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: S1W-10549

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 10 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has held with Her Majesty's Government about Railtrack's method of inspection and repair of rail track in Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-10703

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 10 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has made to date on developing guidance on targets for household waste recycling and whether the guidance will be completed by the end of the year.

In the National Waste Strategy: Scotland the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) undertook to give guidance on targets for household waste recycling.

SEPA has established a joint working group with the Scottish Executive and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to contribute to the development of the guidance.

SEPA will evaluate a range of possible recycling targets for each of the eleven Waste Strategy Areas set up under the National Waste Strategy. The results of this work will help each Waste Strategy Area Group to identify the optimum level of recycling for its area.

I have been advised by SEPA that I can expect guidance to be available in early 2001.

Question reference: S1W-10527

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 8 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its response to the Strategic Review of Organic Waste Spread on Land produced by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in October 1998.

Question reference: S1W-10494

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 7 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on road safety campaigning during financial year 1999-2000 and how much it intends to spend in 2000-01.

The Scottish Executive provides funding to the Scottish Road Safety Campaign for the development of key road safety educational resources and publicity messages. The campaign has produced a range of excellent resources and conducted highly effective publicity campaigns.

In the financial year 1999-2000, Scottish Executive funding to the Scottish Road Safety Campaign was £1,752,000

At present in the financial year 2000-01, there is a provision of £1,745,000. This will be increased to £2,269,000 subject to the agreement of the Scottish Parliament to The Budget (Scotland) Act 2000 (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2000.

Question reference: S1W-10497

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 7 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many projects have received support from the (a) Freight Facilities Grant, (b) Rail Passenger Partnership Fund and (c) Infrastructure Investment Fund since their inception, what the projects were, how much each project received and when.

There have been nine awards of Freight Facilities Grant since 1990 by the Secretary of State for Scotland and Scottish Ministers and one award in Scotland from the Rail Passenger Partnership Fund. There have been no awards from the Infrastructure Investment Fund as its implementation has been deferred by the shadow Strategic Rail Authority. The table below shows the details of each project.

Freight Facilities Grants Awarded Since 1990

Company	Project Description	Amount of Total Grant Awarded £	Date Awarded
Deanside Transit	Develop existing rail terminal facilities at Hillington	3,045,000	August 1997
Safeway Stores	To move goods by rail from Bellshill to five stores in the Inverness area.	680,000	November 1998
H J Banks	Provide facilities to move coal by rail to various locations from Lanarkshire	873,000	July 1999
LAW Mining	Provide facilities to move coal by rail to various locations from Ayrshire	2,548,000	September 1999
TDG Nexus	Towards an open-access multi-modal railfreight facility at Grangemouth to distribute chemical products GB wide	9,700,000 (DETR to pay two-thirds)	September 1999
Associated British Ports	To provide freight handling facilities at the port of Ayr and the lease of a vessel to move timber from Ardishaig and Campbeltown to Ayr	4,410,000	February 2000
ST Services	Develop a rail terminal at Leith docks to transport chemical products to Dalry and Irvine in Ayrshire	874,000	March 2000
Forth Ports	Re-instatement of railway line to move Blue Circle cement from Leith Docks to Dunbar	81,000	March 2000
Safeway Stores	A second award to extend services to Thurso, Wick, Kirkwall and Ullapool	896,000	March 2000

Rail Passenger Partnership Fund Awards

Project

Project Description

Amount Awarded

Date

Awarded

Edinburgh Crossrail

Development of rail passenger services in Edinburgh

800,000

March 2000

Question reference: S1W-10502

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 7 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to improve the waiting times for a hernia operation in the Fife Health Board area both in the short and long term.

Waiting times for specific treatments in individual health board areas are matters for the boards and Trusts. The Scottish Executive has provided additional funding for the Health Service this year, and we have announced further real terms funding increases over the years 2003-04. We are also working with NHS Trusts to encourage them to develop and adopt new processes and ways of working which are designed to suit patients and to reduce avoidable waiting.

Question reference: S1W-10498

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 7 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money will be allocated to Scotland during the current financial year under the (a) Freight Facilities Grant, (b) Track Access Grant, (c) Public Transport Fund, (d) Rail Passenger Partnership Fund and (e) Infrastructure Investment Fund.

