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: S4W-02784

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when the new Cycle Training Standards and Delivery Support Group will next meet and what issues will be discussed.

The Cycle Training Standards and Delivery Group, recently renamed as the Bikeability Scotland Delivery Group, first met in September 2010 to formulate a delivery plan which was published by the end of last year. The plan includes four main outcomes:

a 2.5 percentage points increase annually in the number of pupils receiving on-road cycle training (currently around one third of P6 pupils);

an increase in the number of volunteers available to deliver the training;

the development of a volunteer support network in partnership with Volunteer Development Scotland, and

to provide continued support to local authorities offering the three levels of cycle training.

The next meeting will be in February 2012 when progress on the above will be discussed.

Question reference: S4W-02785

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what cycling projects it supported in 2010-11 and has supported in 2011-12.

The Scottish Government has supported the following cycling projects in both 2010-11 and 2011-12:

Local authority led projects supported through the Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets grant;

The Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme currently running in seven local authority areas which encourages active travel and travel behaviour change, including the promotion of cycling;

The building of the National Cycle Network, community links and safe routes to schools delivered by Sustrans in partnership with local authorities;

The package of cycling measures delivered by Cycling Scotland such as Bikeability Scotland, Pedal for Scotland, Scottish Cycle Friendly Communities Fund, the “Give Me Cycle Space” campaign to raise awareness of child cyclists and the promotion of Bike Week in Scotland;

The Climate Challenge Fund which is open to communities who wish to promote emissions reduction including cycling projects such as the “Better Way to Work” project in Edinburgh, and

Local projects including the Bike Station in Edinburgh for the Build your own Bike courses aimed at young people who are not in education but can learn a skill and share it with their peers and the wider community, and the East Dunbartonshire Cycle Co-op Community Bike Library to enable children to undertake their Bikeability Scotland cycle training.

Question reference: S4W-02788

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when the National Cycle Network will be completed.

Question reference: S4W-02780

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 23 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria have been set for local authorities to receive funding under the third phase of the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme.

Question reference: S4W-02781

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 23 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the result of its discussions with local authorities regarding the third phase of the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme.

Question reference: S4W-02779

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 23 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what requirements have been placed on Aberdeenshire Council regarding timetabling to secure funding from the Scottish Futures Trust for the building and maintenance of the replacement Ellon Academy.

The Scottish Government is providing funding towards the replacement of Ellon Academy, and all other schools within the £1.25 billion Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme. The government, Scottish Futures Trust and Aberdeenshire Council are working closely together on the delivery of the new Ellon Academy. The timetable will be dependent on the availability of funding from both the government and council budgets and also on the council’s readiness to proceed.

Question reference: S4W-02371

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-01989 by Keith Brown on 25 August 2011, which transport projects has it funded jointly with local authorities since 1999, and how much has each contributed to these.

The transport projects that the Scottish Executive has funded jointly with local authorities since 1999, and how much each has contributed to these are shown in the following table:

