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-25474

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the result of Caledonian MacBrayne’s planned consultation with employees on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) regarding reform of the CalMac pension fund will be included in the specifications of the invitation to tender for the next CHFS contract.

The objective of the Scottish Government is to protect CalMac employees by ensuring provisions for a fair, affordable and sustainable pension scheme are written into the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract. Pension provisions will be outlined in the initial invitation to tender and confirmed in the invitation to submit final tenders, due to issue in December 2015.

Assurances have been given by the Scottish Government to protect a fair, affordable and sustainable pension scheme in the new CHFS contract.

Question reference: S4W-25473

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that Caledonian MacBrayne’s planned consultation with its employees on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) regarding reform of the CalMac pension fund does not harm its bid for the next CHFS contract.

David MacBrayne Ltd’s planned consultation with its employees and their representatives on proposed changes to the CalMac pension fund and the preparation by its operating subsidiary, CalMac Ferries Ltd, of a tender submission for the next CHFS contract are matters for the company.

David MacBrayne Ltd has informed Transport Scotland that it has structured and resourced itself around two separate teams, one with responsibility for current operational and business matters, the other dedicated to bid preparation. The planned consultation with employees on proposed changes to the CalMac pension fund is an operational and business matter.

Question reference: S4W-25471

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of occasions on which a public sector contract has been tendered while the workforce was being consulted by the existing contractor regarding reforms to their pension scheme.

Question reference: S4W-25469

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all bidders for the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract are bound to the same pension commitments in the invitation to tender document.

Question reference: S4W-25470

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when the next actuarial evaluation of the CalMac pension fund will take place.

Question reference: S4W-25472

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Caledonian MacBrayne regarding its proposals for reform of the CalMac pension fund, and whether it will publish the proposals.

Scottish Government ministers and officials have had a number of discussions with David MacBrayne Ltd (the parent company of CalMac Ferries Ltd) regarding the financial health of the CalMac pension fund in the context of the government’s policy that public sector pensions should be fair, affordable and sustainable.

Proposals for changes to the CalMac pension fund are for the employers and the employees and their representatives to address together. It is for those parties to decide whether or not these proposals should be published.

Question reference: S4W-25468

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether its policy is to reform the CalMac pension fund before the start of the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract in October 2016.

The Scottish Government’s policy is that public sector pensions should be fair, affordable and sustainable. Reform of pensions should be in response to the financial health of individual schemes. Changes to individual schemes are for the employers and the employees and their representatives to address together.

The objective of the Scottish Government is to protect CalMac employees by ensuring a fair, affordable and sustainable pension scheme is written into the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract which commences 1 October 2016.

The formal consultation process between the employers and the employees and their representatives on proposed changes to the CalMac pension fund is now underway.

Question reference: S4W-25467

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of Caledonian MacBrayne and whether the CalMac pension fund was discussed.

Question reference: S4W-25477

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 11 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will delay issuing the invitation to tender for the next Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract until the result of CalMac’s consultation with its employees regarding changes to their pension rights.

Question reference: S4W-25466

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the outcome of the trial in 2013 that examined the feasibility of moving bulk spirit and other food products between Elgin and Grangemouth by rail, whether the safety benefits that were identified for the A9, A95, A96 and other roads will be taken account of when appraising proposed public investment or grant aid for a regular so-called whisky train service from the north to central Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance requires an assessment of safety benefits as part of the overall appraisal process for transport investment. In addition, safety benefits of transferring freight from road to rail are fully taken into account when assessing applications for funding from the government’s Freight Facilities Grant Scheme.

We are currently refreshing our Rail Freight Strategy, which will include how best to maximise investment in rail freight in Scotland.