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-19069

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for making changes to the breach benchmarks for performance set out in the ScotRail franchise.

Question reference: S5W-19071

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the updated ScotRail franchise (a) target, (b) improvement plan, (c) (i) breach and (ii) default benchmarks for performance for each reporting period, also broken down by for how long each will remain in place.

Question reference: S5W-19073

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the use of internal targets by ScotRail is a breach of the committed obligation on transparent reporting that is set out in its franchise, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S5W-18885

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of what changes there have been in Northern Isles Ferry Service freight demand between July and October in each year since 2006 arising from commercial activity in the (a) fishing, (b) shellfish and (c) livestock sector.

The Scottish Government does not hold all the information in the format requested in relation to fishing, shellfish and livestock.

Serco NorthLink Ferries on the Scottish Government’s behalf record detailed breakdown of freight carried on their services. They provide summary information to Transport Scotland officials regularly which includes total lane meterage of freight carried on their routes, bulk bags carried as well as cattle and sheep numbers shipped.

The details of the freight carried on the services disaggregated by commodity is commercially confidential.

Freight lane meterage information from 5 July 2012 to 31 December 2017 is publically available on Serco NorthLink Ferries’ website via the link below;

http://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/information/publications/statistics/

Question reference: S5W-18884

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 5 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what additional costs have been incurred by the decision to time charter the MV Arrow from Seatruck on the Northern Isles Ferry Service.

Question reference: S5W-19151

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with cystic fibrosis have accessed Orkambi through the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier Two Panel that has been in effect since 1 June 2018.

Question reference: S5W-18860

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the payments that Transport Scotland is making to Serco NorthLink for the operation of Northern Isles Ferry Services between April 2018 and October 2019.

Question reference: S5W-18883

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessments Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) has made of the rate of pay of seafarers on the Seatruck vessel, MV Arrow; when ministers were made aware of these assessments, and whether its Fair Work Convention was consulted before the decision to charter the craft was taken.

The hire agreement for the MV Arrow is between Serco NorthLink Ferries and Seatruck Ferries. Consequently, CMAL has made no assessment.

The short term charter of the MV Arrow has been instituted to specifically cater for current freight demands on the Northern Isles and as contingency cover following recent technical issues with the MV Helliar.

The Scottish Ministers are currently considering all available options to promote fair work practices, including collective bargaining and payment of the National Minimum Wage and, where possible, the Scottish Living Wage, through their contracts. However, as the member may be aware, The Scottish Parliament has no powers to legislate on matters of employment law - something that was called for by Scottish Ministers whithin the Smith Commisson process, but opposed by Labour Party and others.

Question reference: S5W-18881

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether Fortress Shipping will meet the cost of repairing the MV Helliar, and what discussions it has had with Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) regarding the length of time that the vessel will be out of service.

The vessel has been chartered to Serco NorthLink Ferries under a bareboat charter agreement and as a result, Fortress will not meet the cost of the repair of the MV Helliar. Under that agreement, the charterer obtains possession and full control of the vessel along with the legal and financial responsibility for it, including its administration and maintenance. Consequently, the Scottish Government has had no discussions with Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd on this matter.

Question reference: S5W-18882

Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates in the contract year 2018-19 it discussed ferry capacity demand on Northern Isles Ferry Service routes with representatives of (a) the livestock and aquaculture industries, (b) trade unions and (c) Serco NorthLink.

The Scottish Government have not met with representatives of the livestock industries recently in respect of the ferry services. However, there is ongoing engagement with representatives of communities to discuss freight issues including services for the agricultural communities. Serco NorthLink Ferries, as the operator of the Northern Isles Ferry Service, meet with representatives of the livestock sector on a regular basis. Any requests in regard to the services they provide are passed on to Transport Scotland for due consideration.

The Scottish Government discusses ferry capacity demand with the aquaculture industry on a quarterly basis, most recently on 12 September 2018.

Scottish Ministers regularly meet with union representatives. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport , Infrastructure and Connectivity most recently met with members of the STUC on 5 September 2018 where matters relating to the Northern Isles Ferry Service were discussed.

Transport Scotland officials are in the process of arranging a meeting with trade unions to discuss the future specification of the Northern Isles Ferry Service.

The Scottish Government meets with Serco NorthLink Ferries on a monthly basis to discuss amongst other key areas, freight capacity, most recently on 11 September 2018.