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-06999

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many scheduled ferry sailings were cancelled in each month in 2016 due to weather conditions, broken down by route.

Information in respect of cancelled and delayed sailings on the Northern Isles Ferry Services, operated by Serco NorthLink Ferries can be found on their website by following the link below. http://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/information/publications/

In relation to information in respect of cancelled and delayed sailings on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services, operated by CalMac, and on the Gourock-Dunoon Ferry Service, operated by Argyll Ferries, that data has been collated and a copy has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 58550.)

Question reference: S5W-07000

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many delays to scheduled ferry sailings there have been in each month since January 2016, broken down by (a) route and (b) reason for the delay, and what it considers to be a delay in this context.

Question reference: S5O-00755

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the proposed integration of the British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-07253

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has given assurances to any publicly-owned ferry operator that, if the review into ferry tendering recommends that the Teckal exemption, or any other process that allows ministers to award contracts to publicly-owned operators without a competitive tendering process, should apply, publicly-owned companies would automatically win these contracts.

Question reference: S5W-07254

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will still continue to hold competitive tendering processes for routes if the review into ferry tendering recommends that the Teckal exemption, or any other process that allows ministers to award contracts to publicly-owned operators without a competitive tendering process, should apply, and, if so, what action it will take to ensure that the process will be transparent, based on objective criteria and not weighted in favour of publicly-owned companies.

Question reference: S5W-07101

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its planned programme to replace all unprotected lay-bys on dual carriageway sections of the trunk road network with the latest protected designs, and when this programme will be completed.

There is no set programme for the replacement of lay-bys on dual carriageways on the trunk road network. The programming of lay-by improvement schemes are considered based upon; condition inspections, whether there are other improvement schemes planned adjacent to the lay-by, and whether the annual review of road safety statistics has identified a lay-by replacement as a priority scheme. All trunk road works are developed and programmed against competing priorities across the network.

Question reference: S5W-07358

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has in place to improve safety at the Laurencekirk Junction on the A90 over the next two years.

Our most recent statistics show that there have been no fatal or serious accidents at the southern Laurencekirk junction since 2005. As such, we have no plans for further measures at this time, however we will continue to monitor road safety.

In the longer term, Transport Scotland is developing the design of the A90/A937 Laurencekirk Junction Improvement, which will bring improved road safety and economic benefits to road users and the local community in Laurencekirk and the wider north east.

Question reference: S5W-07359

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the average speed cameras on the A9 have had on the number of (a) offences and (b) accidents.

Question reference: S5W-07005

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it made any formal, stress-tested assessment regarding which designs would be appropriate for Scottish weather conditions when purchasing vessels for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, and for what reasons decisions were made to purchase vessels that would not be able to sail in unfavourable conditions instead of vessels that would.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd is responsible for the procurement of ferries on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Safety is paramount and, as such, the Scottish Government has made that the top priority for new vessel design.

After safety, reliability is a key criteria in vessel design. For example, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd have confirmed that the 100 metre vessels that are currently being constructed by Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd at Port Glasgow are designed with superior manoeuvring ability and are equipped with twin controllable pitch propellers, twin high lift flap type rudders, fin stabilisers, one stern thruster and three bow thrusters.

The vessels are to be capable of berthing in a 50 knot beam wind, this is Beaufort 9-10 (storm force); weather conditions that a vessel is very unlikely to sail in. As part of the shipyards’ required tender documentation, station holding capability diagrams were submitted. Sea keeping evaluations were also submitted.

Berthing and manoeuvring computer simulations are also being carried out at Glasgow City College’s state of the art maritime facility.

Question reference: S5W-07001

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a health and safety assessment of how it manages ferry ports, including those held by its subsidiaries.