Project	Local Authority	Year Grant Awarded	Scottish Government Funding £	Local Authority Funding £	Total Funding £
Smarter Choices, Smarter Places*	Dundee City	2008-11	1,424,000	740,000	^2,164,000
Smarter Choices, Smarter Places*	Dumfries and Galloway	2008-11	2,703,000	2,665,319	5,368,319
Smarter Choices, Smarter Places*	East Dunbartonshire	2008-11	610,000	440,000	1,050,000
Smarter Choices, Smarter Places*	East Renfrewshire	2008-11	813,200	545,000	1,358,200
Smarter Choices, Smarter Places*	Falkirk	2008-11	926,362	453,362	1,379,724
Smarter Choices, Smarter Places*	Glasgow City	2008-11	1,342,500	1,157,500	2,500,000
Smarter Choices, Smarter Places*	Orkney Islands	2008-11	762,000	517,000	1,279,000
Hatston Multi-Purpose Pier and Stromness Improvements	Orkney Islands Council	2004	18,020	**	**
Tingway Ferry Terminal Improvements	Orkney Islands Council	1999	238,000	**	**
Stromness Harbour - Sea Bed Survey	Orkney Islands Council	1999	6,000	**	**
Longhope Pier Extension	Orkney Islands Council	2003	314,000	**	**
Hatston Lairage Building and Facilities	Orkney Islands Council	2008	563,000	**	**
MV Shapinsay - lengthening, re-powering and associated harbour works	Orkney Islands Council	2011	1,500,000	**	**
Ard Mhor (Sound of Barra)	Western Isles Council	2002	246,000	**	**
Port Askaig Redevelopment - Phases 1 and 2	Argyll and Bute Council	2002	3,737,000	**	**
Rothesay Pier - Ferry Berth Improvements	Argyll and Bute Council	2006	6,390,000	**	**
Holmsgarth – Livestock, Freight and Lairage Facilities	Shetland Islands Council	2005	183,000	**	**
Uig Pier Improvements	The Highland Council	2000	768,000	**	**
Small Isles: Phases 1 and 2 - Upgrading and Improvement of Slipways - Rum and Muck	The Highland Council	2003	3,800,000	**	**
Inverie – New Ferry Terminal	The Highland Council	2004	2,982,000	**	**
Eigg – Ferry Terminal	The Highland Council	2002	4,064,000	**	**
Raasay - New Ferry Terminal	The Highland Council	2007	150,000	**	**
M77/GSO ***	East Renfrewshire / South Lanarkshire Council	2005	51,720,000	23,000,000 300,000	^75,020,000
Blackridge Rail Station	West Lothian Council	2009-10	2,100,000	1,980,000	^4,080,000
Laurencekirk Rail Station and Car Park	Aberdeenshire Council/ NESTRANS	2008-10	2,950,920	54,211 928,674	^3,933,805
Stirling Alloa Kincardine Rail Link	Fife Council/ English, Welsh and Scottish Railways/ Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley/ Network Rail/ Clackmannanshire Council	2005-11	87,784,412	100,000 250,000 701,203 664,385 2,500,000	^92,000,000
Larkhall Milngavie Rail Link	South Lanarkshire Council/ Strathclyde Partnership for Transport	2005-11	28,097,954	459,000 7,024,489	^35,581,443
Fort William Station Refurbishment	HITRANS/ Scotrail	2007	350,000	250,000 150,000	^750,000
Class 158 Trains Refurbishment	HITRANS	2007	9,170,000	30,000	^9,200,000

Notes:

*Details of projects funded as part of the Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme can be found at the following link:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/roads/sustainable-transport/funding-for-projects/smarter-choices-smarter-places.

**Piers and Harbours Grant (SG contribution) was generally 75% of the estimated total costs of the project. The amount of local authority contribution would generally be the remaining 25%, however exact costs are not known. From Financial Year 2008-09, Piers and Harbours Grant was no longer allocated by ferries division but part of the general capital block distributed under the local government settlement.

***M77/Glasgow Southern Orbital (GSO).

The project, which was procured with private finance, includes the design, build, financing and subsequent operation of the M77 extension from Malletsheugh in East Renfrewshire to Fenwick in East Ayrshire, together with the GSO link from the M77 to East Kilbride. East Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire Councils contribute solely to the GSO section of the project and Transport Scotland only contributes to the M77 section.

Construction of the project was completed in 2005, after which payments to the contractor for the financing and subsequent operation of the scheme commenced over a period of 30 years. The figures above reflect the payments to date and for the remainder of the contract period Transport Scotland will contribute £8,300,000, East Renfrewshire Council £100,000 and South Lanarkshire Council £50,000 per annum.

Question reference: S4O-00209

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it provides to community councils.

Question reference: S4W-02546

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to publish the process and timetable for letting the next ScotRail franchise.

Question reference: S4F-00149

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2011

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government plans to impose a cap on the costs of the Borders Railway project.