Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-25471

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter of 1 April 2016 from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work to the European Commissioner for Transport, what stage has been reached in the joint case for an exemption for the Northern Isles ferry contracts from EU procurement and state aid legislation, which would allow the option of permanent public ownership of lifeline ferry services.

Question reference: S5W-25290

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average saving has been for passengers on Northern Isles Ferry Services' routes following the reductions in fares since 30 June 2018.

The Scottish Government implemented a 20% fares reduction on passenger and car fares for all Northern Isles Ferry Service routes to and from Shetland.

All other fare structures and discounts have been retained.

The actual savings for passengers on Northern Isles Ferry Services' routes to and from Shetland following the reductions in fares on 30 June 2018 are given in the following table:

Aberdeen – Lerwick/Lerwick - Aberdeen
Passenger Fare	Low Season			Mid Season			Peak Season
	Pre 20%	Post 20%	Saving	Pre 20%	Post 20%	Saving	Pre 20%	Post 20%	Saving
Adult Single	27.00	22.15	4.85	34.00	28.00	6.00	41.00	34.00	7.00
Child Single	13.40	11.05	2.35	17.05	14.00	3.05	20.50	16.80	3.70
Infant	FREE
Concession	24.30	19.94	4.36	30.60	25.20	5.40	36.90	30.60	6.30

Lerwick – Kirkwall/Kirkwall – Lerwick
Adult Single	17.40	14.30	3.10	20.50	16.80	3.70	24.65	20.25	4.40
Child Single	8.70	7.20	1.50	10.30	8.45	1.85	12.35	10.15	2.20
Infant	FREE
Concession	15.66	12.87	2.79	18.45	15.12	3.33	22.19	18.23	3.96

Footnote: Some of the discounts appear may to be less than precisely 20%. This is due to a rounding mechanism used for fares, which is a provision contained within the Public Service Contract.

Question reference: S5W-25418

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 30 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in its Programme for Government to “put in place more stringent fire safety provisions for external wall cladding systems”, what plans it has to stop the alternative route of (a) desktop studies and (b) BS 84814, which allows combustible materials onto the outside of buildings, and when it will release further details of its plans.

More stringent fire safety provisions for external wall cladding systems were developed from the recommendations of the Building Standards Fire Safety Review Panel. Revised Technical Handbooks were published on 12 July 2019 and apply from 1st October 2019.

Provision of external wall cladding systems with a fire classification of either A1 (non-combustible) or A2 (will not contribute to fire spread) is now sought in buildings with a storey at more than 11 metres above ground level. The same provision applies, regardless of building height, to assembly and entertainment buildings and to hospitals and residential care buildings with exemption only for small buildings.

Desktop studies are not supported or recognised within building regulations in Scotland.

National and International members of the Building Standards Fire Safety Review Panel fully supported the continued use of the full scale façade test (BS 8414) as an alternative to the A1/A2 classification as it is considered one of the most robust full scale fire test methodologies in the world.

This British Standard is currently being reviewed and improved further by the relevant British Standards Institution Committee. In addition, a new standard (BS 9414) will provide additional information on the application of the results from BS 8414 tests.

Question reference: S5W-25291

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 26 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the average saving would have been for passengers on Northern Isles Ferry Services' routes serving Orkney if Road Equivalent Tariff had been in place on these routes since 30 June 2018.

Question reference: S5F-03581

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 September 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to a new study, which suggests that young people in the poorest parts of the country are three times more likely to die before their 25th birthday than those in the most affluent areas.

Question reference: S5W-25026

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop the park and ride at the new Dalcross Railway Station, and what capacity of car parking spaces there will be.

The Scottish Government, remains committed to providing a new Dalcross railway station as part of the Aberdeen to Inverness Improvement Programme. This will include a car park with 50 spaces, however, we will keep this under review in line with demand once the new station is operational.

In addition, the transport needs along the corridor are likely to be considered within the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) which is currently underway.

Question reference: S5W-25071

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people under the age of 18 who use vaping products have (a) previously smoked or tried smoking and (b) never smoked, in each year since 2014.

We do not collect this information annually. The latest estimates of smoking and e-cigarette use among 13 and 15 year old school pupils in Scotland are available from the 2015 Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey and are shown in the following table. Figures for 2018 will be published later this year.

E-cigarette use among regular smokers and non-smokers in S2 and S4 at Scottish schools, 2015

	S2 (age 13)	S4 (age 15)
Ever used e-cigarettes (non-smokers)	13%	24%
Ever used e-cigarettes (regular smokers)	87%	91%
Regular use of e-cigarettes: at least once a week (non-smokers)	1%	1%
Regular use of e-cigarettes: at least once a week (regular smokers)	29%	24%

Source: Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey, 2015

Question reference: S5W-25072

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people under the age of 18 have (a) smoked and (b) vaped in each year since 2014.

We do not collect this information annually. The latest estimates of smoking and e-cigarette use among 13 and 15 year old school pupils in Scotland are available from the 2015 Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey and are shown in the following table. Figures for 2018 will be published later this year.

Tobacco and e-cigarette use among S2 and S4 school pupils in Scotland, 2015

	S2 (age 13)	S4 (age 15)
Ever smoked	12%	31%
Ever used an e-cigarette	15%	32%
Regular smoker (once a week or more)	2%	7%
Regular e-cigarette user (once a week or more)	1%	3%

Source: Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey, 2015

Question reference: S5O-03521

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to protect the live music scene in Inverness, in light of the anticipated closure of The Ironworks.

Question reference: S5W-24671

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 August 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 August 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase resilience in the Highlands and Islands' (a) rail, (b) roads, (c) air and (d) NHS board infrastructure to ensure the long-term wellbeing of communities and businesses.

The Scottish Government recognises that planned and unplanned events, including severe weather, can cause disruption across Scotland, including the Highland and Islands. We have taken a wide range of steps to improve our resilience to the challenges in this area, to mitigate its impacts and to recover our transport networks, businesses and get daily life back to normal as quickly as possible. This has been done in partnership with a broad range of public, private and third sector partners and has included new investment, development and innovation - all learning the lessons from incident responses and recent winters.

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