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: S5W-19164

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18914 by Michael Matheson on 2 October 2018, whether all of the trains will have controlled emission tanks fitted before they are used.

Abellio ScotRail (ASR) are currently examining whether installing Controlled Emission Tanks (CET) prior to the full refurbishment of ‘Classic’ High Speed Trains (HST) is possible and they are also looking at temporary measures to mitigate the impact of operation without CET installed. Transport Scotland continues to press ASR on a resolution and that ASR continue to address any concerns that the travelling public and trades unions have around the use of ‘Classic’ HST units without CET installed.

Question reference: S5O-02480

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the development of better housing in Dumfries town centre.

Question reference: S5W-18832

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions regarding the reshaping of stroke services in Scotland it has had with NHS England.

The Scottish Government has not had any formal discussions with NHS England regarding reshaping stroke services.

The Scottish Government continues to implement our Stroke Improvement Plan (2014) as key to informing and driving improvement across stroke care.

We recognise the benefits of thrombectomy which can significantly improve outcomes and quality of life for some people who have had an ischaemic stroke by reducing the level of disability. That is why the Directors of Planning Thrombectomy Advisory Group are producing a national planning framework for the provision of thrombectomy for Scotland. It is intended that this will be completed by early 2019. It will be the basis for moving forward on implementation and spread of thrombectomy provision in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-19074

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when Transport Scotland became aware that ScotRail was using internal rather than franchise targets in its monthly publications, and what action it took in response to this.

Question reference: S5W-19067

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list each of the changes that have been made to the (a) breach benchmarks and (b) committed obligation on transparent reporting set out in the ScotRail franchise since April 2015; what the reason was for each change; when the changes were made; who was made aware of these, and what action was taken to place details of each in the public domain.

All of the Performance Levels set out in the Franchise Agreement remain unchanged. The effect of the waiver granted means that the Scottish Government has agreed not to enforce compliance with the contractual Improvement Plan Performance Level and Breach Performance Level for the duration of the waiver period, on the condition that performance does not fall more than 1% below the Improvement Plan Performance Level and Breach Performance Level set out in the contract.

The letter approving a temporary waive to the performance benchmarks is published on the Transport Scotland website. Link: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/43194/franchise-derogation-ppm-benchmark-levels-20-sept-2018-public-register-abellio-scotrail.pdf

Question reference: S5W-19069

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for making changes to the breach benchmarks for performance set out in the ScotRail franchise.

Question reference: S5W-19071

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the updated ScotRail franchise (a) target, (b) improvement plan, (c) (i) breach and (ii) default benchmarks for performance for each reporting period, also broken down by for how long each will remain in place.

Question reference: S5W-19073

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the use of internal targets by ScotRail is a breach of the committed obligation on transparent reporting that is set out in its franchise, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S5W-18885

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of what changes there have been in Northern Isles Ferry Service freight demand between July and October in each year since 2006 arising from commercial activity in the (a) fishing, (b) shellfish and (c) livestock sector.

The Scottish Government does not hold all the information in the format requested in relation to fishing, shellfish and livestock.

Serco NorthLink Ferries on the Scottish Government’s behalf record detailed breakdown of freight carried on their services. They provide summary information to Transport Scotland officials regularly which includes total lane meterage of freight carried on their routes, bulk bags carried as well as cattle and sheep numbers shipped.

The details of the freight carried on the services disaggregated by commodity is commercially confidential.

Freight lane meterage information from 5 July 2012 to 31 December 2017 is publically available on Serco NorthLink Ferries’ website via the link below;

http://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/information/publications/statistics/

Question reference: S5W-18884

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what additional costs have been incurred by the decision to time charter the MV Arrow from Seatruck on the Northern Isles Ferry Service.