The public expenditure provision by the Scottish Executive in the financial year 2000-01 is £7.1 million for Freight Facilities Grants and £30 million in additional capital consents via the Public Transport Fund.

The level of Track Access Grant allocated to Scotland has not been finalised with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

The allocation to Scotland from the Rail Passenger Partnership Fund during the financial year 2000-01 is £800,000. The implementation of the Infrastructure Investment Fund has been deferred by the shadow Strategic Rail Authority.

Question reference: S1W-10500

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 7 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive when the report on rail links to Edinburgh and Glasgow airports will be published and what the remit is for those drawing up the report.

Question reference: S1W-10496

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 7 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have been awarded capital allocations from the Public Transport Fund, how much they each received, when they received it and for what projects.

The table below lists the awards made to date from the Public Transport Fund. In addition, commitments from the previous Government's Transport Challenge Fund and South Fife Rail are being met from the PTF.

Authority	Project	Total PTF Award (£ million)	1999-2000 (£ million)	2000-01 (£ million)	2001-02 (£ million)	2002-03 (£ million)
Aberdeen	A96/A956 Bus Priority and Park & Ride	£4.000	£1.000	£2.000	£1.000
Aberdeen	Bus Priority and Park & Ride	£3.300		£0.800	£1.500	£1.000
Aberdeenshire	Ellon Park & Ride	£0.600	£0.300	£0.300
Aberdeenshire	Peterhead and Mintlaw Park & Ride	£0.745		£0.660	£0.085
Argyll & Bute	Port Askaig Harbour Redevelopment	£3.750		£3.000	£0.750
Clackmannanshire	Alloa Town Centre Transport Interchange	£0.300	£0.300
Dumfries & Galloway	Stranraer Public Transport Interchange	£2.350		£0.020	£1.000	£1.330
Dumfries & Galloway	Dumfries Transport Initiative	£0.900	£0.400	£0.300	£0.200
Dundee	Bus Priority and Real Time Information	£0.475	£0.475
Dundee	North East Arterial Corridor	£1.325		£0.250	£0.525	£0.550
East Ayrshire	Kilmarnock and Cumnock Bus Stations	£0.590		£0.590
East Lothian	Railway Stations Improvements	£0.312		£0.245	£0.067
East Lothian (on behalf of SESTRAN)	South East Scotland Travelticket	£0.300	£0.075	£0.125	£0.100
East Renfrewshire	Disabled Access to Railway Stations	£0.467		£0.467
Edinburgh	Crossrail	£8.000	£0.500	£3.000	£4.500
Edinburgh	A90 Phase 2 Bus Priority	£0.800		£0.800
Eilean Siar	Eriskay Causeway	£4.100	£0.900	£2.000	£1.200
Falkirk	Railway Station Access Programme	£0.350	£0.230	£0.120
Falkirk	Bus Station and Bus Priority	£0.345		£0.245	£0.100
Fife	Inverkeithing Interchange and Airport link	£1.020		£0.250	£0.770
Glasgow	Baillieston to Faifley Bus Priority *	£4.750	£1.300	£2.200	£1.250
Glasgow	Quality Bus Corridors	£6.600		£1.000	£2.800	£2.800
Highland	Corran Ferry Replacement Vessel	£0.265	£0.265
Midlothian	Sheriffhall Roundabout Cycle Bridge	£0.802		£0.802
North Lanarkshire	Gartcosh Interchange	£1.260		£1.260
Orkney Islands	North Isles Airfields	£0.323		£0.323
Perth and Kinross	Perth Bus and Cycle Priority	£0.423		£0.423
Renfrewshire	Integrated Transport Improvements	£0.650		£0.650
South Ayrshire	Ayr Bus Priority	£1.850		£0.750	£1.100
Stirling	Stirling Bus Priority	£0.447		£0.150	£0.297
Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority	Partick Interchange	£3.500	£2.000	£1.500
Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority	Improved Rolling Stock	£1.400		£1.400
West Dunbartonshire	Baillieston to Faifley Bus Priority *	£1.300	£0.750	£0.300	£0.250
West Lothian	Forthtrip Express	£0.270	£0.270
	National Public Transport Timetable	£0.500		£0.350	£0.150

*Joint Project

Question reference: S1W-10410

Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 2 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to upgrade the A8000 south of the Forth Road Bridge, when such work would commence and how any such work would be financed.