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

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1822 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-14741

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects its EU CAP IT system will be fully functional and allow farmers to receive their CAP payments in full.

The system has been functional for some time and, for example, has enabled us to process approximately 18,000 Basic Payment Scheme claims for both 2015 and 2016. Further enhancements in functionality continue to be applied.

The Scottish Government has issued 17,595 Basic Payment Scheme loan offers, and made loan payments, worth 90% of their full anticipated Basic Payment Scheme payment, to 13,350 business with a total value of £312.6 million.

We are aiming to complete full Basic Payment Scheme payments to all businesses for scheme year 2017 by 30 June 2018. However in any year there are a small number of more complex cases that take longer to process, which could extend final completion for some payments beyond that date.

Question reference: S5O-01839

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the proposed merger between Police Scotland and the British Transport Police.

Question reference: S5O-01768

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in North Ayrshire will see their income tax increase in 2018-19.

Question reference: S5W-13657

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) delayed and (b) cancelled trains there were between Edinburgh and Perth in 2017, broken down by date and time.

Performance in the railway system in Great Britain is measured using the Public-Performance Measure (PPM), which counts all trains planned to run, which run and arrive within five minutes of their scheduled arrival time. Trains which are cancelled, either in full or in part, or which do not stop at stations at which they are meant to stop, are counted against this measure.

The lateness of ScotRail services is measured using the industry standard of the Public-Performance-Measure (PPM). In the year to early-December 2017 (period 9), 90.5 percent of trains arrived at Perth within the 5 minutes allowed under the PPM measure. More information on ScotRail’s performance can be found at this weblink: https://www.scotrail.co.uk/performance-and-reliability

ScotRail provides Transport Scotland with performance information by Sector Group and these data are monitored against the specified benchmarks contained in the Franchise Agreement.

Question reference: S5W-13721

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the water charges exemption scheme review will be (a) completed and (b) published.

Question reference: S5W-13722

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders are being consulted by the water charges exemption scheme review.

The Scottish Government has sought feedback from a number of charities, Community Amateur Sports Clubs and voluntary organisations and has consulted with a wide range of stakeholders including:

Scottish Water
the Water Industry Commission for Scotland
Citizens Advice Scotland
Licensed Providers
The Scottish Charity Regulator
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
Federation of Small Businesses
Scottish Sports Association
The Scottish Licensed Trade Association

Question reference: S5W-13560

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government under what (a) weather and (b) sea conditions the new Ardrossan–Arran ferry will be able to operate, and how this compares with the existing service.

The new ferries are being designed and built by Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd (FMEL) to be capable of operating in the challenging weather conditions experienced on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.

The new ferry for Arran has 3 x bow transverse thrusters, each rated at 620kW and one stern transverse thruster rated at 480kW.

The new vessel has 3 times the transverse thruster power in comparison to MV Caledonian Isles, the larger of the two vessels currently operating the route; which has 2 x 360 kW bow transverse thrusters (total 720kW).

Operation of a vessel in adverse weather will remain at the Master’s discretion, in accordance with maritime legislation.

Question reference: S5W-13558

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new Ardrossan-Arran ferry sea trials have suggested any concerns regarding its ability to (a) meet the requirements of its specification and (b) perform its originally intended operational duties.

Question reference: S5W-13559

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new Ardrossan-Arran ferry will require upgrades to (a) it and (b) (i) Ardrossan and (ii) Brodick Harbour to facilitate its berthing.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) has undertaken a major redevelopment of Brodick harbour. No upgrades will be required to facilitate berthing of the new ferry.

A Ministerial Task Force for Ardrossan was established in February 2016 to ensure improvement of the operational effectiveness of the Ardrossan facility in supporting the lifeline ferry services and the new vessel on the Arran route.

A number of options for infrastructure improvements at Ardrossan Harbour are currently being considered by Transport Scotland, North Ayrshire Council, Peel Ports, CalMac and CMAL as they look collectively to improve resilience of the facility over the long-term.

The original vessel design has been updated with the additional provision of mooring winches.

Question reference: S5W-13557

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when the new Ardrossan-Arran ferry will come into service; what the total cost of the project will be, and how these compare with the original estimates.

In October 2015, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) announced that Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd (FMEL) in Port Glasgow had been awarded the contracts worth £97 million to build two 100 metre ‘dual-fuel’ ferries; i.e. £48.5m per vessel.

In my letter of 9 November 2017 to the Convenor of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, I noted that FMEL has indicated that delivery of the first of these ferries, the MV Glen Sannox, is expected to be delayed from summer 2018 to winter 2018-19. The vessel will subsequently enter into service following trials and familiarisation by CalMac Ferries Ltd.

There have been some agreed design changes during the build process. Additional costs agreed between CMAL and FMEL relate to enhanced mooring winching arrangements at £800k per vessel.