- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 15 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority charges prospective adopters for pursuing an international adoption application.
Answer
Prospectiveinternational adopters are required to be assessed by a registered adoptionservice prior to bringing a child into the United Kingdom for the purpose of adoption. As registered adoptionservices, local authorities can provide this service and can charge prospectiveadopters the costs associated with this assessment. The Scottish Governmentdoes not hold information on how much each local authority charges for thisservice as it is a matter for the local authorities themselves to decide.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to ensure that workers in the private security industry are not adversely affected by delays in processing licence applications by the Security Industry Authority ahead of the 1 November deadline.
Answer
The Security IndustryAuthority (SIA) is meeting its published timescale for processing correctly completedapplications of six weeks. The SIA has been working closely with the industry fornearly two years to ensure that the security businesses were ready for 1 November.We are in regular contact with the SIA about the progress of its operations in Scotland.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 8 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will meet the SNP manifesto commitment to dual the A9 from Perth to Inverness, in light of the recent HITRANS report which estimates that dualling the A9 could boost the Highlands economy by almost £1 billion over the next 30 years.
Answer
This Scottish Governmentis fully committed to plan for dualling the A9. We made that commitment when wecame into government, and we stand by that commitment.
I have already askedTransport Scotland to take forward work to identify the nextpart of the A9 to be dualled.
Future investmentwill emerge from the Strategic Transport Projects Review which is examining thelonger term needs of Scotland’s national strategic transport network inorder to develop an investment plan. The A9 corridor is a key element in the Reviewwhich is due to report to ministers in summer 2008. I welcome the recent HITRANS/HIEreport which will be a useful contribution to this review.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 8 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the predicted cost is of the Scottish Government’s proposed Edinburgh Airport rail link, also broken down into component parts.
Answer
The fullprogramme of improvements proposed to rail travel between Edinburgh and Glasgowis anticipated to cost between £500 and £1,000 million in 2006 prices, as setout in the STAG report
Strategic Transport Projects Review – Edinburgh toGlasgow Improvements, which can be found on the Transport Scotland websiteat
www.transportscotland.gov.uk.Within this total, the cost of providing the Dalmeny chord and a new station atGogar linked to the tram network (as an alternative to the EARL project) isestimated at around £200 million.
Further designand development work will now be undertaken to define particular workstructures necessary for delivery of the programme.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reconsider the decision not to continue the process of levelling up the funding to Grampian Police beyond the 2008-09 financial year.
Answer
Future levels of fundingfor police forces in Scotland will be determined by the outcome of the SpendingReview.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the predicted cost-benefit ratio is of the Scottish Government’s proposed Edinburgh Airport rail link.
Answer
The fullprogramme of improvements proposed to rail between Edinburgh and Glasgow isanticipated to provide a benefit cost ratio of 1.1, as set out in the STAGreport. This is a conservative figure, as it assumes a wide range ofinfrastructure work is required, and we anticipate that further design anddevelopment work may be able to reduce the costs involved.The STAG report,
StrategicTransport Projects Review – Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvements, can be foundon the Transport Scotland website at
www.transportscotland.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many trains an hour it is predicted will be able to access Edinburgh Airport under the Scottish Government’s proposed Edinburgh Airport rail link.
Answer
It is anticipatedthat at least 12 trains per hour in each direction will stop at Gogar and Edinburgh Park stations to provide connection with thetram link to the airport.
The exacttimetable requires detailed planning before the optimum calling patterns can bedetermined.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a STAG appraisal has been undertaken of the Scottish Government’s proposed Edinburgh Airport rail link.
Answer
A STAG report canbe found on the Transport Scotland website at
www.transportscotland.gov.uk.This report, Strategic Transport Projects Review – Edinburgh to GlasgowImprovements, can also be found on the Transport Scotland website. Thereport details the range of options considered for improving rail connectionsto Edinburgh Airport and, more broadly, connections between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the net monetised transport economic efficiency benefits are of the Scottish Government’s proposed Edinburgh Airport rail link.
Answer
The package of improvementsto Edinburgh Glasgow connectivity, including a airport link station at Gogar knownas package C3, generated net monetisedtransport economic efficiency benefits to Government of £600 to £800 million.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis has been undertaken of the plans for the Scottish Government’s proposed Edinburgh Airport rail link in terms of (a) environmental benefits, (b) disruption to the existing rail network, (c) congestion levels, (d) patronage figures, (e) levels of connectivity to the rest of Scotland, (f) efficiency and user-friendliness and (g) modal shift.
Answer
Details of eachof the projects announced in the ministerial statement on 27 September 2007 are included in a full report detailing the optionsconsidered, the process of analysis and appraisal used to select which optionsto take forward. This report,
Strategic Transport Projects Review –Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvements, can be found on the Transport Scotlandwebsite at:
www.transportscotland.gov.uk. Further designand development work will now be undertaken to define the work structuresnecessary to deliver the programme.
