scotland does not hold any information on closed or unoperational stations.
Information on non-operational stations and their locations would not be relevant to any case for re-opening or constructing stations in the future.
Scotland’s railways directs policy on the criteria which require to be met for the location of new stations.
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many closed or unoperational train stations there are, broken down by parliamentary region.
Answer
No definitive list of closed or un-operational stations exists to provide a breakdown by parliamentary region.
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many operational train stations there are, parliamentary region.
Answer
There are now 346 operational stations in Scotland, including Alloa.
They are split by the eight regional Scottish parliamentary regions as follows:
| Central Scotland | 78 |
| Glasgow | 53 |
| Highlands and Islands | 67 |
| Lothians | 21 |
| Mid Scotland and Fife | 31 |
| North East Scotland | 17 |
| South of Scotland | 19 |
| West of Scotland | 60 |
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 3 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many households do not have access to mains gas, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) parliamentary constituency.
Answer
A detailed analysis of households which do not have access to mains gas is not held centrally. However, the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides information on levels of access to mains gas in each Local Authority area. Information on dwellings within parliamentary constituency is not available.
The following table shows the estimate of the number of dwellings which are not on the gas grid in each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. The estimates come from the 2005-06 SHCS.
Estimated Number of Dwellings not on Mains Gas Grid by Local Authority, 2005-06
| Local Authority | Not on Gas Grid | Percent of All Dwellings |
| Aberdeen | 6,000 | 6 |
| Aberdeenshire | 39,000 | 38 |
| Angus | 5,000 | 10 |
| Argyll and Bute | 19,000 | 44 |
| Clackmannanshire | 2,000 | 9 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 20,000 | 29 |
| Dundee | 2,000 | 3 |
| East Ayrshire | 3,000 | 6 |
| East Dunbartonshire1 | 0 | 0 |
| East Lothian | 6,000 | 15 |
| East Renfrewshire | 1,000 | 3 |
| Edinburgh1 | 0 | 0 |
| Eilean Siar | 13,000 | 96 |
| Falkirk | 5,000 | 8 |
| Fife | 11,000 | 7 |
| Glasgow | 7,000 | 3 |
| Highland | 60,000 | 59 |
| Inverclyde | 1,000 | 2 |
| Midlothian | 4,000 | 13 |
| Moray | 9,000 | 24 |
| North Ayrshire | 5,000 | 7 |
| North Lanarkshire | 3,000 | 2 |
| Orkney | 9,000 | 100 |
| Perth and Kinross | 16,000 | 25 |
| Renfrewshire | 1,000 | 1 |
| Scottish Borders | 14,000 | 27 |
| Shetland | 10,000 | 100 |
| South Ayrshire | 5,000 | 9 |
| South Lanarkshire | 14,000 | 11 |
| Stirling | 7,000 | 19 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 1,000 | 3 |
| West Lothian | 5,000 | 8 |
| Scotland | 304,000 | 13 |
Note: 1. In these councils all dwellings in the survey were on the gas grid.
- Asked by: Aileen Campbell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 28 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many no-fines houses were constructed through Communities Scotland and its predecessor organisations in each year for which records exist.
Answer
Information on the number of no-fines housing constructed through Communities Scotland and its predecessor organisations is not held by the Scottish Government.
