Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-05354

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the number of people being convicted of death by careless driving is reportedly increasing as the number being convicted of death by dangerous driving is decreasing.

Question reference: S5W-05356

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that too many drivers who may have caused death or serious injury are being convicted of careless driving rather than dangerous driving.

Question reference: S5W-05359

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that too few of people convicted of dangerous driving receive custodial sentences.

In any given case, sentencing is a matter for the court within the overall legal framework.

The law in relation to careless driving and dangerous driving is not devolved to Scotland and the UK Government has recently published a consultation seeking views on enhancing the powers of the court when sentencing for serious driving offences.

The Scottish Sentencing Council has included within its recently published business plan their intention to consider dangerous driving. The Council's business plan period runs until October 2018.

Question reference: S5W-05310

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-04885 by Aileen Campbell on 1 December 2016, when it will publish the remit and membership of the new National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain; how it will report to the Parliament, and whether the length of waiting times at NHS chronic pain clinics will be a priority for it.

The membership and remit of the planned National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain are not yet finalised.

The Ministerial Steering Group on Chronic Pain continues to monitor chronic pain waiting times data published quarterly by NHS National Services Scotland’s Information Services Division. These Non-Official Statistics remain developmental, as noted in the information accompanying each release.

Question reference: S5W-05358

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the views of family members and friends of people who have been killed or seriously injured by careless or dangerous driving are taken into account in (a) the justice system and (b) sentencing policy for those convicted of careless and dangerous driving.

The investigation and prosecution of crime are operational matters for Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service respectively. Sentencing is a matter for the court.

In considering the public interest, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service advise that they take a number of factors into account, including the interests of the victim, the accused and the wider community. They advise this can involve competing interests and will vary with every case.

Victims (or relatives of victims if the victim is deceased) can make victim statements in certain cases involving serious crime and this includes careless driving or dangerous driving. In determining the sentence to impose on an offender, the court must have regard those parts of the statement it considers to be relevant to the offence.

Question reference: S5W-05357

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that drivers who are convicted of careless and dangerous driving receive sentences that are appropriate to the severity of the crimes committed.

In any given case, sentencing is a matter for the court within the overall legal framework.

The law in relation to careless driving and dangerous driving is not devolved to Scotland and the UK Government has recently published a consultation seeking views on enhancing the powers of the court when sentencing for serious driving offences.

The Scottish Sentencing Council has included within its recently published business plan their intention to consider dangerous driving. The Council's business plan period runs until October 2018.

Question reference: S5W-05238

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many vehicles it expects to use the Edinburgh City bypass over each of the next five years, broken down by vehicle type, and what long-term projection it has made for the next 25 years.

Transport Scotland maintain a range of traffic forecasts on all trunk roads in Scotland using the national transport model, the Transport Model for Scotland. It has a base year of 2014 and produces forecasts for a number of future years through to 2037. Future forecasts of demand are based upon a range of assumptions including population growth, fuel prices, economic activity and land-use changes. There is uncertainty associated with these assumptions which increases over time.As levels of uncertainty are greater than typical annual growth (see Scottish Transport Statistics Table 5.7(b)), forecasts are created at five yearly intervals.

Details of forecast traffic flows on the A720 Edinburgh Bypass are shown in the following table. As flows vary considerably around the bypass, the forecasts provided are for the west of Dreghorn junction which was selected to match the location of observed data reported in Scottish Transport Statistics Tables 5.7(a) and (b).

A720 Edinburgh Bypass – West of Dreghorn

(All Flows are Vehicles per day)

Year	Total Number of Vehicles	% Heavy Goods Vehicles
2014	78,000	12%
2017	83,000	12%
2022	88,000	13%
2027	93,000	13%
2032	98,000	13%
2037	102,000	14%

Question reference: S5W-05239

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the research by Inrix Roadway Analytics that suggests that four of the UK's worst traffic bottlenecks are on the Edinburgh city bypass.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role that Edinburgh and its region plays in the national economy and that the A720 plays in the strategic transport network. Transport Scotland is continuing to invest in work to identify how best to mitigate congestion on the A720.

I refer the Member to the answers provided for S5W-03082 and S5W-03084 on 6 October 2016 for further information on Transport Scotland’s on-going investment in localised improvements on this route in 2016/17.

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/motions-questions-and-answers.aspx

Question reference: S5W-05240

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking and plans to take to (a) increase capacity and (b) reduce congestion on the Edinburgh City bypass.

Transport Scotland is continuing with work to identify how best to mitigate congestion on the A720, and how a potential increase in capacity would contribute. As the work is currently underway it would not be appropriate to prejudge the outcome.

I refer the member to the answers provided for S5W-03082 on 6 October 2016 and S5W-03084 on 4 October 2016 for further information on Transport Scotland’s on-going investment in localised improvements on this route in 2016-17, and work being undertaken to determine requirements in future.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-05059

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time has been for oral cancer screenings in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

There is no national oral cancer screening programme in NHS Scotland or centrally held data on average waits for oral cancer screening.

However, validated data for Cancer Waiting Times Standards are published by NHS ISD quarterly. Data for median waits from referral to treatment and decision to treat to treatment for head and neck cancers (including oral cancers) can be accessed through the ISD website: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/index.asp

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