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-33067

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is collaborating with the UK Government to address any gaps in spectrum availability for any rural and underserved communities in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-32948

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it works with (a) the Ministry of Defence and (b) other UK Government departments in responding to unexploded ordnance.

Incidents relating to unexploded ordnance are Police operational matters. Unless unexploded ordnance causes a civil contingencies emergency in Scotland that requires co-ordination on a national level, such incidents are not handled through any Scottish or UK Government mechanisms. In the highly unlikely event of this threshold being met, the Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGORR) would activate to co-ordinate the Scottish Government’s response to the incident, including by liaising closely with the Ministry of Defence and any other relevant UK Government departments.

Question reference: S6W-33043

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to allocate additional resources to address any theft from railway depots and infrastructure in Aberdeen.

Question reference: S6W-33008

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it works with (a) railway operators, (b) local authorities and (c) Police Scotland to develop a coordinated strategy to reduce theft from railways.

Question reference: S6W-32986

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to railway operators to improve the security of their infrastructure and depots against theft.

Question reference: S6W-33530

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients from rural areas have been referred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for treatment in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-33105

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the economic impact of Transport Scotland-funded projects in Aberdeen and the north east over the last five years.

Question reference: S6W-33106

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms are in place to monitor and report on the economic impact of Transport Scotland-funded projects after their completion.

Evaluation is essential to the work of Transport Scotland to assess whether policies and interventions are being delivered as intended, and to help identify ways to improve them.

Transport Scotland follows published evaluation guidance for both rail and road projects. This includes frameworks for the evaluation of road and rail schemes and recommended timescales for each. These are typically at one-, three- and five-years following completion of projects. These reports and data sets are published on the Transport Scotland website and include evaluation of economic impact where relevant.

For projects out with rail and road schemes, Transport Scotland follows general evaluation guidance published by the UK Government which advises on evaluation following project completion. The evaluation approach is tailored to ensure it is proportionate to the scale of the project and will include evaluation of economic impacts where relevant. Reports and data sets from these evaluations are also published on the Transport Scotland website.

Question reference: S6W-33160

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on maintenance and upgrades of the A90 in each of the last five years.

Over the last 5 financial years the following has been spent on the maintenance and improvement of the A90 trunk road.

2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
£12,486,316	£20,673,965	£23,045,538	22,484,864	£21,571,032

The above figures exclude expenditure on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route / Balmedie to Tipperty section of the A90. The contract with the DBFO Company, Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) requires it to fulfil the contractual obligations in respect of maintenance at ARL’s own cost. These associated costs are not shared with Transport Scotland.

The Scottish Government also remains committed to delivering a new grade-separated junction on the A90 at Laurencekirk as part of the package of additional investment alongside the Aberdeen City Region Deal.

Transport Scotland has been taking forward the necessary design and assessment work, and the project is currently going through the statutory authorisation process, having recently published supplementary draft Orders for formal comment.

As with all infrastructure projects, delivery of the Laurencekirk scheme can only commence when the relevant statutory authorisation powers to do so have been secured. Following completion of the statutory authorisation process we will then be in a position to set a timetable for delivery of the scheme in line with available budgets.

In terms of spend for this scheme in the last five years we record £1,807,404.64

Question reference: S6W-33024

Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish an annual report on thefts from railways, detailing trends, financial impacts and mitigation measures.