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-25642

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24958 by Derek Mackay on 27 March 2015, when it expects CalMac Ferries Ltd to complete the upgrade of (a) ticketing, (b) online booking and (c) communication systems for ships and ports on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network.

Question reference: S4W-25678

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it accepts each of the recommendations in Transform Scotland's Interchange Audit Report.

Question reference: S4W-25676

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how it will assess the road safety implications of the 50 mph HGV pilot on the A9.

The Scottish Government has raised the HGV speed limit on single carriageway sections of the route between Perth and Inverness from 40 mph to 50 mph. This was implemented at the same time as we introduced an average speed camera system on these sections. The safety performance of these measures is being monitored and will be assessed by the established practice of comparing accident numbers from three years before the introduction of the measures with accident numbers from three years after.

Question reference: S4W-25643

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24958 by Derek Mackay on 27 March 2015, whether it will provide a breakdown of CalMac Ferries Ltd’s expenditure on (a) vessel maintenance, (b) staff training, (c) onboard passenger services and (d) information technology on (i) Northern Isles and (ii) Clyde and Hebrides routes between 2006-07 and 2014-15.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-24958 on 27 March 2015 in respect of CalMac Ferries Ltd’s expenditure on the Clyde and Hebrides routes between 2006-07 and 2014-15. 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

CalMac Ferries Ltd did not operate the Northern Isles Ferry Services between 2006-07 and 2014-15 and therefore incurred no expenditure.

Question reference: S4W-25677

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has reviewed the impact assessment that the Department for Transport carried out prior to increasing the speed limit in England and Wales for HGVs using single carriageways to 50 mph.

Question reference: S4O-04400

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the take-up has been for the Agri-environment Climate Scheme.

Question reference: S4W-25452

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many bids were received for the 2012-18 Northern Isles ferry services contract, and how many were lower than the winning bid.

Question reference: S4W-25457

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what payments Serco NorthLink has made to the CalMac pension fund since May 2012.

Question reference: S4W-25449

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the report in The Shetland Times on 1 May 2015 that Transport Scotland's bid for the re-tender of the 2012-18 contract for Northern Isles ferry services was returned unopened by David MacBrayne Ltd.

The then Minister for Transport and Veterans covered these issues during the debate in the Scottish Parliament on 5 September 2012 on ferry services to Orkney.

The process used for the Northern Isles ferry services is standard practice for procurement exercises such as this. Tender submissions include separate proposals for the quality of the services to be provided and for the cost of providing those services. These proposals are assessed separately using a predetermined formula. The quality proposals are assessed first, and if they achieve the predetermined standard, their price submission is assessed before bringing together the marks for quality and price to identify the most economically advantageous tender.

As the assessment of the quality proposals in the tender from NorthLink Ferries Ltd. (a subsidiary of David MacBrayne Ltd.) was judged not to meet the quality standard, their financial submission was then returned to them unopened.

Question reference: S4W-25455

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the maintenance costs have been for each vessel on the Northern Isles ferry routes in each year since July 2012.