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: S5O-00710

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent update report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland on call handling in Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-06859

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether there have been any changes made to the (a) value of unitary charge payments and (b) number of years that they will be paid since these weref ormally agreed in its contract with the contractor for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) and, if so, what the (i) payment timetable now is and (ii) value is of the unitary charge payments that it will now make each year.

Question reference: S5W-06858

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, when the contract was formally agreed between it and the contractor for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR); for how many years it was agreed that it would make unitary charge payments to the contractor, and what the value was of these payments in each year.

The Non-Profit Distributing contract for the AWPR was awarded to Aberdeen Roads Limited in December 2014. Like many projects of this nature, the contract has a 30 year concession period.

The value of the payments are not fixed values but are calculated monthly on the basis of road availability and service performance. A proportion of the unitary charge payments are also subject to indexation.

Question reference: S5O-00686

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to make EU environmental regulations enforceable after the UK leaves the EU.

The Scottish Government’s paper 'Scotland's Place in Europe' sets out our view that full membership of the European single market is the best outcome not just for Scotland but for the whole of the UK. We have set out proposals for staying in the single market even if the rest of the UK chooses to leave. The importance of the single market is recognised by the Scottish Parliament which voted by a clear majority on 17 January 2017 for Scotland’s place in the single market to be protected.

We believe this can be best achieved through membership to the European Economic Area (EEA). This would require on-going compliance with many existing EU environmental protections, which would be enforced through the European Free Trade Agreement structures under the EEA Agreement.

Question reference: S5W-06286

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 3 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will publish the (a) draft and (b) final invitations to tender for the next contract for Northern Isles ferry services.

Question reference: S5W-06288

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 3 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the collective bargaining agreements covering (a) rating and (b) officer grades apply to all vessels (i) owned, (ii) leased and (iii) chartered will be part of the next contract for Northern Isles ferry services.

In my statement to Parliament on 2 February 2017 I indicated that a policy review would be undertaken to consider how we secure our essential lifeline ferry services in future. The review will consider a wide range of issues, including how best to secure the continued provision of our Northern Isles ferry services.

Previous ferry service procurement exercises have made details of existing Collective Bargaining Arrangements available to tender participants. The tender process has also required the participants to provide proposals to demonstrate their commitment to being a best practice employer in the delivery of the contract. It is our intention to put in place similar arrangements in any future procurements.

Question reference: S5W-05936

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been allocated for the funding of the major trauma network in the 2017-18 Draft Budget and, of that amount, how much has been allocated to each of the four trauma networks with their major trauma centres at (a) Aberdeen, (b) Dundee, (c) Edinburgh and (d) Glasgow.

Question reference: S5W-05937

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment given by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 15 June 2016 that the establishment of the National Trauma Network Implementation Group “will ensure that we have the necessary preparation work for the four major trauma centres and the trauma network completed by the end of the year”, whether the necessary preparation work has now been completed, and when the planned new arrangements will be put in place.

Question reference: S5W-06282

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will publish revised pay scales for seafarers on the Seatruck vessels, the Helliar and Hildasay.

In line with my announcement on 12 January 2017, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited will sub-charter the vessels, on a bare boat basis, to Serco Northlink Ferries who will be responsible for the operation of the vessels and for crewing and all associated matters.

As operator, Serco Northlink Ferries are currently taking forward work to identify and implement an appropriate arrangement for crewing, ensuring that the knowledge and experience of the current crew is retained. Crew terms and conditions – for example employment arrangements, pay scales and employer-employee arrangements will form part of these considerations.

I can confirm that the crew on board the MV Hildasay and MV Helliar will be paid at least the National Minimum Wage.

Question reference: S5W-06281

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 20 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when the negotiations between Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd and Seatruck Ferries for the bareboat charter agreement for the Helliar and Hildasay vessels commenced, and by what date (a) they will conclude and (b) the agreement will enter into effect.

The Scottish Government has been seeking to resolve the issue of pay rates for staff on the vessels since 2014 when the matter was first highlighted. Since then both myself, and previously Keith Brown, have written regarding the National Minimum Wage issue to the UK Minister for State at the Department of Transport with responsibility for the maritime sector. In addition Transport Scotland has had a number of meetings and exchanges with Seatruck Ferries Limited over this period to try and satisfactorily resolve this issue.

More recently, on 10 November 2016 I met with the Managing Director of Seatruck Ferries Limited to discuss crew pay rates on the freighters leased to Serco Northlink Ferries to operate the Northern Isles Ferry Service.

Following this constructive meeting Transport Scotland and Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited were tasked with working with Seatruck Ferries Limited to put in place a bareboat charter agreement for the MV Helliar and MV Hildasay in order to facilitate resolution of the issue.

The bareboat charter was signed by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited and Seatruck Ferries Limited on 7 January 2017. It is anticipated that the transfer of the lease will occur in February 2017, once both vessels have been fully surveyed and all financial and regulatory checks have been concluded.