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: S5W-02387

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was consulted on the reported plan by the Oil and Gas Authority to use £2.5 million of money received from the Treasury to fund new analysis of seismic data harvested 25 years ago, and what its position is on reports that this is for the purpose of increasing the search for oil and gas in the Minch and Firth of Clyde.

Exploration drilling has fallen substantially over the past few years with only nine exploration and appraisal wells drilled so far in 2016 compared to a total of 26 in 2015. The Scottish Government takes the view that it is crucial that the Oil and Gas Authority concentrates on actions to help encourage and attract investment in exploration opportunities across the UKCS. Investment in seismic data such as this, will help to maintain the rate of potential field developments – and to enable employment to be sustained over the longer term. As the Oil and Gas Authority have already highlighted, areas such as the Minch and Firth of Clyde have not benefitted from the latest industry acquisition and processing techniques. These basins may offer an extra pathway to extending the life of the UKCS, however, consideration of balancing socio economic, health and safety and the increasingly highly sensitive environmental issues to support the on-going future of the oil and gas industry across Scottish waters is of utmost interest to Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-02938

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what methodology and data gathering in the Borders were used to produce the passenger forecasts in Transport Scotland’s Borders Railway Final Business Case.

The passenger forecasting methodology combined a stated preference survey and a trip generation model. The trip generation model uses the number of trips per thousand head of population within a defined area to forecast demand, while the stated preference survey involved interviewing residents along the Borders Railway line about their potential use of the railway. Transport Scotland keeps forecasting methodology under review to ensure best practice.

Question reference: S5W-02940

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether ScotRail has gathered the opinions of passengers on the Borders Railway regarding the quality of service and reliability.

Performance of the Borders Railway has fallen below the expectations of passengers and the demanding performance targets set by Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Government has requested ScotRail provide an Improvement Plan which will outline their plans to address performance issues.

In addition, the ScotRail Franchise Agreement ensures that the opinions of passengers are regularly heard and acted upon. Alongside day to day interaction between passengers and staff, ScotRail have initiated an online panel with over 5,000 subscribed, aimed to give passengers their say on how Scotland's railways are run. 26% of passengers on the panel originate from the Lothians, Borders and Fife.

The Scottish Government use the results of the National Rail Passenger Survey as a Key Performance Indicator within the ScotRail Franchise Agreement to measure passenger satisfaction. Any sustained fall in this area can result in ScotRail being financially penalised.

Specifically for the Borders Railway, I can advise that the Borders Blueprint Partnership are planning to undertake passenger surveys on the line. These will further help to understand passengers travel patterns along the line. Membership of the Partnership includes The Scottish Government and ScotRail.

Question reference: S5W-02939

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many passengers used the Borders Railway in its first year of operation, broken down by (a) station and (b) quarters of the year.

Question reference: S5W-02941

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the requirement for a maximum journey time of 55 minutes from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, which was in Transport Scotland’s 2009 prequalification document for the Borders Railway, has changed so that 55 minutes is now the minimum journey time, with a longest scheduled time of 65 minutes.

The extension of certain journeys beyond 55 minutes between Edinburgh and Tweedbank is a direct result of the rail industry timetable planning process. It addressed conflicts with other services operating on the East Coast Main Line resulting in their extended journey times.

Currently 82% of scheduled services are timetabled to run at 57 minutes or less and only ONE service out of 68 is timetabled to run at 65 minutes.

Question reference: S5W-02945

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes in response to negative publicity and the potential impact on exports that arises from the shooting of seals in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-02944

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what design guidelines regarding the positioning of the track, gabion baskets, drains and lineside equipment were applied to the construction of the Borders Railway to facilitate future doubling of the track between Edinburgh and Gorebridge, in particular at Gorebridge station.

Question reference: S5W-02937

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to ensure that publicly-owned land is not disposed of in a way that could inhibit the growth of the rail or cycle network.

Question reference: S5W-02943

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the additional cost would have been to make the overbridge at Cowbraehill double-track width while the Borders Railway was under construction, and how much would it cost to rebuild it to double-track width now the railway is operational.

Question reference: S5W-02936

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to concerns expressed by the Office of Rail and Road regarding delays, whether Transport Scotland has sufficient resources and staff to deliver the upgrades to the Highland Main Line set out in the Strategic Transport Projects Review, and when these upgrades will be completed.

Network Rail have confirmed that they are on schedule to deliver by March 2019, the Highland Mainline Improvement Project (Phase Two) incorporating journey time improvements averaging around 10 minutes, an hourly service between Inverness and Perth extended to either Glasgow or Edinburgh and also more efficient operations for freight.

Transport Scotland are fully resourced and committed to funding Network Rail to deliver the Highland Mainline Improvement Project (Phase Two) by March 2019.