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: S3W-01714

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive when the STAG 2 report on the reopening of the station at Reston on the East Coast Main Line will be published.

Question reference: S3W-01947

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources it will provide to local authorities, particularly Scottish Borders Council, to assist with recycling.

Question reference: S3W-01363

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 17 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to improve the A7 at Selkirk and, in particular, to build a bypass for the town.

Officials from TransportScotland and Scottish Borders Council have worked togetherin studying the case for a Selkirk Bypass. The outcome of this work will be availableto feed into the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) which is looking atthe existing and future requirements of our national strategic transport networks.The STPR is due to report its findings and recommendations in summer 2008.

Question reference: S3W-01239

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what obligations local authorities are under to provide burial facilities and crematoria in local communities.

Local authoritiesin Scotland have, in the main, statutory powers as opposedto statutory obligations to provide burial facilities and crematoria for their area.In relation to the provision of burial facilities, local authorities have powersto provide new burial grounds. There is a limited duty only on local authoritiesto replace any burial ground in circumstances where an existing burial ground hasbeen closed by order in council, in which event the replacement burial ground requiresto be provided within six months of the order. In relation to the provision of crematoria,local authorities again have powers rather than duties to provide and maintain crematoria.

Question reference: S3W-01290

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 5 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce legislation similar to that in England and Wales to address the issue of overgrown hedges, trees and other vegetation.

Question reference: S3W-01008

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 June 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements it plans to carry out to the A7 between Edinburgh and Langholm.

The A7 betweenEdinburgh and Galashiels is a local road and is the responsibility of Midlothian and Scottish Borders councils. Current developmentsin relation to the trunk road section of the A7 between Galashiels and theBorder includes the A7 Auchenrivock Improvement Project which will upgrade 2.3kilometres of single carriageway road to improve overtaking opportunitiesimmediately south of Langholm and the Selkirk bypass feasibility study.

The next round ofmajor new investment in the trunk road network will emerge from the StrategicTransport Projects Review, which will examine the longer term needs of Scotland’s nationally strategic transport network to developthe investment plan for 2012 to 2022. The Strategic Transport Projects Reviewis due to report in summer 2008.

Question reference: S3W-00893

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 21 June 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will put in place to support, expand and promote the bus network in Roxburgh and Berwickshire.

We are committed toimproving the public transport experience for passengers thereby providing maximumbenefit and easing the commute. We will be working with bus operators, transportauthorities and other key industry stakeholders on more effective transport planning,the development of the bus industry, and more effective implementation of the regulatoryregime. This includes reviewing Scottish government funding for bus services; expandingDemand Responsive Transport, and reviewing the Quality Partnership and Quality Contractlegislation available to transport authorities to improve bus services in theirarea.

In the current financialyear, Scottish Borders Council will receive £356,000 under the Rural Public PassengerTransport Grant scheme to provide new and improved public transport services andrelated facilities at its discretion. In addition, several voluntary organisations,including Roxburgh Association of Voluntary Service, Berwickshire Association ofVoluntary Service and WRVS Berwickshire are receiving funding under the Rural CommunityTransport Initiative.

Question reference: S3W-00895

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 21 June 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support the reopening of a railway station at Reston in Berwickshire and what other measures it will take to support transport links in Berwickshire.

The re-opening ofa railway station at Reston and other possible train service changes inthe East Lothian/Berwickshire area are being considered as part of the wider possibleoptions for making best use of capacity on the East Coast Rail Route. These options will be included in the East Coast MainLine (ECML) Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS), which is currently being preparedfor consultation by Network Rail. We will consider our position in the light ofthis consultation document.

Question reference: S3O-00265

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 21 June 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what its intentions are for the draft Culture Bill published by the previous administration.

Question reference: S3W-00894

Asked by: John Lamont, MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 20 June 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to address affordable housing issues in the Borders.

I have askedAngiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:

Local investmentpriorities are agreed jointly by Scottish Borders Council (as the strategichousing authority) and Communities Scotland. These investment priorities arebased on the local housing strategy and evidence of housing need that iscompiled locally.

Bothorganisations are currently working to develop a longer term three yearindicative investment programme for the Scottish Borders.

Communities Scotland and Scottish Borders Council have also been workingwith a local registered social landlord to establish a land-bank strategy,taking into consideration land that may be released once the new local plan hasbeen approved. This will allow longer term planned investment activity.

Over the 18 monthperiod between January 2007 and June 2008, affordable housing developments areeither on site, or are scheduled to go on site in Ancrum, Cardrona, Duns,Eyemouth, Galashiels, Hawick, Innerleithen, Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose,Tweedbank, Selkirk, Sprouston, Stow and West Linton. These site starts willprovide a minimum of 184 affordable homes for rent with a further 38 being madeavailable through Communities Scotland’s “Homestake” shared equity scheme.

Homestake isaimed at helping people on low incomes who wish to become homeowners but whosefinancial resources are insufficient to meet their needs because of localhousing market prices. Further details on Homestake are available at:

http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/cs_008156.hcsp#TopOfPage.

Additionally,last year Communities Scotland increased its allocation by 100% for Rural HomeOwnership Grants (RHOGs). RHOGs aim to sustain rural communities by making iteasier for local people on lower incomes to own their own homes. Communities Scotland will make eight grants available for successfulapplicants in 2007-08 and will consider increasing this should the allocationbe met with appropriate demand.

In 2007-08Communities Scotland has allocated a record £7.2 million investment in the Scottish Borders, an increase of over 9% compared with the 2006-07 allocationand an increase of nearly 50% on the allocation to the Scottish Borders inApril 2005.