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-00222

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Forth Replacement Crossing, what funding mechanism will be used and what the expected capital investment is for 2011-12 and each of the following four financial years.

The Forth Replacement Crossing will be fully funded through capital budgets.

Following award of the Forth Replacement Crossing Principal Contract, the project now has a revised total outturn cost of £1.47 to £1.62 billion.

The expected annual capital investment, based on the top of this range, is as follows:

2011-12	£207 million
2012-13	£349 million
2013-14	£294 million
2014-15	£317 million
2015-16	£272 million

Question reference: S4W-00257

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the upgrading of water treatment works and wastewater treatment works in each of the next five years.

Question reference: S4W-00219

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to increase the frequency of the train service between Airdrie and Bathgate.

Question reference: S4W-00217

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are for faster and more frequent rail services between Aberdeen and (a) Glasgow and (b) Edinburgh.

Services operating on the Aberdeen to central belt route have seen a number of improvements since December 2008, including faster journey times of around 10 minutes, and service frequency enhancements along the route.

Recognising that an effective transport network is vital to economic growth in Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland, Transport Scotland have asked Network Rail to re-examine the proposed service enhancements recommended in the Strategic Transport Projects Review for delivering additional incremental improvements.

Question reference: S4W-00218

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are for faster and more frequent rail services between Aberdeen and Inverness.

A pre-feasibility study on how to deliver improvements to the Aberdeen to Inverness rail line was published on 22 March 2011, and is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre and on Transport Scotland’s website.

The study explored a number of potential options, including reduced journey times, improved service frequency, and possible stations at Kintore and Dalcross. The feasibility, cost and deliverability of the proposed options are now being examined in detail and this work is expected to be completed by early 2012.

Question reference: S4W-00215

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Borders Railway project, how long the operational period of the non-profit distributing arrangements will be and what the expected capital investment is for 2011-12 and each of the following four financial years.

The operational period for the non-profit distributing (NPD) arrangements will be 30 years. The capital investment for the construction of the new railway will be funded through the NPD contract and repaid over the 30 years.

The forecast capital expenditure for 2011-12 and the following four financial years to fund land purchase, advance works and preparation costs is as follows:

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

Capital Investment

£6.653

million

£6.670

million

£6.314

million

£1.613

million

£-

Question reference: S4W-00220

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it will offer rail companies for the roll-out of wi-fi on train services.

The ScotRail franchise agreement included an option in which Scottish ministers required ScotRail to arrange for the production of a detailed report for the introduction of wi-fi on ScotRail express routes. This report has been delivered and now forms one of the inputs to our strategy.

Transport Scotland will include the provision of enhanced communications within the contract for future ScotRail passenger services, encouraging bidders to identify the best technical solution and invest in appropriate facilities that meet the expectations of the day.

Question reference: S4W-00155

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications it has received for funding from the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund and from what organisations or businesses.

To date there have been 37 expressions of interest in the fund received by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Scottish Enterprise (SE). Both HIE and SE are actively engaged in commercial discussions with a number of site owners where there is early interest in industry use of their site. However, it would be inappropriate to release details at this stage for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

Question reference: S4W-00157

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make further awards from the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund in 2011-12.

Question reference: S3W-40302

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are sufficient grounds to call in the proposal for a third crossing over the River Don in Aberdeen and whether it will make a statement on the matter.