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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-24552

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 30 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the current salary and any other remuneration is for each of the directors of Caledonian Sleeper Ltd.

Question reference: S6W-24329

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the relationship between staffing levels at railway stations on the ScotRail network and the accessibility of public transport.

Question reference: S6W-24327

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has made to date of the trial of an all-day, off-peak fare on ScotRail services.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-21967 on 18 October 2023.

An interim value for money assessment, which includes cross-modal impacts, using a multimodal evaluation of current travel patterns and impact to date in line with His Majesty’s Treasury Green Book principles to be undertaken of value for money is underway. At the end of the Pilot a final evaluation will be undertaken and the Scottish Government will carefully consider its impact and the long-term sustainability of such a proposition.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-24321

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the potential impact of its 2024-25 Budget on (a) projects in and (b) future expenditure on its Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan.

(A) Specific allocations for the Rail Enhancement programmes and projects in 2024/25 continue to be considered. The 2024-25 budget allocations for the portfolio of enhancements projects will be made in the coming months.

(B) The Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan commits to all passenger diesel trains being replaced with zero emission alternatives; the order and programme in which that is done continues to be subject to appropriate business cases and available budgets. Funding decisions for Rail Decarbonisation projects are, and continue to be considered against budgets and forecast funding availability.

Question reference: S6W-24324

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many ScotRail staff have (a) ticket examination and (b) revenue protection responsibilities, and, of these, how many are (a) full-time and (b) part-time staff.

Question reference: S6W-24323

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it takes to measure unrecorded passenger journeys on the ScotRail network.

Question reference: S6W-24322

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the scale of fare evasion on ScotRail services.

Question reference: S6W-24269

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Little Minch Routes Infrastructure Programme.

The Little Minch Infrastructure Programme includes works at three ports; Tarbert (Harris), Lochmaddy (North Uist) and Uig (Skye). The programme of works is essential in replacing life expired infrastructure and improving the capacity, reliability and resilience for the long term benefit of the route.

Tarbert (Harris) works were completed in January 2023. The Lochmaddy works were completed November 2023 and the works at Uig are expected to be completed by Winter 2024.

Question reference: S6W-24325

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2024
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 January 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list all engagement that it has had with external stakeholders, including trade unions, on the Fair Ferries Review since April 2022 to date.

We have engaged with a range of stakeholders during the development of the Fair Fares Review which includes transport operators, delivery partners, passenger groups, campaigning groups and trade unions. This includes; ScotRail Holdings, ScotRail, the Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers (ATCO), the Mobility Advisory Committee for Scotland (MACS), CalMac, Northlink, Regional Transport Partnerships, the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), Cosla, Transport for Edinburgh (TfE), Glasgow City Council, the Poverty & Inequality Commission, Transform Scotland and the Poverty Alliance.

Former Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth MSP and officials met with trade unions to discuss the Fair Fares Review on 14 March 2023. Following which a letter providing a further update on the review was issued on 12 May 2023 from the subsequent Minister for Transport Kevin Stewart MSP. I engage regularly with trade unions and look forward to continuing these conversations on all transport related matters including the Fair Fares Review as we work to deliver our vision for the future of public transport in 2024 and beyond.

Question reference: S6W-23244

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 7 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government where it anticipates oil extracted from the North Sea will be refined if this process ceases at the Petroineos site in Grangemouth.

As outlined in the Scottish Government’s Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, oil extracted from the North Sea is predominantly exported to international markets. The Scottish Government anticipates that this arrangement will continue and North Sea oil will continue to be refined in a number of international locations.

On 3 March 2023, the Scottish Government published the outputs of an independence analysis of Scotland’s Energy System, which provides a detailed overview of the oil and gas sector in Scotland. A link to this publication can be found here .