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-05645

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it will save in the next spending review period by cancelling the improvements to the A737 Beith bypass at the Head Street and Barrmill Road junctions and how it will use the amount saved.

The A737 Beith Bypass Head Street and Barrmill Road improvement projects have not been cancelled. When setting our future programme for all trunk road schemes our assessment considers various factors including the priority of the scheme and availability of funding. The trunk road network is continually assessed and therefore schemes can be reprioritised to take account of changes on the network.

The strategy for the improvement of the Beith Bypass will be revisited to identify any potential permanent and affordable interventions. In 2012-13 we are taking forward two structural maintenance schemes on the A737 (A737 Disused Railway to Manrahead and the A737 Barrmill Road to Disused Railway Schemes) and a Road Safety, Route Accident Reduction Plan (RARP) has been commissioned and investigations are ongoing. The first phase of the RARP – “Assessment for Provision of Signing at Bends” is complete and works are currently being implemented on site.

Question reference: S4W-05851

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people from Scotland have had elective surgery in (a) NHS facilities in England and (b) NHS commissioned facilities in the independent sector in England in each of last five years.

Information on the number of patients from Scotland who had elective surgery in NHS facilities in England and NHS commissioned facilities in the independent sector in England is provided in table 1.

Table 1 - Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector - Count of Elective¹ Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs)² with a main procedure whose SHA (of residence) is Scotland, for the years 2006-07 to 2010-11

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Total	2,717	2,750	2,927	3,102	3,580
NHS	2,708	2,743	2,925	3,099	3,572
Private	9	7	2	3	8

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Notes:

1. Elective admissions include inpatients and day cases.

2. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.

Question reference: S4W-05646

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the construction of the Dalry bypass will cost; how it arrives at this figure, and what provision it has made for inflation over the lifetime of the project.

Question reference: S4W-05643

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how the £10 million allocated in the budget to Transport Scotland for the Dalry bypass will be spent on each phase of the project.

Question reference: S4W-05648

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has begun the statutory processes for the proposed bypass at Dalry and, if so, how much has been completed.

Question reference: S4W-05647

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will invite tenders for the procurement of the Dalry bypass; how much the procurement will cost, and what additional capital sums it estimates that it will need to allocate to this project, and when, in order to proceed to procurement in the next spending review period.

Question reference: S4W-05650

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what upgrades are planned for the A737 other than the Dalry bypass; what the timescales are, and whether the upgrades will be announced in the next spending review period.

A road improvement scheme at the Den Dalry is in preparation and in 2012-2013 we are taking forward two structural maintenance schemes on the A737 (A737 Disused Railway to Manrahead and the A737 Barrmill Road to Disused Railway Schemes) and a Road Safety, Route Accident Reduction Plan (RARP) has been commissioned and investigations are ongoing. The first phase of the RARP - “Assessment for Provision of Signing at Bends” is complete and works are currently being implemented on site.

Question reference: S4W-05644

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what route the proposed Dalry bypass will follow and how much of the land needed has been procured by Transport Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-05649

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how long it will take to complete the statutory processes for the proposed bypass at Dalry; how this compares with the time it took to complete the statutory processes for the (a) Roadhead junction of the A737 and (b) previously planned Head Street and Barrmill Road junctions, and what impact inflation will have on this timescale.

The time taken to complete the statutory process of the Dalry Bypass will, in part, depend on the public reaction to draft road orders and whether there is a need for a Public Local Inquiry.

The successful completion of the statutory process on road schemes is dependant on the nature and level of representations received to draft orders and as such it is difficult to make direct comparisons with other schemes. Every effort is made to ensure the timely completion of statutory process on every scheme promoted by Transport Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-00800

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of Scotland’s electrical energy is generated through (a) nuclear, (b) coal and (c) renewables and whether its 2020 target for renewable electricity will be met.