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: S3W-37449

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what rail passenger numbers have been in each year since 2006 and what information it has on how this compares with each (a) other part of the United Kingdom, (b) EU member state and (c) OECD country.

Comparisons of rail passenger numbers in Scotland and Great Britain are published in the Scottish Government''s Main Transport Trends 2010 publication (Tables SGB1 to SGB3). A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52059).

Comparisons of rail passenger kilometres in Scotland with EU and OECD countries can be found in the Scottish Government''s Scottish Transport Statistics 2009 publication (Table 13.1). A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50075).

Question reference: S3W-37450

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 23 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average class size has been for primary (a) one, (b) two and (c) three in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Information on the average class sizes in primary stages one, two and three by local authority from 2004 to 2009 can be found in table 6.6 of the relevant year''s publication of Pupils in Scotland at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/PubPupilCensus

Pupil census data on average class size in primary stages one, two and three by local authority from 1999 to 2003 is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52079).

Question reference: S3W-37451

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homes for social let owned by a (a) local authority and (b) registered social landlord have been completed in each year since 1999, broken down by (i) Scottish Parliament constituency and (ii) local authority area.

The number of local authority homes completed in each year since 1996-97 is published on the Scottish Government website by local authority area. All of these homes are for social rent. The following is a link to this data:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/NewBuildLA

The number of housing association homes built for social rent over the past decade is shown in the following table by local authority area. Figures for 1999 are not shown as the time series is only available on a consistent basis from 2000-01.

Information on new build for social rent by Scottish Parliamentary constituency area is not held centrally.

Housing Association New Build - Completions for Social Rent by Local Authority Area

Local Authority	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Aberdeen City	40	142	39	35	47	128	7	100	28	42
Aberdeenshire	24	183	160	111	198	207	77	62	136	322
Angus	131	36	107	69	95	43	40	108	75	68
Argyll & Bute	131	54		81	47	85	59	104	109	27
Clackmannanshire	16	44	28	58	20	27	34		1	46
Dumfries and Galloway	57	178	60	128	81	141	63	238	154	88
Dundee City	114	309	91	145	299	328		110	278	91
East Ayrshire		60	36		6	10	30	72	125	176
East Dunbartonshire	16	49		4	7	142		26	42	26
East Lothian	46	27		30	133	35	51	80	42	71
East Renfrewshire	30	41	30		19	46	37		20	89
Edinburgh, City of	295	400	288	183	389	398	382	462	208	419
Eilean Siar	21	20	13		19	53	21	41	66	39
Falkirk	14	45	81	16	4		61		31	65
Fife	122	164	151	111	81	190	242	201	295	154
Glasgow City	920	971	938	1,161	798	941	821	731	689	850
Highland	116	127	132	135	110	108	178	277	265	263
Inverclyde	152	101	69	87	91	117	8	42	85	283
Midlothian	28		31	26		9	16	12	38	10
Moray	6		26	2	55	158	34	90	39	82
North Ayrshire	87	8	76	71	71	79	64	125	66	84
North Lanarkshire	178	159	237	142	28	406	82	62	226	164
Orkney	14	35	23		55	13	32	27	25	24
Perth and Kinross	166	148	112	153	142	84	46	113	131	271
Renfrewshire	163	138	136	78	165	278	98	114	80	109
Scottish Borders, The	79	61	58	41	79	50	46	67	69	34
Shetland		16	13		4		33	12	31	64
South Ayrshire	61	64	163	42	92	19	68	62	42	207
South Lanarkshire	101	138	162	100	277	136	142	131	229	274
Stirling	59	8	78	61	67	47		124	118	64
West Dunbartonshire	169	146	116	110	121	240	51	48	51	78
West Lothian	57	128	50	45	165	10	64	85	103	165
Scotland	3,413	4,000	3,504	3,225	3,765	4,528	2,887	3,726	3,897	4,749

Source “ Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

Question reference: S3W-37261

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 11 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, whether representatives of parents or community groups are entitled to appear before local authority bodies making decisions on school closures.

The Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 gives parents, parent councils and community councils a central role in the consultation process associated with a school closure proposal, as mandatory consultees. The Act also provides for a three week period, after a local authority has published its consultation report, for these groups, and anyone else with an interest, to make representations to the decision makers before they can meet to take a final decision. It does not however prescribe whether or not these groups are allowed to appear before the local authority when they are taking the decision on a closure proposal; that is entirely a matter for the relevant local authority to determine, bearing in mind the obligation of all elected bodies to be accessible, open and transparent in their decision making.

Question reference: S3W-37077

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of constructing each railway station on the Maryhill line, also expressed at current prices.

Question reference: S3W-37090

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected monthly passenger use was for Kelvindale railway station; what its actual use has been in each month since its opening, and what the population is of its catchment area.

Question reference: S3W-37068

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of constructing Gartcosh railway station, also expressed at current prices.

Information relating to the construction costs of Gartcosh, Edinburgh Park, Larkhall, Chatelherault, Kelvindale and Maryhill line railway stations is not held by Transport Scotland. Please refer to Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, the project sponsor for each of these stations apart from Edinburgh Park, for which Network Rail and/or the developer, New Edinburgh Limited should be consulted.

Question reference: S3W-37073

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the contribution to the economy has been of Larkhall railway station since its opening and how this compares with the forecast contribution.

Question reference: S3W-37079

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the contribution to the economy has been of each railway station on the Maryhill line since its opening and how this compares with the forecast contribution.

Question reference: S3W-37088

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 3 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected monthly passenger use was for Larkhall railway station; what its actual use has been in each month since its opening, and what the population is of its catchment area.

Annual station usage at Larkhall railway station was estimated as per the following table:

	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Forecast Station Demand	210,492	218,912	227,668	236,775	246,246	256,096	266,339	276,993

Transport Scotland hold this information as part of an evaluation undertaken with and led by the Department for Transport into demand forecasting for new railway stations and lines which will be published in late 2010 / early 2011. Actual monthly passenger use information is not held by Transport Scotland but by ScotRail. Annual data, typically used in preference to monthly data as it avoids issues relating to seasonality, is publicly available up to 2008-09 via the Office of Rail Regulation website (http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529). The latest available figure shows total use of Larkhall (entries and exits) as 334,438 in 2008-09. Information relating to the catchment area population of Larkhall is not held by Transport Scotland.