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: S6W-14318

Asked by: Alexander Stewart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it enforces the requirement that shooting takes place from below the high water mark at estuarine and coastal locations.

Question reference: S6W-14368

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of adults with type 2 diabetes who entered remission have relapsed in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S6W-14497

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the total cost will be of closing any facilities managed by the National Galleries of Scotland as a result of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action on 1 February 2023.

Question reference: S6W-14100

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to reduce ScotRail's arrival and departure delays at (a) Ayr and (b) Girvan Station, in light of statistics showing the percentage of trains arriving on time in the period 11 December 2022 to 7 January 2023 was just 37.7% at Girvan and 67% at Ayr.

As the member is aware, ScotRail’s performance is measured using the industry standard Public Performance Measure (PPM) which combines reliability and punctuality into a single performance metric. To achieve PPM, a service must arrive/terminate at a station within 5 minutes of its booked arrival time.

PPM is a practical measurement of performance, which allows time for rail staff to assist passengers or hold trains for connections to be made when appropriate.

PPM figures at Ayr and Girvan in the latest reporting period (11 Dec 2022 – 7 Jan 2023) are 91.4% and 91.3% respectively, showing more than 9 out of 10 trains arriving at these stations met their performance target. Services at these stations showed better performance than the network as a whole.

Question reference: S6W-14495

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the total cost will be of closing any sites managed by Historic Environment Scotland as a result of the Public and Commercial Services Union industrial action on 1 February 2023.

Question reference: S6W-14180

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12923 by Jenny Gilruth on 10 January 2023, which refers to "key areas of work completed to date", where information on these completed works is published, and whether it will provide the results of this work.

Question reference: S6W-14312

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) estimated cost of repairing a pothole and (b) current total estimated pothole repair bill is.

Transport Scotland, through its Trunk Road Operating Companies and Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. Repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.

The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all potholes that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. These are defined as Category 1 defects within the term maintenance contract, which also sets out strict timescales for their repair. Following identification of Category 1 pothole defects, the Operating Companies are required to make the defect safe by 6am the following morning, preferably by completing a permanent repair. Where this is not possible then a temporary repair is required within the same timescale with permanent repairs required 28 days. The repair of all Category 1 defects is funded from commercially sensitive rates and prices and cannot be provided.

Question reference: S6W-14307

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how many ScotRail passengers experienced delays during their train journey in 2022, broken down by the main reason for the delay.

Question reference: S6W-14261

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13722 by Jenny Gilruth on 23 January 2023, how much budget is allocated to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion roles; how many staff work in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team, and whether it will provide a list of the job titles of the people in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team.

ScotRail Trains Ltd. has two full time equivalent roles within its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team; an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager and an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor. Scottish Rail Holdings also has a dedicated People and Culture role within the organisation.

Transport Scotland is not in a position disclose any individual’s personal salary data other than those that would be published as part of end of year financial statements and accounts.

Question reference: S6W-14280

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 February 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any plans to alter or replace the Franchising Policy Statement, which was published by Transport Scotland in March 2021.

The current UK railway legislation, which the Scottish Ministers have no power to change, requires that the Scottish Ministers produce a Franchising Policy Statement. Delays to the reform of the UK railway legislation continue to cause uncertainty on the way in which the provision of passenger rail services will be arranged in the future.

At this time, the Scottish Ministers do not plan to amend or replace the current Franchising Policy Statement, which was published by Transport Scotland in March 2021.