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-09516

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-06701 by Jenny Gilruth on 17 March 2022, whether it will list the routes within the scope of the Ferries Plan 2013-22 that are provided “without government intervention”.

Question reference: S6W-09527

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government on the potential impact of the reported low-wage crewing model, imposed by P&O Ferries, on seafarers working for other ferry operators.

Question reference: S6W-09515

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-06701 by Jenny Gilruth on 17 March 2022, what the cost was of the (a) community needs and (b) market assessments of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service routes undertaken to inform the Ferries Plan 2013-2022.

Question reference: S6W-09567

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide updated figures on how many young people to date have received a free bus pass through the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, broken down by local authority, based on the latest information available.

The following table shows the number of valid card holders in the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme as of close of business 11 July 2022, analysed by local authority. This information is based on live data as of 11 July 2022 and will exclude those who have turned 22 since the launch of the scheme.

This information was supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data.

Aberdeen City	17,844
Aberdeenshire	20,694
Angus Council	5,760
Argyll & Bute	4,752
City of Edinburgh	51,068
Clackmanmanshire	2,317
Comhairie nan Eilean Siar	1,199
Dumfries and Galloway	7,553
Dundee City	16,033
East Ayrshire	13,149
East Dunbartonshire	6,335
East Lothian	9,816
East Renfrewshire	6,915
Falkirk	7,372
Fife	30,663
Glasgow City	45,225
Highland	11,290
Inverclyde	10,494
Midlothian	7,318
Moray	6,134
North Ayrshire	14,813
North Lanarkshire	24,204
Orkney Islands	1,042
Perth & Kinross	10,364
Renfrewshire	15,485
Scottish Borders	7,979
Shetland Islands	2,145
South Ayrshire	5,179
South Lanarkshire	23,119
Stirling	5,413
West Dunbartonshire	9,098
West Lothian	13,137
Total	413,909

Question reference: S6W-09452

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints from (a) passengers and (b) staff were received by ScotRail services between 1 and 31 May 2022, broken down by the reason for the complaint.

The number of passenger complaints received by ScotRail, through their official complaints process, is set out in the following table for the period 1 and 31 May 2022. The complaints may involve incidents that occurred before 1 May 2022.

The average recorded number of complaints per period for previous years is as follows:-

2019-2020 - 1,664 complaints

2018-2019 - 2,064 complaints

The figure for 1 April to 30 April 2022 is 1,144. The figure of 2,006 complaints for May 2022 is higher than April 2022 as this May period was when several services were impacted due to driver shortages and the subsequent temporary timetable that was introduced on 23 May 2022. The temporary timetable that was in place until 20 July 2022 aimed to provide the best possible service to as many passengers as possible with the available resources.

ScotRail do not record staff complaints and therefore the information is not available.

Complaint Categories	1 – 31 May 2022
Train Service Performance	587
Policy And Product	324
Timetable	270
Staff	243
1 st Class	130
Capacity	128
Environment	46
Ticket Buying Facilities	37
Promotions	34
Information Provision	33
Customer Provisions	32
Rail Replacement	32
Safety & Security	26
Assisted Travel	25
Station Facilities	19
Cycles	17
Smartcard	9
Double Debit	8
Contact Centre	6
Total	2,006

Question reference: S6W-09910

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will invite all constituency and regional members of the Scottish Parliament from the Highlands and Islands region to attend the next Convention of the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S6W-09479

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new booking system for CalMac Ferries, Ar Turas, will gauge unmet demand for ferry services, and, if not, what systems can be put in place to ensure that unmet demand is recorded.

CalMac has noted that it is not possible to measure unmet demand using booking systems, including the eBooking solution being delivered by the Ar Turas Programme. We understand the desire to measure bookings “not made” for a specific set of reasons, principally vessel capacity on peak-demand sailings.

CalMac has been running a working group with a number of CalMac Community Board members during the last 18 months to help clarify and support understanding of measures that can be tracked. The group has explored a range of ideas and CalMac has developed a number of reports designed to support enhanced understanding of how and when vehicle bookings are made, amended, cancelled and the resulting impact on capacity. These requirements have been taken-forward for delivery against the improved data that the new system will capture.

A number of these items have already been made available in monthly Ferry User Group performance reporting packs.

Question reference: S6W-09480

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether any attempt has been made to measure the financial and economic losses to the Uist community from ferry disruptions in 2022.

As the member will know, disruption to the network in early 2022 linked directly to weather conditions and Covid impacts. Whilst no specific analysis of the financial and economic impacts from this ferry disruption on the Uist community has been undertaken, the Scottish Government recognises the impact these disruptions have on island life.

CalMac forms part of the local resilience partnership and prioritises the shipment of essential supplies during disruption to minimise welfare issues on the islands. Transport Scotland works with CalMac to monitor the impact of cancellations, listening to feedback directly from island communities and local resilience partnerships as well as transport operators.

Question reference: S6W-09493

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what further upgrades it has planned for the A77 in 2022.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving safety on our trunk roads including the A77. While there are no road improvement schemes or upgrades planned for the A77 in 2022, £6.75m has been allocated for the A77 through our provisional road maintenance programme for financial year 2022-23.

The Scottish Government has invested over £105 million on the A77 since 2007 to March 2022 to ensure its safe and efficient operation. In addition, we have spent approximately £64 million on five separate road schemes on the A77 including the recent completion of the £29m Maybole bypass which opened in January 2022 .

Question reference: S6W-09528

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the ports industry in Scotland regarding the UK Government’s legislative response to P&O Ferries replacement of seafarers in Scotland with agency crew, reportedly being paid below the minimum wage, from 17 March 2022.